New budget computer needed..what is the fastest for the $$?

[Powerstroke2000]

I'm thinking of upgrading my computer, and would like to get the fastest possible for my needs. Mainly internet useage, e-mail, many applications running at the same time, Itunes with music playing most often and possibly an application running with photo's for editing.
No game use needed, but perhaps a TV card installed for use occassionally. A large hard drive and sufficient ram of course. Any ideas on whether something should be added for backup purposes only?

Is a quad core the way to go for multi-application use, without having any hiccups? I'm thinking a good video and sound card would be applicable here, in that my home sound system is basically quality computer speakers/subwoofer.

A good power supply along with card readers and the usual necessary peripherals of course.

I'm not sure if going with a 64 bit Windows product is the way to go, but I thought I should throw that in there for some advice as well.

Any idea's on the cost of such a beast, and what I might be missing in my list of goodies that would be worthwhile?

My current old warrior is pretty tired, and XP seems to take the day off now and again!

[EzyStvy]

What "is" your budget?

[David M]

So long as your not playing games and a few other CPU/graphics intensive applications, then you don't need a fast computer.

You can get by on a low end Dell for well under $500. In fact you can buy a Dell for less than the equivalent low end home built computer. You might also want to look at Costco or Wallmart. I would not recommend an HP at this time because of quality and customer service issues.

http://www.dell.com/content/products...ref=dthp&s=dhs

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by David M So long as your not playing games and a few other CPU/graphics intensive applications, then you don't need a fast computer. You can get by on a low end Dell for well under $500. In fact you can buy a Dell for less than the equivalent low end home built computer. You might also want to look at Costco or Wallmart. I would not recommend an HP at this time because of quality and customer service issues. http://www.dell.com/content/products...ref=dthp&s=dhs

Rarely will you get a Dell or other manufactured computer that is of the same or better performance than a home built computer for the same price. Prices of individual components have come down so much that you can get a pretty decent gaming computer for about $400 (that will play most games at medium resolution and 1280x1024).

[David M]

Ok, price out an equivalent homebuilt for $279.

I don't think its possible to beat this Inspiron 530 for $279 If all you pretty much do is browse the internet and get your emails, then that's all you need. He may want to bump up the RAM and the HD a little for his photo editing. The CPU is fast enough, even if he does have to wait a few extra seconds after editing a photo.

http://www.dell.com/content/products...ref=dthp&s=dhs

He did ask for prices for a cheap computer. He was not asking for a computer capable of playing games. Also, I want to make it clear that I never said the opposite where advanced computers can be purchased for less than the equivalent home built. I know that is not true. That is the very reason that over the past six years I have built four of my own home built gaming computers. You can build your own gamer for about 1/2 to 2/3's the price Alien charges for the same exact internal hardware and OS.

[jdeb]

yah, I just ran the dell configuration with a tv card and it came up to 369.00. I trust another 30 or 40 for shipping right? So now your at 410.00 it didn't have a monitor. I doesn't get any cheaper than that and it would give him what he needs. I couldn't build one for that... well I could but I couldn't sell it for that. He could also go into a local mom and pop PC store and might find one for the 350.00 range with a tv card.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellsto...=DDCWDA1&s=dhs

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by David M Ok, price out an equivalent homebuilt for $279. I don't think its possible to beat this Inspiron 530 for $279 If all you pretty much do is browse the internet and get your emails, then that's all you need. He may want to bump up the RAM and the HD a little for his photo editing. The CPU is fast enough, even if he does have to wait a few extra seconds after editing a photo. http://www.dell.com/content/products...ref=dthp&s=dhs He did ask for prices for a cheap computer. He was not asking for a computer capable of playing games. Also, I want to make it clear that I never said the opposite where advanced computers can be purchased for less than the equivalent home built. I know that is not true. That is the very reason that over the past six years I have built four of my own home built gaming computers. You can build your own gamer for about 1/2 to 2/3's the price Alien charges for the same exact internal hardware and OS.

