All right, I want to know what you guys think about my new computer I have coming soon from Dell.
A few things to consider before reading the specs:
My current machine is a Gateway 2000 from about 1993-
-75Mhz pentium
-32 MB RAM
-no CD-ROM - two drives in six months fried on us
-I have to use AOL (current version 7.0), which sucks in itself, but they’re the only ones who give a decent unlimited access rate and will bill to the phone bill.
-If I had my 'druthers, I would not have chosen Dell, but they financed us!
Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.66GHz with 533MHz front side bus
512MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (Performs at 266MHz for 400FSB systems)
80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM
3.5 in Floppy Drive
Dual Drives: 48x CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive + 48x CD-ROM Drive
56K PCI Data Fax Modem
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
19 in M992 Monitor
Kodak EasyShare CX7300 Digital Camera
Lexmark X125 Multi-Function Printer (Print, Scan, Copy, Fax)
Considering the difference between the current and new systems, did I do all right for $40 a month? There was other stuff, too, but these were the bigger bits. XP isn’t my OS of choice, but it comes on it, I can always change it later. I wish there was some form of high-speed net service around here, too. Could have cable, but we don’t even have cable TV. I am excited. It’ll be like using a cel phone for the first time after a lifetime of rotary.
For how many months and what’s the APR you’re paying? If it’s 12 months, you got a good deal. For 24, with the monitor (Is that LCD or CRT?), camera and printer, it’s still not bad considering there’s a warranty.
The 533 MHz FSB is about a year old. 800 MHz is the current high performance FSB for Intel chips. For a home PC that’s just emailing and cruising the web, it’s just fine, though.
512 MB of RAM is good, if it weren’t shared. Again, for email and browsing, it’s OK. In case they didn’t say, it’s sharing the RAM with the onboard video, which will probably “steal” at most, 64 meg.
XP Pro is better than Home, but it’s still an amazing OS. What was your preference? Win 2000, 98 or Linux?
I believe 24 months, I would have to look it back up to make sure, and that wasn’t all, there was a lot more coming with it that I didn’t mention. For a low-income couple, I think we got a decent deal. Easily afford $40 a month, hardly afford $1300 at once.
Yeah, this is basically going to be a surfing and word processing computer. Art editing possibly. We’ll keep this old paperweight up and running, stripped of all the internet capabilities, as a database machine for our business spreadsheets and invoices.
I have not liked an OS overall since Win98. The ones since have their uses, and the performance is definitely improved, but I get irritated by how dumbed down they can be, especially XP. I wish there was a button I could click in setup that says “I know what I am doing here. I don’t need pop-up boxes and cutesy cartoon characters to explain how to minimise a window.” Other than that, it’s a perfectly workable OS. I would have preferred XP Pro, but didn’t feel like paying extra.
Nothing about it’s set in stone, and I look forward to fiddling with it and seeing how far I can take it before I void my warranty! It’ll surely be a BIG step up from what I have dealt with for the past year.
I tell people if ya just want to surf the web, do word processing and email, buy a Dell. anything more than that let me build it. For what you’re doing it should be just fine.
As for fiddling with it, I wouldn’t suggest doing much of that. Dell can be an outright bitch when it comes to voiding your warranty for any little thing.
If you can stand it, give XP a fair try - most of the dumbing down features can be turned off and when you install all of the service packs from Windows Update, it really is a very stable and functional OS. You can make it look and feel like Win98 in most of the important ways.
The cartoon dog in the search function is the only thing that made me actually curse out loud - even in the Pro version of XP, it still appears by default and worst of all, when you click the ‘make the animated character fuck off and die’ option, it doesn’t just disappear; it stands up, wags its tail and trots slowly into the distance, taking a total of five or more seconds to actually disappear - I find this hugely insulting - they might as well have had it urinate on the desktop.
I don’t tell people that, since it seems they also want free tech support for life. Plus they don’t understand why the computer doesn’t work as well five years later as it did when I put it together for them. And I simply cannot stand buying cheap motherboards and video cards.
so far I’ve built 3 for other people, I won’t use cheap anything in the rigs I build. All three have been for gaming. The tech support doesn’t come free, they gotta feed and beer me while I’m there.
sorry for the highjack
1 - I had a Gateway for about four years, and I too found that it fried CD drives about as often as I got my hair cut.
2 - I have a Kodak EasyShare CX3400. I think that’s the number; it’s certainly a lower number than yours. Anyway, I like it a lot; the zoom and low-light capability on my primitive model leave something to be desired, but it’s easy to use and takes pretty good pictures.