Oo, lurkers arise. Anyway, I have to buy a new computer within the next few weeks (for college), and quite frankly, I’m at a loss. I’m on a budget, so it has to be $1000 or less for everything (i.e. computer, monitor, printer…) I’ve had both apples and PCs in the past, so I can cope with either. My first computer was one of those giant clunkers with only green text, then to a Sony Vaio, and now a custom-built, and we had Macs at school.
The only thing it has to do is be a word processor, handle ethernet connections, and be able to efficiently run multiple Adobe and other graphic programs (though not simultaneously) …can anyone suggest a good quality system for me? Thank you…
If you must stick with the budget, you can get one of the nearly-gone G3 iMacs for about $700 or so. It won’t be a powerhouse, but for what you want to do, it’ll be more than sufficient. MacOS X is amazing, especially for internet stuff, and Apple’s included software is a joy (especially iMovie, IMO – if you’ve got the slightest interest in digital video, iMovie will turn it into a full-blown obsession ).
If you can nudge the budget up a bit more, get the eMac, both for the G4 processor and the higher-resolution screen.
The only shopping tip I’d offer is to try to get at least 256 MB of RAM for MacOS X. Get the minimum from Apple, and buy more from a third-party vendor.
You might want to check with your college first to see what’s the OS of choice there is (this would also depend on what you’re studying). Other than that, you could always try dell.com.
If you do a little reading up on the necessary components (CPU, motherboard, memory, etc), you can get a fabulous deal from some of the smaller on-line sites. I bought a ridiculous system from Spartan Technologies[sup]1[/sup] pretty inexpensively without any hassles.
The catch is that they usually don’t provide the extras you get with the bigger names, like loads of bundled software or long term technical support. But as far as budget requirements, I’ve found this to the most cost-effective way of getting exactly what I wanted without paying tons of cash for stuff I didn’t want. And, of course, you have to know EXACTLY what you want, like the correct heat sink for your CPU.
YMMV.
[sup]1[/sup]Provided as an example, not as an endorsement.
I would stear clear of HP?Compaq for a while - let them sort themselves out after their merger.
Gateway, I have a few customers (i repair Pc’s & custom build them) that have have purchased new Gateways - and had either terrible luck - or gateway is having a rough time atm.
So i guess that leaves the other Giant - Dell.
AMD Proccessors - You will likely get more goodies - as they are cheaper, so expect more RAM, bigger HD etc…
Intel: You mentioned Adobe & other graphics progs:
If you go with Intel - for sub grand - you are either going to get a DDR board and P4 combo (DDR is great for AMD systems - but does not hack it well in Intel)
OR you are gonna get A Celeron. Celerons are GREAT workhorses ie: wordprocessing, or wordprocessing, ummm amd maybe some wordprocessing. graphics stear clear - from the Cellie.
So My suggestion - If Dell is selling AMD go for it - (my proc is a 1.67 Mghz AMD - and it whups the P4 2.0 Gig im most benchmarks).
Or get a buddy to do a custom job for you.
I have personally built the last 6 PC’s that I have owned - never bought an OEM before in my life.
apple.com has the bare bones eMac (G4 700, CD-RW, 128mb) for $1,099 right now. If I wasn’t dirt poor at moment, I’d be all over that mofo. I’m a Windows user who’s been following Mac prices for awhile now, waiting for one to hit the right price/power balance, and this is probably the best deal I’ve seen yet.
Can you wrangle the educational price/configuration for the eMac? Apple’s pretty lax about who qualifies – if you’ve got a friend who’s in school, or can enroll in a dirt-cheap community college class, I believe they’ll let you buy from their education selection.
Good idea, but I messed with the Ed Discount settings, and the lowest price you can get for the eMac is $1049, with no modem. Considering how strapped for cash I am right now, I’ll pass.
Dell has a deal where you can get a 1.3 ghz celeron and a 15 in monitor for $600. Not a kick@$$ system by any streach of the imagination but a kick@$$ price - and it will run what you need to and have beer money left over ;).
I don’t personally have any experience with this, but Dell offers some of their systems that have been returned (not necessarily for quality reasons) at good prices. See:
Also, if you have a monitor already, you can probably save something (probably under $100) by taking the monitor off of any package a vendor offers. However, if you don’t have at least a 17" CRT, I wouldn’t do this.
Umm dell prices vary from the business section to the regular section try them both. If you
use the business section, just input for a business where you work, they don’t seem to mind.
e.g. from that website I just mentioned drool at this:
“Ending Dell Small Biz Sale - P4-1.8Ghz Desktop $521 shipped free, Jun 26”
If you go on Pricewatch, a good 19" CRT can be had, though you’re still likely to find that Dell’s prices are better. Save a hundred bucks for an extra hard drive, and you’ll have a porn downloading powerhouse!
Thank you…
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