Need Advice on buying a new computer

[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by Etienne

Slightly off topic:

I'm looking for a new laptop. Has anybody heard anything bad about Dell recently? They seem to have the best prices / component specs, and they're the only laptops that'll ship out with a physics card.

I put them on instant delete - they try and call me constantly too. I have some Dell laptops out here, and they used a proprietary ATI GPU in it so that you are not able to use the standard ATI drivers, and they have not even bothered to update the drivers once over the course of about 3 years! I've asked them to do it, still no go after 3 tries. I will never buy another laptop or desktop from them again.

By the way, no other driver has been updated by them on these things either (I bought 2 of them - almost $3K systems at the time for almost $6K total).

Have fun, but don't say I didn't warn you.

-S

PS. Found even cheaper mem - ADATA for $22! http://www.clubit.com/product_detail...temno=A4394887

PPS. Samsung Dual Layer 20x DVD writer - $24 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151161

[AVGWarhawk]

OK, try not to laugh....I just purchase a E-machines. You can get a decent set up at a great price. I purchase one, add the video card and RAM I need. Maybe a PSU if needed. I dump off the preloaded crap and that is it. OK, you can laugh now . All I have ever owned is E-machines(2) and have had zero problems with them. Add cards, RAM or anything other goodie has never been a problem. I'm not one to build a computer that would probably fizzle as soon as I hit the big red button. There are some great deals on dual cores that are ready to plug in and go.

[SUBMAN1]

I'm going to price up your whole computer at this rate:

MSI NForce 650i SLI - $86 - http://www.mwave.com/mwave/skusearch...=done&nextloc=

$106 - $20

THis is a Core2 Duo based chipset.

At theis rate, I'll beat the $800 mark by $200 to $300 too!

-S

[AVGWarhawk]

I got a question for you Subman, when you make a computer and put it all together don't you need to purchase new MS operating systems like XP or Vista?

[SUBMAN1]

You do? Why not use your old one?

-S

PS. By the way, you can use a single copy of XP on up to 3 systems without needing to call MS. I've completely rebuilt my current box 2 times on my current copy of MCE 2005, and it activates fine. I think your Eula might even call out that it is OK to have it on 2 seperate machines at the same time. I know you can with Office, but XP or Vista I am not so sure about.

I do know that if you have a retail copy of XP, you can move it to new systems as many times as you want. THe only hang up is that if you move it to more than 3 systems, you must do the call in activation so MS can issue a special bypass code. I'd had to do that for work machines a few times.

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks Subman. Always a question I had but never got around to asking.

[SUBMAN1]

I wonder if you can still get this deal? A full 512 MB 3870HD - $214. That's worth looking into. Most boards in the $200 range only have 256 MB.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....D1194053242087

-S