I would have said I need everyones advice, but I don't. I need some good solid backed with facts advice.

As many of you know, I have been stuck here in story land due to my computers limited ability.

This is my first, very own computer, that I bought for $150.00 from the college here in town, when they went to upgrade all of theirs.

Now it is my turn, but I am so confused. There are too many choices. I went to Best Buy and that is where I started to get confused. They had complete packages that ranged in price from just over $350.00 to well over $1300.00.

Then I started thinking about Dell and HP Pavilion, Gateway the choices go on and on. I want one that can handle all the stuff we do here and maybe more, but I don't want to spend my life savings doing it. I thought $600.00 to $700.00 would be a good price range.

Anyone help me please.................

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Grammer, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, diction, effectiveness in the science, and larger elements are the facts at hand. The Harbrace College Handbook edited by JOHN C. HODGES

FM/LCR/Etan Evnstar/Kaph/Flight 3/Atrus/off/VEN/VE/Aviation cetificate

First off, as a general rule I do not buy things with moving parts from Best Buy.

Next, if you are going to buy from a megastore, realize your best deals will probably come from a package deal involving a monitor, printer, etc.  If you aren't buying the whole shebang, this may open up more options for you at other stores.

If you are in college, see if your school has a deal with a major vendor. Even if they don't, consider buying from a Dell, Gateway, Fujitsu, etc. directly and mention that you are a student (if you are) and it usually gives you at least a 5% discount.

As for what to put in your new PC or laptop, consider if you think you can add on to it later (or can con a friend into doing so).  This will affect what you buy off the bat.

Get as good a processor as you can, buy memory in blocks that allow you to upgrade later (e.g. buy two 1 gig sticks instead of 4 512 MB sticks), and buy a nice fat hard drive and add more later if you wish.

Also, are you buying a basic PC or are you scaling for a workstation? This affects what kind of parts you buy.

Maybe more thought than you wanted to get into, but it is hard to advise a person without knowing what their needs and wants are.

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PRF/GG Fury/VEA/TADATH/VE [MoHx2][SCPx2][PoC][SotE:HC][SotE:VEA][SCP][MSM][IOC]
Prefect - Stormtrooper Corps
Administrator - Imperial Center

Etan,  if you really want some good advice on getting an ew computer. Get one that has alot of memory with high-speed Internet or something like that. Something taht would give you good Internet access.try going for the sales sat Best Buy.


If I'm confusing you, get something with good Internet, something that is in your budget range. Also, get something with not too msny cool things on it. Because then you will onlky get even more confused. Get something that's not too cheap or expensive, and that suits your needs.
 
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TRP/LCPL Luckystar/1SQD/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/ Tadath/VEAVE

-Paladin-
To Embrace the Darkness is to bring about the Light

well I dunno much about computers but you need to classify what you plan to use your computer for. Do you want to strictly game with it? Or only to work with it? if you do work with it what kind of work. Or do you want your computer to be a good all rounder?

Like if its strictly work and not very demanding on the processor then you could settle with a cheaper model then if you want to run all the newest games and what not.

EDIT: Post 911 (hehe I said 911)

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Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator
Eat a hearty breakfast men, for tonight we dine in hell -King Leonidas, 300
Clearly Canadian!

ASL/SGT_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS][CoR]

buy a USB.
 
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TRP/PFC Sayah/1SQD/2 PLT/1 COM/1 RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
[Black League]
SM/Com Sayah/Task Force 1/Eta Squad/2nd Platoon/Red Company/1st Battalion/KBcC Helsa/OFF/Army/RDA(L)

"And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

http://bd1.battledawn.com/referx.php?serv=2&ref=5755

Wikipedia: Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a serial bus standard to interface devices. It was originally designed for personal computers, but it has become commonplace on handheld devices such as portable memory devices, video game consoles, PDAs and portable media players.



 
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TRP/SGT_Aeos/[LoR][ES2C][CoR]
TRN/IN Aeos/Training 1-1/Lopen/VEDJ/VE
Army Advisor

Name pronounced as 'Aye-Os'

USB are customarily in back of the computer (some have in front) you can use them for virtually anything that can connect into a computer. EX: my mouse, and keyboard are USB I also have a flash memory card that connects through USB as well as my wireless internet. The flash memory card is a portable piece of memory much like a floppy but with bigger capacity and faster writing capabilities. basically its a better smaller floppy.

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Raiders
Faithful To The End
He will give them death, and they will love him for it -Gladiator
Eat a hearty breakfast men, for tonight we dine in hell -King Leonidas, 300
Clearly Canadian!