The closest I could get to is $300; but that includes a dual core processor, better integrated graphics and better quality parts. You also get a choice in the OS between XP Home and Vista Home Basic without having to pay an extra $150 if you want XP. If you make any upgrades to the basic $279 build on Dell's website they completely overcharge for them, making similar upgrades from the parts list below would cost a lot less. Here is the parts list:


LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DH-20A4P-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106228
$20.99

Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147073
$19.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136098
$49.99

GIGABYTE GA-M61PME-S2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128333
$46.99

Antec Basiq BP-350B 350W ATX12V Version 2.01 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371013
$19.99

Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148163
$15.99

AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor Model ADH2300DOBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103232
$37.99

Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 for System Builders
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116511
$89.99

Subtotal: $301.92

[jdeb]

here is one for 420... this is what I would build based on his original post. this is a typical multi tasking budget machine that i have built. you can get some of the things a little cheaper, you could save around 30.00 bones if you look hard enough.

dvd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106263

case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811153110

hd
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136113

motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813186155

tv tuner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116007

keyboard kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823126017

memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211066

cpu
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103211

xp os
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116511

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11 The closest I could get to is $300; but that includes a dual core processor, better integrated graphics and better quality parts. You also get a choice in the OS between XP Home and Vista Home Basic without having to pay an extra $150 if you want XP. If you make any upgrades to the basic $279 build on Dell's website they completely overcharge for them, making similar upgrades from the parts list below would cost a lot less. Here is the parts list: LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DH-20A4P-04 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106228 $20.99 Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147073 $19.99 Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136098 $49.99 GIGABYTE GA-M61PME-S2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128333 $46.99 Antec Basiq BP-350B 350W ATX12V Version 2.01 Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371013 $19.99 Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148163 $15.99 AMD Athlon X2 BE-2300 Brisbane 1.9GHz Socket AM2 45W Dual-Core Processor Model ADH2300DOBOX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103232 $37.99 Microsoft Windows XP Home SP3 for System Builders http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116511 $89.99 Subtotal: $301.92

NICE... you forgot the tv tuner... i could use a couple of your things and bring my price down as well. but i like mine better

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by jdeb NICE... you forgot the tv tuner... i could use a couple of your things and bring my price down as well. but i like mine better

The build list was made to contrast with the $279 dell build. A tv tuner would bring up the price to about $350. Has anyone heard of KWORLD? This TV Tuner looks really good for the price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815260010

[edfair]

Without the TV tuner I've seen off lease Dell GX270s and 280s in the $135 to $175 range. The little ones are not made for expansion but for the uses you mention perfectly acceptable. OS included XPP, big drive, 512 memory.

You might not be interested, but maybe this will get you to consider other options.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by edfair Without the TV tuner I've seen off lease Dell GX270s and 280s in the $135 to $175 range. The little ones are not made for expansion but for the uses you mention perfectly acceptable. OS included XPP, big drive, 512 memory. You might not be interested, but maybe this will get you to consider other options.

Most if not all the GX270s and 280s use P4 processors, 512MB of ram and 40GB hard drives; that's really bad for a new computer; P4s are extremely slow compared to even the least expensive processors now available, while XP requires at least 1GB of ram to run fast. For about $50 you can get a 500GB hard drive. Unless you have a really low budget and very small requirements, I wouldn't bother with a pre-built; more often than not you'll find that home-built computers are faster and more reliable than pre-built.

[Powerstroke2000]

Gosh, you guys have done extremely well, although my main "issue" these days is the WAITING between clicks of the mouse. I'd like everything to be seemless...no waiting, as I've done more than my share the last couple of years with this computer I now have (P4, 1 GB Ram, XP and quality components). My budget would be in the $600. or just over category, which should free up some $$ for quickness as well as hopefully some quality. Does the 64 bit OS the way to go these days, or is 32 sufficient?
I saw a sale on a 1 TB HD for $98. a while back, albeit I'm not sure if I'd need that kind of space.

My wife has a new HP laptop, with the dual core, and Vista Home Premium, 2 GB Ram, and I'm not blown away by it's speed overall, which is why I asked about the quad core.

I do realize I'm heavy on applications on my current computer, and Norton Anti-Virus may be what is holding it up a fair bit, but until my subscription runs out I'll continue with it, and probably change over to Kaspersky, as it is suppose to be less reliant on resources. This current computer has been rebuilt a couple of times now (hardware upgraded) and I think it's days are numbered, as the fan is again getting noisy, it's slowed down and there are times the cursor changes to an hourglass...and stays that way for 10 - 15 minutes before it's ready for some input by me.

