Trying to help my friend buy his first PC

In My Humble Opinion
1

A friend of mine is in the market for a computer. He has very limited experience using computers. He will be using it primarily for surfing the internet. He doesn’t really think he’ll ever be playing computer games, although he says you never know. He will also be getting high speed internet access (cable modem).

I am trying to help him out, but I’m not sure exactly what he needs. Here is what I recommended, and where our questions are:

Processor - This is my main area of question. I wasn’t really sure what he needed here. He’s leaning towards
a pentium 4, not sure how fast. I don’t know how processor speed will affect what he’s doing (internet surfing, downloading/playing music, burning CD’s).

Ram - I told him to get at least 256 MB, and if it was cheap enough to get 512 MB.

Hard Drive - I told him to get a 60 or 80 GB hard drive. I can see him saving a lot of mp3’s and possibly video as well on his computer.

Video Card - I don’t know much about video cards, and didn’t know what to tell him here either. He’s not really planning on doing much gaming, if any so I wouldn’t think he’d need much here.

CD/DVD drives - He is looking at getting a DVD drive and a writable CD drive. He’d also looked at writable DVD drives.

That’s about it for the questions we have. He’s pretty much set on most the other stuff he wants, such as monitor,speakers, etc.

Any input would be greatly appereciated. Thanks.

2

I would suggest an AMD Athlon XP processor over a P4. You can get the same performance for a lot cheaper, or better performance for the same price. P4s can be a better option when you really have the money to spend on a 2.5Ghz or higher, but for the best bang for a buck, nothing can touch an AMD Athlon XP 2000+.

I would go for an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro videocard. These can be had for under $100, and are quite fast. The BARE minimum is a Geforce3. A Geforce2 or Geforce4 MX is really not at all acceptable, as they don’t support the technology that will underly upcoming games and other applications. A Radeon 9000 Pro should beat out any Geforce3 or Geforce4 MX, and will have very good image quality. This will allow your friend to play any games if he should choose to, and not require a significant investment to do so.

One last suggestion is to buy the computer from a local shop. Take them the list of specs you want, and have them build the computer to your specs.

3

Dang. What FDISK said, down to the letter. Beat me to every last detail I was going to give. I just got a machine with an Athlon 1800 and a Radeon 9000, and I’m very happy with it so far. Oh, and I have a cable modem and use my computer mostly for the internet, with a few games thrown in on the side.

4

If all he wants to do is surf the Internet, an iMac is a viable solution. No, really. (I am not trying to start a platform war, believe me!)

It’s just that the iMac is a personal computer just as much as a Windows-based machine is, so I see no reason why it cannot also be considered as an option for this computer newbie friend. Macs do the Internet very well, are easy to assemble, VERY “newbie friendly” and OS X is a very solid OS. Connecting to cable internet is painfully easy with OS X, something I’ve personally experienced. iMacs are priced within reason, though if a low-end cheap computer is what he’s after, the Mac ain’t it.

::Shrug:: I don’t know if your friend would consider a Mac, but he should at least be informed that they exist, and that they can do certain tasks quite well. And that a lot of people get a lot of work and enjoyment out of them.

And, speaking for myself I wish that when I first wanted to get a computer that some of my Windows-centric friends hadn’t so aggressively pushed me to get a PC. I wish that they hadn’t dismissed any questions I had about Macs so quickly. Not that I hate my PC (I don’t) but to be honest, I have more of a Mac personality. Some of us do. Who knows, maybe your friend does. We are not all destined to be PC people, you know.

It took a few years to finally discover that I really liked working on the Mac (much to the dismay of my PC-centric friends) and I have to say—it would have been nice had my friends allowed me to see both platforms presented in an even-handed way, (instead of Windows all the way) so I could have made a completely informed choice from the beginning. Instead, I just heard their biases and prejudices. (And it would have been equally bad had I head the same biases and prejudices from a Mac-centric person, naturally.)

There now. You can go back to discussing whether Intel or Athlon is better…

5
      • I’ve always wondered about recommending a huge HD to a new user-- it’s very likely the HD will bomb in 5 years before they ever get it filled anywhere near to capacity, in which case they paid for a bunch of disk storage they never needed or got to use. I know lots of people with surfing+email PC’s with 10 Gig drives they’ve never even come close to completely using. IMO, it’s better off to have a 20-30 Gig for the primary/OS drive (which is what a lot of cheaper off-the-shelf PC’s ship with now) and then get a second monster HD drive later if they find that they are storing huge amounts of media.
        ~
6

It’s definitely worth the money to get 512MB of RAM, ideally either DDR or RD RAM (whichever your motherboard will support).

I second the AMD processor suggestion.

I would say, though, that FDISK’s suggestions on a video card are excessive. If your friend is not going to be gaming, a GeForce2 is plenty. I have friends that play most current games on a decent GF2 right now (granted, not at high detail 1600 x 1200), and a video card is easy to upgrade. If your friend is not planning to play many games, then why bother with the extra expense.

Make sure that the CD RW drive he gets has “burnproof” technology, which will cut down drastically on coaster burning by monitoring the CDR buffer. Most (if not all) current drives have this, but old ones (like mine :frowning: ) don’t.