ASL/SGT_Rogueboy/3SQD/1PLT/1COM/1BAT/1RGT/VEA/VE [LoR][ES-FirstClass][CDS][CoR]

1) You won't really find "outdated" computers - and then again you need to figure out what the definition of "outdated" means. All of the computers you will see on the shelves of any megastore will have Windows Vista installed on it, and probably some minimum system specs in order to just maintain Vista - so yeah, you're probably looking around the $600-$700 range (for PC's mind you - laptops are a totally different story).

2) As Fury said, you can typically go to your school's "store" and buy a computer there with a student discount (if they have such a store available), and this may be the best bet for you if you're planning on using this computer solely for educational purposes.

3) High speed Internet isn't a "feature" for a computer really. Any computer is capable of having high-speed Internet - this all depends on who your ISP is in your local area and what you're willing to pay. A typical cable/broadband bill in my location is about $50 bucks a month.

4) For computer brands, HP and Sony (I have a Sony VAIO) have been very good computers in my opinion. I've packed my VAIO with 2 gigs RAM and installed a ATI Radeon x1950 PRO (256MB) graphics card (about a $250 card) because that's my gaming system and I need the best graphics card and as much RAM as I can get to run everything smoothly (games, PhotoShop, etc.)

As said above, if you're planning on using this computer soley for school purposes, then you don't need a lot. A Word Processor and an ISP will do just fine. And, as Fury said, it's not a bad idea on getting something that will allow you to upgrade in the future if need be.

Anyway, my two cents.
 
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
CoT/MG Cosmic/HCA-3/SL/Drill Squad/Tadath/VEA/VE
[OPE][OTH][OPA][EW1][CDS][IH][GS][LM][SoS][CRoM][CoH][PoC][MSM][SCP][SoA][IOC]
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
SL/KPR Cosmic/Lion 1-1/Lopen/VEDJ/VE
[VP][WoS2][KC1][SoY][EoP][OAK]
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Okay. well that has all helped me more, but, like the caveman on the Gecko commercials, now I wanna say"PHFF What?."

I know more about USBs thanks to Rougeboy and Luckystar. And, lots of good advice from you Cosmic . But I'm not a student .What are RAMS and 256 Megabytes? Is that as high as it goes. Is there a happy medium? Sorry, for being so ignorant. I do know some of what is all about, but, what is the differance. Can you have RAms without MB's or viceversa. How do they tie together?

And of course Evil Clown I want high speed. That's a gimme.

Alot of people keep saying I can do whatever I want with just this computer. The upgrades are what cost you and this computer is so old that it would cost me less time and trouble to but a new one.

Not to reflect upon any of the good advice I have gotten here so far, but, I could still use some more facts.And, maybe I should have just asked Fury if he could recommend a good brand name processor, because I got you now. I understand a little. I can build around it. But please everyone still tell me your stories. Tell me some bad ones. I could sure tell you some about this computer.

There's a ghost in this machine.

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Grammer, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, diction, effectiveness in the science, and larger elements are the facts at hand. The Harbrace College Handbook edited by JOHN C. HODGES

FM/LCR/Etan Evnstar/Kaph/Flight 3/Atrus/off/VEN/VE/Aviation cetificate

My Laptop had a Gigabyte of RAM which is 1000 MB. RAM affects how fast the computer works and how many programmes it can work at a good speed without freezing. Processing power.

When it comes to a Hard Drive buy the one with theh biggest one EX: Mine is 80GB. I have all kinds of stuff on it from films Ive downloades all the music games etc.

If you want to play games from CDs then you do need a high RAM especially for the modern games because it affects the speed of the game.

Hope that helps.
 
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EclipseSquad
TRP/LCPL Jag Fel/2SQD/2PLT/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"You think you can run this ship better?"
"Yeah."
"Well...you cant!"
Serenity

"Did you know the New Republic dont like to be shot at? Worked that out for myself."
Firefly

It sounds like you're not looking to spend much on a computer.  I would definitely not buy a computer from a retail store....unless of course it was cheaper than what you could find on the internet.

Most of the time, you can find a better deal for a computer on the internet either directly from the supplier (dell, hp, sony, etc) or from a discount online store.

Here is a link to the top 10 value computers from PC world magazine.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,123848-page,1/article.html

Pretty much all of those are under $1,000.  Just read through some of the reviews to see what the pros/cons are for each machine.