Thanks for your advice and comments to this point...

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by Powerstroke2000 Gosh, you guys have done extremely well, although my main "issue" these days is the WAITING between clicks of the mouse. I'd like everything to be seemless...no waiting, as I've done more than my share the last couple of years with this computer I now have (P4, 1 GB Ram, XP and quality components). My budget would be in the $600. or just over category, which should free up some $$ for quickness as well as hopefully some quality. Does the 64 bit OS the way to go these days, or is 32 sufficient? I saw a sale on a 1 TB HD for $98. a while back, albeit I'm not sure if I'd need that kind of space. My wife has a new HP laptop, with the dual core, and Vista Home Premium, 2 GB Ram, and I'm not blown away by it's speed overall, which is why I asked about the quad core. I do realize I'm heavy on applications on my current computer, and Norton Anti-Virus may be what is holding it up a fair bit, but until my subscription runs out I'll continue with it, and probably change over to Kaspersky, as it is suppose to be less reliant on resources. This current computer has been rebuilt a couple of times now (hardware upgraded) and I think it's days are numbered, as the fan is again getting noisy, it's slowed down and there are times the cursor changes to an hourglass...and stays that way for 10 - 15 minutes before it's ready for some input by me. Thanks for your advice and comments to this point...

64 bit? It's primarily to do with memory addressing, 64 bit allows you to have more than 4GB in total (Graphics and RAM) memory, any more in 32bit and you'll be losing memory. Actually, there are many advantages to 64 bit processing. It has to do with how the computer represents large numbers and how many memory accesses are required to read and store numbers. Besides being able to address a much large memory space, you will well see big differences with any program that uses computationally intense methods. A good example is Photoshop when it is rendering complex image transformations. That said, I'm using 32 bit Vista because of the lack of 64 bit drivers and current programs that really use 64 bit processing. But that will change and 64 bit processing will become the norm. The same thing happened when we went form 16 bits to 32.

Don't judge anything by a laptop, especially HP. In terms of space look and see how much you have now and go from there. If you plan on recording a lot of tv, you will need to consider the larger hard drive or at least the 500gb western digital black... you could always add another externally in the future. I do not care for Norton when I do builds, I usually go with AVG, I never have used Kaspersky and do not know anything about it... Hope this helps

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by Powerstroke2000 Gosh, you guys have done extremely well, although my main "issue" these days is the WAITING between clicks of the mouse. I'd like everything to be seemless...no waiting, as I've done more than my share the last couple of years with this computer I now have (P4, 1 GB Ram, XP and quality components). My budget would be in the $600. or just over category, which should free up some $$ for quickness as well as hopefully some quality. Does the 64 bit OS the way to go these days, or is 32 sufficient? I saw a sale on a 1 TB HD for $98. a while back, albeit I'm not sure if I'd need that kind of space. My wife has a new HP laptop, with the dual core, and Vista Home Premium, 2 GB Ram, and I'm not blown away by it's speed overall, which is why I asked about the quad core. I do realize I'm heavy on applications on my current computer, and Norton Anti-Virus may be what is holding it up a fair bit, but until my subscription runs out I'll continue with it, and probably change over to Kaspersky, as it is suppose to be less reliant on resources. This current computer has been rebuilt a couple of times now (hardware upgraded) and I think it's days are numbered, as the fan is again getting noisy, it's slowed down and there are times the cursor changes to an hourglass...and stays that way for 10 - 15 minutes before it's ready for some input by me. Thanks for your advice and comments to this point...

What kind of peripherals do you need for your new computer? Keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, printer? For multitasking, quadcore is better than dual core. 1TB might not be a bad idea, you never know when you'll run out of hard drive space.

[pally01]

Hey Masaki, Jdeb and DavidM: Powerstroke is based in Canada. He'd need links and pricing from Newegg.ca and Dell.ca wouldn't he?

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by pally01 Hey Masaki, Jdeb and DavidM: Powerstroke is based in Canada. He'd need links and pricing from Newegg.ca and Dell.ca wouldn't he?