And, yes, Macs are great as far as ease of use goes. Most classic reasons for not getting Macs (compatibility and availability of games) are going away. Just realize that, for the same price, you are getting considerably less power. If that’s not a priority (and it doesn’t sound like it is for your friend), a Mac can be a great way to go. Check out Apple’s student discounts if he might qualify.

7

You guys are proposing massive overkill systems for a user with no expressed interest in computer games. For an internet machine, a Gigapro system makes a tidy self-contained package with all major components built in at a low price. I’d suggest checking your local stores, and go with one who will throw in a cd-burner and/or dvd drive for a minor bump in price.

The resultant machine may suck by 2002 standards (only 30 gig hard drive, only 733MHz, etc) but we only dreamt of such systems 5 years ago. It’s certainly more than enough to run any and all internet, office, MP3 and cd-burner software.

The AMD monsters proposed are comparable to my own computer, but I do video editing and play lots of 3D games. My mother has an old 400MHz system. She primarily uses it for internet surfing, on-line bridge and a little word-processing and its perfectly adequate. She’s just now reaching the limit of her 1.2GB hard drive, so I’ll have to replace it sooner or later.

It may seem cool to set up a computer newbie with a Ferrari system, but it’ll strain the friendship if you encourage your buddy to drop $1500+ (instead of about $400) and after a while he starts asking you why it was necessary to pay so much. It’ll get worse when the mega-cool system he buys today becomes obsolete by next summer. Better to sell him on the idea of a low-scale system that’ll meet his current needs, and he can spend the big bucks later when and if he develops computer interests that require more power. If he has kids, tell him he can give the Gigapro system to them when he gets tired of it.

8

I second Bryan Ekers’s idea. Start with something small. The only things that you want to insist are a nice LCD display and an optical mouse. You don’t need to go with more than 128MB RAM, unless getting 256MB is about the same. CPU, no need to have more than a P4 1.6Ghz (or an eqv. AMD). HDD, hm, 20G is more than sufficient, unless your friend is into downloading porn video and MP3 songs.

A CD-R is nice, but forget about DVD writer. The war is just beginning.

On second thought, get a good case and a hefty power supply.

9

$1500? Where the hell are you buying your stuff? I got a Athlon 1.8Ghz, 256 meg Ram, 40 GB hard drive, sound card, DVD reader/CD writer and an ATI 7500 All-in-Wonder for video capture for around $600. True that leaves out the monitor, but unless he wants a Flat screen, he should be able to pick up a basic monitor for $150 easy. Add another $30 for a modem, and he’s all set. While I do believe that most people buy more computer than they need, in my opinion with the prices what they are, you can get a very good system for not that much more than an adequate system. While it’s true that your friend could get by on a 733 or so, the price for getting one of those with a dvd/cd-rw, would probably still be around $300 or so. Maybe less, but then it’s almost certain to be a used system, and who knows what problems you’re going to get with that.

I second the notion of going to a smaller local shop, telling them about what you want, and asking them for a price. If your friend is strapped for cash, he can probably get a system to do internet and word processing for very cheap, but if he has just a little more expendable cash, I’d recommend going up a few steps on the tech ladder.

Oh, and agree that a dvd burner is a bad idea right now…give them another year to see what format is most likely to make it.

10

Well, I’m Canadian, so I multiply all prices by 1.5 relative to Americans. Instead of $1500 and $400 (CDN), read $1000 and $270 (US).

In any event, I see users recommending high-end systems for a user who doesn’t seem likely to need one. Since computers passed the “basic needs level” years ago (i.e. can run most games and office software) dropping more money than you have to is pointless. Better to save the bucks on the computer itself and get a better set of speakers, monitor and printer. A good subwoofer will matter more than a 2GHz CPU when it comes time to enjoy your MP3s.

11

From the sound of your guy, I would advise him to buy a major brand computer, Dell, Compaq, IBM, whatever your flavour is, and get it with the best possible support option. Otherwise and Imac as suggested by somone else. If it’s his first computer the support offered by a major company is more than worth the inflexibility of the machines they sell.

12

Never buy a computer where a fancy stylized case is an alleged selling point. These machine are a pain in the ass to upgrade.

I wouldn’t recommend a Dell, Compaq or IBM machine for just this reason, but I’m also a computer tech so support is not a critical option.

13

Well… personally, I see no need in dropping an additional $30 to get an Athlon XP 2000+ instead of a 1600. Why? Well, keep in mind that your friend’s probably gonna want to hold onto this computer for quite a while and might not be troubled to upgrade it… the extra bang will give it an edge if something cool comes down the road.

And besides, you said he MIGHT want to get into gaming. If so, I see no reason to not go with a GF3 or a Radeon 9000.

Get at least 256 megs of DDR RAM. A nice big hard drive would be nice, but 40 gigs would probably be sufficient.

All in all, you probably shouldn’t be spending much more than $600 - including the price for a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers.