But as for a base computer in today's world, I would recommend at least the minimum requirements for what you are looking to do (you could probably go lower on these):
CPU:  2.4 ghz
RAM:  1 gigabyte
HARD DRIVE:  250 gigabytes (this can definitely be smaller, but these are pretty cheap now)
VIDEO CARD:  256mb graphics card

Most of the machines in the top 10 list have at least these specs and most even have better.
 
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Grand Moff Kadann, Dark Lord
Head of the Vast Empire High Council
HHC/GM Kadann/HC-1/mSSD Atrus {EE}{MoH}{TT}{SY4}

Following up on what Kad said:

"But as for a base computer in today's world, I would recommend at least the minimum requirements for what you are looking to do (you could probably go lower on these):
CPU:  2.4 ghz
RAM:  1 gigabyte
HARD DRIVE:  250 gigabytes (this can definitely be smaller, but these are pretty cheap now)"

If you're thinking that you want to use your computer for gaming, You're going to have to buy a 1GB stick of RAM to boost it up to 2GB RAM. For many (if not all) of the next-gen games, they are requiring at a minimum of 2GB.

And again for gaming purposes (if that's what you're into for next-gen stuff), then you'll need a graphics card with Pixel Shader version 3.0 (I have an ATI Radeon x1950 PRO - about $250)
 
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
CoT/LG Cosmic/HCA-3/Tadath/VEA/VE
[OPE][OTH][OPA][EW1][CDS][IH][GS][LM][SoS][CRoM][CoH][PoC][MSM][SCP][SoA][IOC]
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Cleric "Cosmic" Vor'soth
SL/KPR Cosmic/Lion 1-1/Lopen/VEDJ/VE
[VP][WoS2][KC1][SoY][EoP][OAK]
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Thank you Very much Kadann and Cosmic.

That was the type of information I was looking for.  You brought it down to the very specifics.

Some people can go on and on forever about non-specific stuff.

You Kadann, and you Cosmic, further, pretty much told me what to find in a computer.

From what you said Cosmic I can go up in a Video card? Whatever that means.

But, I think I'll stick with Kadann's specs.

Thank you both again>>>>And Thank everyone for your very good information. Everyone has been most helpful and very kind in indulging me with knowledge and not joking about how stupid I might sound.

Thank you again....

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Grammer, mechanics, punctuation, spelling, diction, effectiveness in the science, and larger elements are the facts at hand. The Harbrace College Handbook edited by JOHN C. HODGES

FM/LCR/Etan Evnstar/Kaph/Flight 3/Atrus/off/VEN/VE/Aviation cetificate

A little personal advice if you're buying a new PC with possibly gaming in mind - all PC games have the minimum requirements printed on the back. Take a trip down to whatever your local game store is with a pad and a pen and pick a recently released game up. Write the specs down.

Now you have a baseline in terms of processor speed, RAM capacity and the like. You can now go and look at PCs with some real numbers to compare to.

There are difficulties with this approach, though as not all the specifications on the back relate very well to buying a PC - graphics cards will say "128Mb graphics card with T&L support" or "DirectX 9.0c compatible". This basically means don't get something with intergrated graphics - get something with ATI or nVidia graphics. Personally, I'm an nVidia man. Their 7-series cards are quite nice, but they have just released the larger range of 8-series, so get one of those if you can.

Also, don't buy something that matches the specs you wrote down - exceed them. At least double the numbers for processor and RAM, and get as big a hard disk as you can comfortably afford.

If you can't find one that you're happy with, then seriously consider buying parts and putting it together. Between us we can certainly provide you with an exact shopping list, and putting it together (while it may seem like a daunting task) is really not much more difficult than sticking things in where they fit, and there are some good guides around in print and online - there's even a Haynes guide for it. If you fancy this, then a first step could be to open up your current PC and see what the inside looks like.

If, on the other hand, gaming is not for your PC, then look for any system marked "Vista Premium Ready".

Final words - I agree fully with Fury's comment about Vista - I run a Vista PC with 1Gb of RAM and it runs okay, but not great. I would also second the use of Open Office.
 
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SL/SGM Ramon Stonefish/ARC/1COMP/1BAT/1RGT/Tadath/VEA/VE [IH] [BC] [RoT] [RCoD] [CotE] [SoS]

+ Advance Recon Commandos {ARC} +

Roger roger.





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TRP/PFC Sayah/1SQD/2 PLT/1 COM/1 RGT/1BAT/Tadath/VEA
[Black League]
SM/Com Sayah/Task Force 1/Eta Squad/2nd Platoon/Red Company/1st Battalion/KBcC Helsa/OFF/Army/RDA(L)

"And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night."

http://bd1.battledawn.com/referx.php?serv=2&ref=5755