Computer upgragde 2008, suggestions please.
- Thread starter Doctor Zoidburg
- Start date
Stick with Windows based is best. Mac crowd is going to windows anyways cuz now they understand.
As for hardware, dual processor, 2GB ram to start. After that it depends on what kind of porn you gonna load. The Fetish porn needs more hard disk space cuz of all the juice squirting all over the place.
Viruses on Windows only show up if you don't have a good Anti virus program. AVG is free which is what I use. I never had a virus on Windows.
Anyways, good luck.
As for hardware, dual processor, 2GB ram to start. After that it depends on what kind of porn you gonna load. The Fetish porn needs more hard disk space cuz of all the juice squirting all over the place.
Viruses on Windows only show up if you don't have a good Anti virus program. AVG is free which is what I use. I never had a virus on Windows.
Anyways, good luck.
I've always had mine custom made. There are several good shops on College just west of Spadina. Go from one to the next and talk to the sales people about what you will use it for and what kind of a cpu, hard drive, video card, RAM, motherboard you would need. Depending on how long you intend to use the computer, make sure you can upgrade components in 1-4 years. Get some hard quotes in writing. Get a feel for what kind of post sale service they provide. Compare prices and packages. Then make a decision. I can't imagine buying a computer any other way.Keebler Elf said:
pc vs. mac
pc vs. mac.....no winner in that debate.
I've bought dozens of pc's over the years and currently have 8 machines up and running without many problems.
I think it depends somewhat on age and the computer generation.
I have two kids 25 and 18.
The 25 year old is a pc gear head that builds and tweaks machines like my friends used to do with their Mustangs in the garage back in the 70's.
The 18 year old couldn't care less what makes a computer work. He just wants it to work.
Yesterday I ordered for myself a dell laptop 1420 loaded etc for $ 1100
I also ordered my 18 year old a Macbook Pro loaded etc $ 2817
go figure..............
He starts college next year and wanted that machine. He agreed to pay half and has saved for it but I'll let him keep it.
It's my first Mac purchase. I compliment Apple for convincing the ( younger )market their prices reflect value.
I'm sure it's a great machine, haven't received it yet.
Will Apple continue to command a premium price in the futiure?
stay tuned
poco
pc vs. mac.....no winner in that debate.
I've bought dozens of pc's over the years and currently have 8 machines up and running without many problems.
I think it depends somewhat on age and the computer generation.
I have two kids 25 and 18.
The 25 year old is a pc gear head that builds and tweaks machines like my friends used to do with their Mustangs in the garage back in the 70's.
The 18 year old couldn't care less what makes a computer work. He just wants it to work.
Yesterday I ordered for myself a dell laptop 1420 loaded etc for $ 1100
I also ordered my 18 year old a Macbook Pro loaded etc $ 2817
go figure..............
He starts college next year and wanted that machine. He agreed to pay half and has saved for it but I'll let him keep it.
It's my first Mac purchase. I compliment Apple for convincing the ( younger )market their prices reflect value.
I'm sure it's a great machine, haven't received it yet.
Will Apple continue to command a premium price in the futiure?
stay tuned
poco
Personally, I think it is the other way around.hamermill said:
I recently put together a high end machine for my brother as he is into graphics design and needed a powerhouse machine. Here is what we ended up with. The parts were purchased from Canada Computers:
Pentium Core 2 Quad Q6600
4 GB Patriot DDR2-800 RAM
Seagate 500 GB SATA with 32 MB Cache
Asus P5KC Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512 MB
2 LG DVDRW SATA
Antec Sonata III Case with 500 Watt PSU
Creative X-Fi Extreme Audio
Windows XP Professional
All this cost him around $1550 including taxes. Dell cannot even provide a competing computer for that price, I tried looking it up and got a quote of $2300 including taxes, and this only provides a video card with half the power compared to what my brother now has.
On the other hand, people looking for relative a relative stripper of a computer (i.e. home office, non performance desktop) could settle for a Dell. In this case there is a decent argument for a Dell system, even though they may cost more. Simply put, if you are a person with no affinity for computers and the like, Dell may be for you. Canada Computers may offer support for their computers, but it is shit compared to Dell. I may buy my parts from CC, but I deal with my computer problems on my own.
Simply put, if you want high end custom parts and don't mind doing a little computer tinkering on your own, Canada Computers is for you. If you want a cheap computer with available no-trouble support at your whim, Dell may be for you.
Get a Dell, when dell has a sale no one can beat their prices, that is if you are knowledgable about computers.
