<p>My computer just plain sucks. Crashes, illegal operations and blue screens all the time. Its an HP w/ 600mhz processor. It just plain sucks. I can't watch movies or run alot of programs with it. I don't play any games though, but w/ my computer I couldn't anyways.</p>
<p>I've been looking around online and found a Gateway for $571.61 that comes with...</p>
<p>Operating System:Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (SP2) w/ XP Home Backup CD<br>
Application Software:Microsoft® Works 8.0<br>
Processor: Intel® Celeron® D Processor 340 (2.93 GHz, 533MHz FSB, 256K L2 cache) ........[ +US$35.00]<br>
Memory: 512MB PC3200 400MHz DDR SDRAM (2-256MB modules) ........[ +US$49.00]<br>
Hard Drive: 160GB Ultra ATA100 7200rpm hard drive ........[ +US$35.00]<br>
Optical Drive: 48x/32x/48x CD-RW<br>
Floppy Drive: Floppy drive not selected<br>
Extended Service Plan Including Limited Warranty: Desktop Value Service Plan -- 90-day parts/labor/no on-site/toll technical support<br>
Monitors: Monitor not selected ........[ -US$50.00]<br>
Keyboard and Mouse: Gateway Basic 104+ Keyboard and Two-button PS/2 Wheel Mouse (no mouse pad included)<br>
Speakers: 2-piece speaker solution<br>
AntiVirus Software: Norton Internet Security 90 day introductory offer<br>
Chipset: Intel® 865GV Chipset<br>
Case: Gateway 6-Bay Mid-Tower Case<br>
Expansion Slots: 3 x PCI Expansion Slots (2 slots available)<br>
External Ports: (4) USB 2.0 (All 4 are rear ports), Audio ports, Parallel, Serial, and (2) PS/2<br>
Certification: Energy Star Compliant<br>
Video: Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 with up to 64MB shared DDR memory<br>
Sound System: Integrated Intel® High Definition audio<br>
Modem: 56K PCI data/fax modem<br>
Network Adapter: Integrated Intel® Pro 10/100 Ethernet Adapter<br>
Internet Service Provider: Six months America Online® Internet access<br>
Part Number: 1008367<br>
Additional Software: Adobe® Acrobat Reader® 6.0, McAfee AntiSpyware 30 day introductory offer and Google Toolbar</p>
<p>What do you guys think? I don't need a monitor, I might get a printer later on since my printer is broken.</p>
<p>Frankly, your local BestBuy/Circuit City has better deals.</p>
<p>Lets look at the specs:</p>
<p>Many people dont like the Intel Celeron processors. If youre not a gamer and youre on a budget, a Celeron is fine for ordinary computer needs.
512 MB of fast PC3200 memory is good enough.
Hard drive/cd-rw is fine.
3 PCI slots: one slot used for a modem card. No mention of an AGP slot (for a decent video card upgrade).
Troublesome: Sounds like Gateway is using a non standard motherboard. Most motherboards manufactured in the past 3 or 4 years have around 5 PCI expansion slots and an AGP Video card slot. Not a good bet for future upgrades, especially if you decide to play video games.
Built-in video/audio on the motherboard is pretty standard. Enough to get you started
Youll want to get a dvd-rom drive to play movies. Theyre pretty cheap ($30).</p>
<p>Tomorrow is Sunday, get the local paper and go through the circulars. Even the office supply stores have better deals than the one you found on-line. </p>
<p>Things to consider: It sounds like youre running an old Windows 98/PIII/600MHZ computer. If your monitor is the same age as your computer, it should work with the built-in motherboard video of your new computer. If your new computer has an AGP slot and you get a new video card, theres a good chance that your old monitor will not have enough resolution to run properly. You may want to get a new monitor when you replace your computer it would be cheaper than upgrading later.</p>
<p>My principal concern is why your old computer is acting up. While Windows 95/98 werent the most stable operating systems, many companies still have computers running under those OSs with few problems. Possibly, your power supply is fading or you have a failing hard drive. Youre sure you dont have any viruses or lots of spyware running? My concern is that you get a new computer and the same thing starts to happen again. Be sure to use XPs firewall, run anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to protect your investment. </p>
<p>Yeah, my dad said we'll look at the local papers and see what Best Buy/CompUSA has. We have a new monitor, the old one went out. I dont know why this one is acting up, I've reinstalled the computer over 30 times in the past 5 years. Its just really slow when you have a couple programs going. I cleaned out the registry w/ optimizers and stuff but it just gets so many illegal operations and locks up all the time. I think its on its way out.</p>
<p>how the hell do you build computers??????!!!! there are so many little chips and little thingee green/blue/black letters, metal things everywhere!!</p>
<p>NoFX, you don't put all the resistors and transisors on boards of silicon or anything -- you mostly just slide cards in and plug in things.</p>
<p>Anyway, it looks pretty good. Check out stores to see if you can get better deals, but what you have is fine. Yes, you could do better by building yourself, but since you're asking us for advice, you probably ought not to. :-P</p>
<p>Yeah....if you are willing to spend around $1,000, then you should definitely your own....but in this case...the one you are looking at is fine..the computer you have is good for surfing the internet, watch movies, and the other day-to-day stuff. The processor is good and it should handle itself pretty well. The video card is not that good, but you should be fine if you dont play certain games on high setting.