14

I will throw my 2 cents in on this one. I think that Dell is the best machine to buy and would stay away from Compaq-HP. I would agree with FDISK that a local made machine with specific components is the best and not bloated with all the extra software the commercial makers install and he probably never use most of it. The upgrade path is much better with a custom machine. I would put my dough in a good video card, good dot-pitch monitor and speaker system before a super large hard drive and DVD burner. AMD CPU and DDR RAM for sure.

15

Dammit! Lost my post! Twice!!! :mad:

Let me try again…

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let your friend buy a machine from the likes of Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart, etc… you should steer him away from any OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) machine that may tempt him. Along that path lies madness and frustration. Trust me. (This means Hewlett-Packard, Compaq, and machines that use “integrated” components).

Your friend should walk into a local computer store, tell them how much he’s willing to spend, and let them design a computer for him.

But…

Regardless of how much he is going to spend, he should **not[/b
] skimp on the following 3 items (and I don’t even think these things have been mentioned in this thread): Motherboard, case, and power supply. Nothing sucks more than a new computer in a cramped case with no MB upgradability that is having power problems. Nothing.

For example, I bought a new machine recently and while I went pretty cheap on the components (1.3 gig Athlon, 256 DDR), I made sure to buy the best MB they had to offer - one able to handle 2.3+ Ghz chips, 3 Gigs of DDR, and 5 expansion slots. He should also opt for the stronger power supplys - he might not need all that juice today, but what if he gets into some serious computing and wants to load that baby up? Same logic goes with the case - if he gets geekified and wants a couple of HD’s along with a DVD burner and etc, he’s going to be mightily pissed that he doesn’t have the space to put his new components into his new computer.

16

Oops. I see that Urban Ranger mentioned case and power supply. We Apolytoners think alike, I see. :wink:

I disagree with his and Bryan’s thinking though - your friend would be better off thinking about the future than worrying about what they will be doing at the present. Sure, now he doesn’t care (too much) about games, now he’s not too into computing, but what about tomorrow? I don’t recommend that he gets the latest in video/sound/speaker technology (that’s where the bucks will add up), but he should get a machine that will be able to handle that stuff if he should want it in the future. Go ahead, get the GeForce2 - they’re only $50-60 American - which is better than paying $299 for a GeForce4 or $399 for a G5. Don’t buy too much RAM - but make sure that his MB he can support a lot more if he wants it.

17

Thanks a lot to everyone who contributed to this thread. It is greatly appreciated.

My friend has now narrowed down a few things.

He is getting the computer from a local gateway store.

I guess Gateway only deals with Intel chips, so he is going to get some kind of Pentium. The speed is still to be determined. He is thinking about getting the slowest chip that still has the 512K Casche, I think that would be 2.0 GHz. I don’t really know how much, if at all, processor speed will affect browsing the internet or playing MP3’s or burning the occasional CD. Clarification here would be appreciated.

He is pretty set on getting a DVD-ROM drive and a 2nd CD-r drive. He was considering getting a writable DVD drive, but he’s leaning against that now.

The video card quesiton is still to be determined. The gateway salesman seems to be trying to get him to get a higher end card with 128 MB of memory. I’ve been telling him to get the 64MB one, or just the integrated video. Besides higher end games, is there any reason he’d need a good video card? Does he need one to play DVD’s on his computer?

He’s definitely getting a flat screen monitor. Size is yet to be determined but will probably be 17 or 18 inches. He’s also set on the speakers to get (which include a subwoofer), and the mouse and keyboard and stuff like that he wants.

Just to clarify about this guy. He is * really really * not a computer guy. He has almost no experience using anythig beyond an internet browser. I don’t see any scenario where he’ll get into computers or want to really upgrade his system. As for gaming in the future, he may think about getting 1 or 2 games here and there, but nothing major. Stuff like the Sims maybe. He already has a PS2 and a Gamecube for other games, and he doesnt’ even play those too much I don’t think.

Oh yeah, for yosemitebabe and the others who recommended Mac’s, he consdered those as well. I told him too that a Mac may be a good idea, and I know nothing about them really. I think he just decided to get a PC because he doesn’t know anyone with a Mac and he will need to get a lot of help from friends using his computer anyway. Good idea though, I personally think he should have seriously considered a Mac.

Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

18

Gateway?!? :eek:

19

"I don’t really know how much, if at all, processor speed will affect browsing the internet or playing MP3’s or burning the occasional CD. Clarification here would be appreciated. "

Very little, if at all.

20

Just another question, does your friend have a decent stereo? Is it located someplace close to where his computer is going to be? My mp3’s all play through my stereo system. Just hooked the sound card output to one of the line in jacks on my stereo, and bingo, good sound on my home theater system, instead of spending a chunch of money on computer speakers. If his system is going to be located close enough to do that, then I’d suggest that he spend the money he was going to dump on speakers on getting a better sound card, you can get them with digital audio out to send to a reciever.

Also, is there a reason he’s getting a separate DVD drive and CD/RW? I guess there’s no reason to have one drive that does both, except that it takes one less SCSI spot on my motherboard, so I can install another HD if I need more space.

While I can understand getting a gateway, because it’s just easier sometimes, I’ll almost guarantee you that he’s spending $400 more than he needs to. Best of luck.