If if you are a fool with computers, dell will not rip you off too bad.
However going into MDG without any knowledge is just asking to be r*aped, infact anyone going into MDG will surely get r*ped regardless of their knowledge.
Canada computers is a decent place, they are pretty honest and they could really care less what you are buying. If you do not know much about computers then I would avoid them, not because they will rip you off but because they are not the type of store that will hand hold the customer.
The OP sounds like he should get a dell, just get one of the lower end Dells. For about 500-600 you can get a complete computer with monitor that is fast enough to run windows, applications and to watch porn. If you want to play the latest games then you have just opened pandora's box, in that case you really need to read up on computers and graphics cards. Honestly you can go into any computer and buy the cheapest computer and it would be able to handle anything you throw at it, aside from gaming.
Futureshop just had a boxing day deal, $200 for a HP computer (it is sold out now) add in another $100 for a lcd monitor and you are good to go. So getting a decent computer setup for less than $400 is very possible, @ $350 it is possible, $300 you will have to know a good deal when you see one.
Just do not pay 1k for a computer when you have no understanding about computers, unless you have a knowledgable friend to help you out.
If if you are a fool with computers, dell will not rip you off too bad.
However going into MDG without any knowledge is just asking to be r*aped, infact anyone going into MDG will surely get r*ped regardless of their knowledge.
Canada computers is a decent place, they are pretty honest and they could really care less what you are buying. If you do not know much about computers then I would avoid them, not because they will rip you off but because they are not the type of store that will hand hold the customer.
The OP sounds like he should get a dell, just get one of the lower end Dells. For about 500-600 you can get a complete computer with monitor that is fast enough to run windows, applications and to watch porn. If you want to play the latest games then you have just opened pandora's box, in that case you really need to read up on computers and graphics cards. Honestly you can go into any computer and buy the cheapest computer and it would be able to handle anything you throw at it, aside from gaming.
Futureshop just had a boxing day deal, $200 for a HP computer (it is sold out now) add in another $100 for a lcd monitor and you are good to go. So getting a decent computer setup for less than $400 is very possible, @ $350 it is possible, $300 you will have to know a good deal when you see one.
Just do not pay 1k for a computer when you have no understanding about computers, unless you have a knowledgable friend to help you out.
The Dell flyers you periodically see have some great prices on systems, but read the fine print: they usually charge $125 for delivery.
My only real complaint about their computers are they can be a real bastard to find compatible memory for, if you decide to upgrade in a couple of years.
MDG: stay away
Canada Computers: some of the best pricing on parts and good systems.
Like bishop says, the cheapest should run anything except games. An Nvidia 8800 Ultra video card for high-end gaming can be over $800 by itself!!
My only real complaint about their computers are they can be a real bastard to find compatible memory for, if you decide to upgrade in a couple of years.
MDG: stay away
Canada Computers: some of the best pricing on parts and good systems.
Like bishop says, the cheapest should run anything except games. An Nvidia 8800 Ultra video card for high-end gaming can be over $800 by itself!!
The video card that my brother bought (Sapphire Radeon HD3850 512 MB) could possibly be compared to the Nvidia 8800 GTS (non ultra) card and cost $229, compared to $389 for the latter.thirdtime said:
And I will echo some of the earlier comments here: anyone buying MDG deserves to be not only anally raped but publically horsewhipped. My friend had a horrible experience with those guys and never again would she buy from them.
Don't bother complaining too. Complaints sites dedicated against MDG have been slapped with cease and desist orders from MDG's lawyers for (what else) libel.
General comment regarding 32 bit vs 64 bit. Vista is quite useless running most 32 bit applications that you may have. One of my other friends has had nothing but frustration for using Vista as 64-bit support for his programs is non-existent. He has ended up downgrading back to Windows XP. It may be better for you to defer from using Windows Vista, but the only problem is with the new systems, Vista is already bundled in. Only Canada Computers can provide a system with Windows XP. However, their low end systems are lacking in quality in terms of some of their parts, i.e. memory, motherboard, and power supply. Of course, I never buy low end from them.
Right now, Vista is being compared to Windows ME vs Windows 98.
I doubt it. OS X is a Unix-based operating system and Unix has been around for over 30 years. How many viruses do you see that actually affect Unix? The hacker who can actually develop a virus that affects the OS is going to be famous and immediately earn a job at Apple.asn said:
Come back in a "few more months" and we'll see.
Ditto that!asn said:
I've been online 10 years and can say the same.
Used McAfee, Norton and now Avast over the years which protected me well and I also hit the 'suspect' sites.
