New Computer Recommendations

hammer · Nov 5, 2007

So it looks like the big family Christmas present this year will be a new PC...the current one is over 5 years old so it's about time.

I was wondering if anyone has made a recent PC purchase and would have any good recommendations on brand, processors, memory, disk space, etc. The main "requirements" I have are

Has to run Windows XP or Vista...the old PC will likely be reconfigured to run Linux
Needs to be powerful enough for reasonable gaming applications (my son plays WOW and it would be nice to improve the graphics response)
Want to keep the cost of the PC (less monitor) to under $1000 if at all possible

Thanks for any input...

dmc · Nov 5, 2007

I'm thinking about getting an IMac... With an XP Boot...
http://www.apple.com/imac/

Pretty insane stuff... I love the design... Base is around 1200
Going to be great for music and vid... XP Boot will be good for some of my work stuff...

Brettski · Nov 5, 2007

I work in IT or many, many years with M$ O/S

I'm getting a mac next

MRGisevil · Nov 5, 2007

Brettski said:
I work in IT or many, many years with M$ O/S

I'm getting a mac next

Same here. We're looking @ macbooks right now.

dmc · Nov 5, 2007

Looks like Apple is making it's move..

wa-loaf · Nov 5, 2007

Get VMware fusion for your mac if you want to run XP. No need to reboot and you can run xp apps within the mac OS. http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

hammer · Nov 5, 2007

Interesting...I mention that I need to run Windows XP or Vista and all of the recommendations are to go to Mac OS anyway...

May be worth going to a store to check out the latest IMacs, although it looks like I'd blow my budget...:-?

dmc · Nov 5, 2007

wa-loaf said:
Get VMware fusion for your mac if you want to run XP. No need to reboot and you can run xp apps within the mac OS. http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/

It's going to have the new OS X Leopard.. So i can use BootCamp.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

wa-loaf · Nov 5, 2007

dmc said:
It's going to have the new OS X Leopard.. So i can use BootCamp.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/bootcamp.html

I know (and free is good) but if you don't want to reboot VMware is the way to go. I know a couple IT guys who use macs and they swear by VMware.

MRGisevil · Nov 5, 2007

hammer said:
Interesting...I mention that I need to run Windows XP or Vista and all of the recommendations are to go to Mac OS anyway...

May be worth going to a store to check out the latest IMacs, although it looks like I'd blow my budget...:-?

Sorry Hammy, the people are just disenchanted with PCs these days... too much Bill Gates preaching "Let them eat cake!"

wa-loaf · Nov 5, 2007

hammer said:
Interesting...I mention that I need to run Windows XP or Vista and all of the recommendations are to go to Mac OS anyway...

May be worth going to a store to check out the latest IMacs, although it looks like I'd blow my budget...:-?

Don't worry, we (mac users) just got here first. The Linux guys (BMM) will be here soon too. :razz:

dmc · Nov 5, 2007

wa-loaf said:
I know (and free is good) but if you don't want to reboot VMware is the way to go. I know a couple IT guys who use macs and they swear by VMware.

I use VMware on my PC for some LINUX images... Cool stuff..

skibum9995 · Nov 5, 2007

I got a MacBook Pro back in August and haven't even thought about turning my Windows machine yet. I am using a beta version of VMWare Fusion which allows you to run windows programs seamlessly in OS X as if they were native. I haven't used it much because there is Mac software for everything I need but it's a nice option to have available.

BeanoNYC · Nov 5, 2007

dmc said:
I'm thinking about getting an IMac... With an XP Boot...
http://www.apple.com/imac/

Pretty insane stuff... I love the design... Base is around 1200
Going to be great for music and vid... XP Boot will be good for some of my work stuff...

Know any teachers? Bring them along for a discount. It's usually around 10%

Just got Leopard...pretty impressive.

tcharron · Nov 5, 2007

hammer said:
So it looks like the big family Christmas present this year will be a new PC...the current one is over 5 years old so it's about time.

I was wondering if anyone has made a recent PC purchase and would have any good recommendations on brand, processors, memory, disk space, etc. The main "requirements" I have are

Has to run Windows XP or Vista...the old PC will likely be reconfigured to run Linux

Needs to be powerful enough for reasonable gaming applications (my son plays WOW and it would be nice to improve the graphics response)

Want to keep the cost of the PC (less monitor) to under $1000 if at all possible

Thanks for any input...

If a desktop, I'd honestly recomend Dell. Really good buys.