Overall, thats a good computer. It has a decent amount of hard drive and memory. Thats a pretty good deal.</p>
<p>"how the hell do you build computers??????!!!! there are so many little chips and little thingee green/blue/black letters, metal things everywhere!!"</p>
<p>Heck I'll get you all the parts, build it and ship it out to you, granted I get a little bit of cash for making it. Still be a lot cheaper. And you wouldn't even have to pay me until your computer arrives.</p>
<p>well, evanescenteuphoria, it really depends on where you buy the parts.....and it does NOT cost same to build a computer....
if you buy the right parts, you can save $50~$200 on a computer(at least)....
:rolleyes:</p>
<p>Evanescenteuphoria if your going to pay $90 for windows xp then yes it's worth it to buy from a company such as HP, rather then building it yourself. But some people know how to not pay $90 ;) And if you get into more of the high end computers, it's def. a lot cheaper. Here's my computer</p>
<p>Cost: Just under $300
AMD 64bit 3000
Memory: 512 mb pc3200
HD:120gig, 7200
Video 256mb geforce 5500
Cool Case
Nice Mobo</p>
<h2>Windows XP home/Suse Linux</h2>
<p>And if you get all your parts off newegg you should be fine.</p>
<p>I just gathered all the parts for a pc with the same specs as you have right there, with a FAR better motherboard and a $50 PCI Express graphics card that would actually run games, as well as a faster hard drive, and a subwoofer
$511 w/shipping</p>
<p>it could go cheaper by reducing some of those extra features as well</p>
<p>A friend of mine built his own computer, and it was the best decision he's made all summer.</p>
<p>He ordered all the parts himself for about $700 total, and his computer is simply top notch. However, I provided him with all of the software and technical support, so he saved some cash there.</p>
<p>He has two identical CPUs in there (2.8 GHz, but there's two of them), a gig of RAM, about 100 gigs of hard disk space, and I don't know what the heck his graphics card is, but I still can't find a top-notch game that he can't run on it.</p>
<p>The graphics card is so high-caliber that I've adapted his computer (with LOTS of help from a bunch of my computer friends, actually I didn't do much here) to run like an Xbox/PS2, so we can play Halo 2 on the computer. The only downside is that we can only really do 2 ppl because we have to use the mouse and keyboard, no controllers.</p>
<p>BUILD YOUR OWN COMPUTER!!! It's much better than buying one.</p>
<p>How much computer experience should one have to build a computer? I use it almost everyday, but wouldn't know how to put one together lol... I've never taken any type of computer class, but I have installed hardware myself (with the aid of an instruction manual of course!). It sounds interesting, and I may want to do it in the future sometime, but what would you advise one to do before he/she actually tries to set one up? Are there any books that go over this thoroughly, efficiently, and clearly? Thanks.</p>
<p>not much, my friend who built his own computer knows almost nothing about computers. Putting it together was no problem for him, making everything work was a problem though, and that's where I along with a group of my friends came in.</p>
<p>Just follow the manual, it should be pretty straightforward.</p>
<p>It's actually very easy. If you put in the OS CD, the CD should be able to walk you through the re-format. The re-format, depending on how fast your computer is and how large the space you are re-formatting, can take an hour or so to do.</p>
<p>In terms of installing software, I recommend you get your firewall and virusscan software up and running before you establish an internet connection. Also don't forget to install your drivers or else you won't have audio, video, networking, etc.</p>
<p>It's really very straightforward, if you run into any trouble you can PM me or even better, call technical support.</p>
<p>I don't think I could build a computer now-a-days. Maybe back in 1999 when we where still in Mhz and the top of the line graphics card was a Voodoo 5500. I've been out of the computer scene for a while.</p>
<p>I have Windows XP. I don't plan on re-formatting anytime soon, but in the past, I have asked friends to explain it to me, and it went right over my head!</p>
<p>P.S.- It may be because I had an older version of Windows? (Windows ME.. ugh- biggest piece of crap ever!)</p>