Running Linux now I have no fears with hitting them suspect sites.
Recently cleaned out my sister's 2 yr old P4 PC with XP. She thought she had a virus or something because it was running very slow and her IE browser got highjacked. Turns out she knew nothing about PM and running Ad-Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, CCleaner along with never Defragging her PC. It was a mess. Cleaned out tons of crap that built up in it and it was like new again.
You have to keep up on your PM which many forget to do.
You need to decide what you want to do with the machine, and how long you want it to stay current. That's probably best accomplished by going to a specialty shop and having the machine custom-built. Since you asked, I'd recommend staying away from MDG.
There are several guides to help you. Among the best are from Ars Technica, which periodically puts out sample parts lists for a basic budget box, a "hot rod", and a "god box". Reading through that will give you a good sense of the range of performance available today, and you'll start to take good notes on what you want in your own system.
Then you can wander over to Tom's Hardware and check what additional alternatives are out there, and find your preferred value point (e.g. when the price/performance suits your needs).
Stores like PCCyber (Ottawa) will custom build the beast to your specs. For example, I recently got a new machine built with an Asus P5B Deluxe m/b, an Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 cpu (quad core at 2.4GHz), 4Gig RAM, a pair of Seagate 500Gig SataII hard drives, an LG GSA H55N "Multi" DVDRW drive, a mid-range video card and a video capture card, case, and power supply.
I'd recommend WinXP Pro (I use Linux myself, but although it's come a long way, it's not quite prime time yet).
There are several guides to help you. Among the best are from Ars Technica, which periodically puts out sample parts lists for a basic budget box, a "hot rod", and a "god box". Reading through that will give you a good sense of the range of performance available today, and you'll start to take good notes on what you want in your own system.
Then you can wander over to Tom's Hardware and check what additional alternatives are out there, and find your preferred value point (e.g. when the price/performance suits your needs).
Stores like PCCyber (Ottawa) will custom build the beast to your specs. For example, I recently got a new machine built with an Asus P5B Deluxe m/b, an Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 cpu (quad core at 2.4GHz), 4Gig RAM, a pair of Seagate 500Gig SataII hard drives, an LG GSA H55N "Multi" DVDRW drive, a mid-range video card and a video capture card, case, and power supply.
I'd recommend WinXP Pro (I use Linux myself, but although it's come a long way, it's not quite prime time yet).
I need to buy a couple of computers...a desk top and lap top before year end, which is my company year end.
I trolled thru the Dell Vostra site...and knit a PC together that would do the trick for me...for the desk top. I was happy....and planning to order before end of Monday.
Then I went to an Apple store today and played with the iMAC.
Shit!**$%$#^#
It is a good looking machine!
For about a thousand more, I get a good looking machine that they will happily load windows xp and office on so I can talk to everyone else...if I feel so inclined. The speed, the graphics....the design....Stephen Jobs is a devil!
Now I am in a dilemna...I'm weakening...that iMac screen is dancing before my eyes....I think I may join the Apple family by Monday....the price of a PC is still good....but still...money isn't everything.
I trolled thru the Dell Vostra site...and knit a PC together that would do the trick for me...for the desk top. I was happy....and planning to order before end of Monday.
Then I went to an Apple store today and played with the iMAC.
Shit!**$%$#^#
It is a good looking machine!
For about a thousand more, I get a good looking machine that they will happily load windows xp and office on so I can talk to everyone else...if I feel so inclined. The speed, the graphics....the design....Stephen Jobs is a devil!
Now I am in a dilemna...I'm weakening...that iMac screen is dancing before my eyes....I think I may join the Apple family by Monday....the price of a PC is still good....but still...money isn't everything.
Shades said:
The Mac is like a really good looking woman. High maintenance and a sharp learning curve. Stick with PCs.
A couple of years ago I got suckered into buying a G4 laptop. It's beautiful but it took me about six months to learn it and a lot of broadband stuff does not work on Macs as well as a fair amount of software. Also, it is not friendly to external drives which i use a lot.
The Mac is a beautiful machine with a beautful screen but I think they are over-hyped and over-priced.
I am ducking from the flames of the Macists . . but you did ask for an opinion.
The only time you will get flamed by the Mac fanbois is when you say something stupid or something that is absolutely baseless. You really should ask questions and see whether or not your problems can be resolved.Damondean said:
Personally, I tend to think of Macs as good looking with a minimum of maintenance and I get along well with them...otherwise, they'd probably be flying out my window. hehehe