For games, these are important, in order:

Video Card: Get an NVidia 8600GT if you can. Avoid the GS unless it breaks you budget.
Memory: *2 GIGS MINIMUM* As more and better software comes out, it uses more and more memory. The more the better, but for a new system, no less then 2 gigs.
Processor: Dual Core Processor with as much Cache as you can get. Speed isn't as important as Cache now adays. If you go with Intel make sure it's an Intel Core *2* Duo, not the Intel Core Duo. Huge difference in speed between them. The one with a 4MB cache is a much better performer.

skijay · Nov 5, 2007

I have been a happy Mac (MacBook) owner since July. Once you have Mac, you won't go back. It is easy to use, I have not had any issues or errors, there is no unecessary crap running on this. I power it up and it about 10 seconds I have the browser launched and I am on my home page.

I have a basic MacBook with a "superdrive" and the Intel 2 GHz core 2 Duo processor. I have the MS Office suite and have no issues using the Windows based version on the Mac and vice versa.

I am also on the Mac OS X version 10.4.10. When I bought this I purchased 3 yrs of Apple care. It is awesome, especially if you live near an Apple store. They have classes that are free and you can learn about your Mac & software. I have already taken two courses. Also, I needed help with a printer on the network at work. I called the toll free number an they walked me through getting the drivers for the printer and help me configure it. The printer was not purchased from Apple or an Apple store.

And the best part was the tech support person resided in the USA! The Mac was double the price of my Toshiba Satellite that I bought in 2006. I still have a Windows XP based desktop at home. The only reason why I have it, is when I work from home there is one vendor we work with who has not made there product 100% Mac compatible.

BushMogulMaster · Nov 5, 2007

wa-loaf said:
Don't worry, we (mac users) just got here first. The Linux guys (BMM) will be here soon too. :razz:

LINUX ALL THE WAY!!! I'm now a Kubuntu convert (from Mandriva and Red Hat), and I absolutely love it. Just as user friendly as Windows/Mac OS, much more lightweight, runs faster, looks better, and the price is right.

BTW, there's no reason to buy a Mac unless you want to run MacOS. It's all the same hardware you get in a PC at twice the cost. It's all running on the same architecture at this point.

As for hardware recommendations, I'd say you should get exactly the following:

Intel 80286 @ 12.6mhz
640kb conventional RAM
1mb extended RAM
512kb TSENG Labs 256 color video accelerator
30mb IBM hard drive
14.4kbs modem
8 bit Sound Blaster ISA mono sound card
13" color display
101 key US IBM ps/2 keyboard
2 button ps/2 mouse

:wink:

andyzee · Nov 6, 2007

BushMogulMaster said:
LINUX ALL THE WAY!!! I'm now a Kubuntu convert (from Mandriva and Red Hat), and I absolutely love it. Just as user friendly as Windows/Mac OS, much more lightweight, runs faster, looks better, and the price is right.

BTW, there's no reason to buy a Mac unless you want to run MacOS. It's all the same hardware you get in a PC at twice the cost. It's all running on the same architecture at this point.

As for hardware recommendations, I'd say you should get exactly the following:

Intel 80286 @ 12.6mhz
640kb conventional RAM
1mb extended RAM
512kb TSENG Labs 256 color video accelerator
30mb IBM hard drive
14.4kbs modem
8 bit Sound Blaster ISA mono sound card
13" color display
101 key US IBM ps/2 keyboard
2 button ps/2 mouse

:wink:

That sounds like one of my first computers, which I still have. The only things missing are; the video accelerator, modem, Sound Blaster, display and mouse. I may be willing to sell.

bvibert · Nov 6, 2007

BushMogulMaster said:
Intel 80286 @ 12.6mhz
640kb conventional RAM
1mb extended RAM
512kb TSENG Labs 256 color video accelerator
30mb IBM hard drive
14.4kbs modem
8 bit Sound Blaster ISA mono sound card
13" color display
101 key US IBM ps/2 keyboard
2 button ps/2 mouse

:wink:

I was going to suggest one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Original-Vintag...sPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

bvibert · Nov 6, 2007

skijay said:
Once you have Mac, you won't go back. It is easy to use, I have not had any issues or errors, there is no unecessary crap running on this.

I didn't find this to be the case. Maybe I'm too used to the Windows way of doing thing, but I find OSX incredibly hard to use. I constantly had problems setting things up on my wife's iBook, and ours definitely wasn't free of errors and crashing. It was OK if all you wanted to do was surf the web, that is when the browser didn't crash. Of course that was after figuring out how to get it to connect to our wireless router. Which was not an easy task on the iBook, but one that takes only seconds on a windows machine. I actually had to turn off some of the security measures on the router because the Mac didn't seem to have any way to connect using them...

Not saying that I couldn't get used to it, or that it's not better, just that I didn't find the interface easy to use at all. If anything it's too dumbed down for me..

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