# Is now the time to buy a computer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789 "2004-06-17T02:40:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/21 "2004-06-18T05:02:14Z")
you might consider a tablet depending on what your use is… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/22 "2004-06-18T06:07:29Z")
> [@sturmhauke](#): > > Like I said before, cheaper computers tend to have weirder, “easier” configurations. If you know more than a little about computers, you will get frustrated at all the limitations. But they work for basic computing needs. I’ve had Compaqs, and haven’t had many problems. The computer I’m typing this on now is a 333 MHz Celeron, which I’ve just upgraded to Win 98 SE. Never had any problems with it for the past 6 years. When I was buying a computer for someone else I research Emachines, and I was not impressed with what I read. Personally, I wouldn’t touch one. Anyone interested should look for reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/23 "2004-06-19T19:30:37Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > This is something I’ve been wondering about lately. In 1998 I bought a $750 computer, and it was _so_ out-dated (64mb of RAM that couldn’t be upgraded!)that I bought another one for $900 just a little over 2 years later. I still have the replacement one, but…It’s only got a 700mhz processor, can’t read dvds, can’t have more than 512mb of RAM and so on, so I’m looking to replace it in the next six months. > > If a computer is only going to be appropriate for my needs for a couple-three years, am I _really_ better off buying something fairly expensive?I **want** an alienware, but unless I win the lottery, that’ll never happen. I mean, I could get another HP for $700-1000+ and maybe have it for four years (the one I use now is an HP, and it’s given me less trouble than…anything) before I grudgingly admit it’s out-dated, or I could buy an e-machine or Compaq for half the price and replace it in a couple of years. Are e-machines and compaqs really so terrible they won’t hold out for a couple of years? A $750 computer in 1998 is different from a $750 computer now. Minimum prices for computers have falled dramatically and a $750 computer now would be the equivilant in terms of low/mid/high range of a $1500 computer then. If your working on audio production, then you probably will need a reasonably beefy computer though. Have you considered a mac? AFAIK, theres nothing revolutionary coming out on the mac side in the next year or so and all the bugs in the G5 have been ironed out so now would be an ideal time to buy. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/24 "2004-06-19T20:16:07Z")
If you’re using the computer for a specific purpose (audio production, in this case), you might start by looking at the requirements for the software or hardware products you plan to use. Get a system optimized for those requirements, and it should be fine for the more typical stuff (web browsing, email, word processing, light game playing). If, for example, you’re interested in working with digital video, you can get systems custom built for that purpose (fast, large hard drives, DVD burners, video editing software included). Perhaps some vendors sell systems optimized for audio production. They might advertise in the trade magazines. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/25 "2004-06-19T22:59:33Z")
- - - About the only thing you -need- a newest-fastest computer for is playing the newest games with all their visual effects turned on at maximum screen resolution. Ordinary day-to-day programs usually don’t benefit at all. Games rely heavily on graphics-card processing, and other programs don’t use that much, if at all. If your system can’t play a new game well, the first thing to consider is if you can spend a fair amount and improve your videocard–one with more RAM will usually run faster as well. - If you are doing video, sound or visual editing on a desktop often a fast hard drive system helps now as well (serial-ATA or SCSI) but having the fastest CPU doesn’t mean a whole lot much of the time. The problem is getting data off and on the hard drive. Laptops for example can be bought with the fastest CPU’s available–and yet in use they are still way slower than desktop PC’s with the same CPU speeds are… and the reason is that laptops use slower 2.5-inch hard drives. That is their bottleneck. ~ ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/26 "2004-06-20T00:50:24Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > If your working on audio production, then you probably will need a reasonably beefy computer though. Have you considered a mac? AFAIK, theres nothing revolutionary coming out on the mac side in the next year or so and all the bugs in the G5 have been ironed out so now would be an ideal time to buy. Hell no, I’m not considering a mac. The reason I want a new computer is primarily because I’m a pc gamer…and waiting another six months to a year for my games isn’t something I’m interested in. I don’t do anything interesting with audio, just games, word processing and paint programs (ftr, photoshop isn’t as appropriate as Jasc paint shop pro power suite photo addition for my paint needs, anyway, so that’s no mac selling point for me, either). ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789/27 "2004-06-20T01:16:36Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Are e-machines and compaqs really so terrible they won’t hold out for a couple of years? Well, Compaqs used to be bad about using “combined” parts. For example, I used to own a Compaq P133 that had the modem and sound card combined on one expansion card. Lightning struck my house and fried the modem and thus I didn’t have sound until the card was replaced. They don’t do this as much now. Back when that P133 was $2000, it was cheaper for Compaq to engineer a card that did two or three things. These days, components are so cheap that they typically don’t bother using “proprietary parts” like they did in the past. It’s cheaper for them to use “off the shelf” parts and make suer that there are no issues with that particular configuration. So while it still happens, it’s very rare. eMachines are a different story. They typically use the cheapest parts on the planet. Generic power supplies, generic network cards, etc. They _do_ work as advertised, but typically not for long. And because they use the cheapest boards possible, they are usually (but not always) limited with the upgrade paths. I say don’t worry about upgrades. Typically, Intel (and AMD) will change the chipsets on their boards to support newer, faster processors. To use the newer processors, you need a new chipset… which means a new motherboard… which means new RAM… which means that you may as well buy a new computer. I think it’s a good rule that whatever processor is fastest _when you buy your computer_ is the fastest processor you’ll be able to use with it. For example, my next to last computer was a P3-933 with an Asus CU-SL2C motherboard. The 933 wasn’t the fastest Intel processor at the time (it was a 1000 MHz processor). I typically don’t buy the fastest processor on the market because both Intel and AMD charge a premium for owning “the fastest” - at the time, I believe that the 1.0GHz cost $200 or so more than the 933, which is _not_ worth the cost. Anyway, Intel came out with some slightly faster processors (1.13GHz???) before starting the P4 line. So the fastest proc that I could ever run in the older PC would be a 1.0 or 1.13 processor. There’s no way I could use my new P4 3.0GHz chip with the older board. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-now-the-time-to-buy-a-computer/250789.md?page=1)