Didn't notice that; will change the links to Newegg.ca once the necessary peripherals are listed.

[KodyMoyer]

$600 is if you're going barebones, but if you have the budget get a dell or lenovo if it's a laptop. cheap and reliable, I have one as a backup laptop.

[Masaki 7-11]

Originally Posted by KodyMoyer $600 is if you're going barebones, but if you have the budget get a dell or lenovo if it's a laptop. cheap and reliable, I have one as a backup laptop.

$600 will get you a gaming PC or a general purpose PC with a quad core (at least if you are talking in US dollars). Home built computers with proper parts will always be faster/more reliable than pre-built.

[Powerstroke2000]

With having our first laptop in the house, we do find it a useful item indeed. It was bought for my wife, but she's finding myself or either of my daughters regularly using it as well, as the ability to use it 'wherever' in the house is very convenient. I even find I use it while watching television, as these days there are so many advertisements...one can actually get a fair bit of use from the laptop checking e-mail or ones favorite websites!
On the other hand, I do find having my PC tower in the den as the main computer in the house, which has the router/modem attached, so the laptop and one other computer can be connected via networking.

As for $$ spent, nothing is set in stone, yet I would like to at least be up to date on getting the best speed possible from a new system. I currently have a monitor (19" LCD at the moment), keyboard and mouse....all now 5 years old or more. The poor old mouse still works flawlessly, but the color in the plastic has gone where our fingers sit, thus showing two large white round spots (probably loss of coloration within the plastic?)...so I suppose it wouldn't hurt to upgrade those. I have a Microsoft Multimedia keyboard...it too working perfectly after all these years, but it truly is showing it's age. To say the least...monitor, keyboard and mouse work as if they will last for a very long time yet...which isn't always the case with computer peripherals these days.

This current computer has a CD burner, a separate DVD player-burner and 3.5" floppy drive (never use floppies any more) on the outer case, a Sound Blaster Audigy (not sure which exact one at the moment) and Altec Lansing Speakers and sub, which to me is the best part of the whole computer, as it can really churn out the tunes! Works well when on the treadmill and/or other equipment in the room...or if I feel like workin' the 17 GB of mp3's available on the HD.
So...I would again expect to add a good sound card as well to a new computer.

It sounds like a 32 bit system would be fine, and again the idea of going 64 bit was only as a matter of thinking into the future, that it would be the way to go. As for applications...I tend to get bogged down on applications over the years, which may be why my computer currently has fits from time to time. There are times when I will click on something, and the computer can take up to 15 minutes (as if it needs a rest!) but will eventually bring up whatever it is I'm trying to do...so I usually leave the room and attend to other chores around the house while my computer takes it's time "computing".
My current computer has been "in" to the shop twice now for major upgrades (motherboard/hard drive, video card) so I'm thinking it is time is probably coming to an end.

As previously mentioned, gaming is not an issue, unless you call solitare or hearts "gaming"...so it's mainly having many applications open at a time, while perusing websites with Firefox, and/or checking e-mail, which may or may not have photo's, .mpg links and other task oriented applications needed.
Not having had a new computer with today's technology, I don't know if it's possible to multitask as mentioned here, yet still have "instantaneous" executions when clicking the mouse? These days when looking online at computers, they often use the words "Gaming Computer" which are often the fastest computers available, but I have thought that meant more that a top video card/sound card and other peripherals where needed, along with quality components....but I'm not a gamer, just a heavy application user, but there is no distinction usually for that term when looking at computers.

Anyway...thanks to those that have replied to date, as your advice is truly appreciated.

[tomtoon]

well what applications we talking about?

video /audio editing?
photoshop?
CAD?

[Powerstroke2000]

Google Earth, Zoombrowser (for digital camera), Itunes, Limewire, Spybot, Outlook e-mail, Browser, HP Photosmart, MS Office, Picassa, Word & other related every day type applications.
No movie editing, but some minor size changes to photo's with Zoombrowser.

Any number of these could be opened, plus running a web browser and e-mail, which are two that are often open at the same time.

Hope that helps...

[tomtoon]

Well you'd be best off with a quad core and 4GB of DDR2 800 RAM.

Ask someone to spec out a build, right now Im busy