Spending Money

[Misty_Morning]

Well, I'm really depressed right now. And when I get depressed I spend money. So I've been thinking about what I'm gonna buy. A new computer. I really need one. Mine is really old and has been on it's last leg for the last 6 months. My gf and I have done just about everything to keep the POS running and I'm just fucking tired of the daily struggle with it.

So I went online and was checking out computers. Yeah, everybody says that theirs are the best. The last time I had to buy my own computer was several years ago. I'm really not sure what I want.

I figure I'll buy a laptop. I'm kinda looking to spend about $1500 or so. I know I can check out some sites that compare the various manufacturers and models. But I would prefer to hear what you folks use and if you would recommend your laptops to someone.

So...whatcha got? Do you like it or wish you had bought something else?

 

[TE999]

I gave myself a Dell Inspiron E1405 laptop for Xmas and I luv it.

No troubles, it's multi-media equipped and can handle Vista when I get the guts to load it.

I've had two towers from Dell, no probs.to speak of there either. I donated 'em to The Boy's and Girl's Club and they're still usin' 'em.

IMHO, Dell's the one. There's some good deals on-line at their web site.

 

[ElizabethWest]

I have a Dell Inspiron and an IBM Thinkpad. The IBM is a piece of shit. I still like the Dell, had it for a year and a half now and no problems.

 

[cantdog]

Get memory, man

No matter what you have, depression aside, it'll be around long enough to be, shall we say, behind the curve? No longer even close to bleeding edge?

And a dinosaur system with much, much memory is still more usable than a cutting edge system with bare minimum memory.

That said, I have a semi-dinosaur, now, with tons of memory. I also spent the bucks for a kick ass video card. That helps, too.

Good shopping!

 

[SeaCat]

Another side of this is the low end. It all depends on what you want to do with your computer.

I picked up an Acer Aspire 3620 for a grand total of $450.00. I love the damn thing. Small, lightweight and even more powerful than my Tower. It came with a fast Cd-rw and DVD. If I want to pay a little more I can get the DVD-R as well but I have no need for it.

It's not a big name here in the U.S.A. but I have had Acers before and never had problems with them.

Cat

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Can't tell you. I had mine custom built. As far as lap tops are concerned, Fuck Dell!! Linny had one. It caught fire and she was trapped unable to walk while she burned. Luckily the nurse found her before she was burned too badly.

As far as buying a new computer, buy one that does what you need it to do. The items that I always list (I'm on my 6th) are:

1. Processor speed Faster the better. I love my 3.0 Gig. Screw dual core processors. They are even faster, but there's no software to take advantage of it.

2. Hard Drive Space LOTS and LOTS more. I have 2 500 Gig drives.

3. RAM space. I like 1 gig or more. I have 2 gigs now and thinking about expanding to 4. RAM space = SPEED. Always think EXPANSION. Personally, I like DDR PC2700's or DIMM PC2-6400's, but whatever the motherboard uses. I like those two because they run at 800 Mhz

4. USB Ports I think 5 is about right. Printer, cam, scanner, joystick plus one extra for something in the future (like your digital camera).

5. Smart Stick Ports 1 or 2 is ok. Smart Sticks are really handy.

6. Awesom Sound Card I have an affinity for Advance Electronics AC 97's.

7. 3D Graphics I can't live without my ATI graphics. Games are so much better.

8. ABSOLUTLY THE MOST IMPORTANT Make sure the componants are standard. Some manufacturers use "propriatory" componants, so if it ever needs to be replaced you are screwed.

Anything else you wanna know. Just ask.

 

[cantdog]

8. ABSOLUTLY THE MOST IMPORTANT Make sure the componants are standard. Some manufacturers use "propriatory" componants, so if it ever needs to be replaced you are screwed.

Jenny has the nub, here. You need to be able to fix the thing when some element is fried, without scrapping the whole unit for a new one.

 

[sophia jane]

I just bought myself a Macbook and it's the best money I ever spent.

If you're looking to go the Windows route, Logo has a Toshiba laptop that she's had good luck with, and while some hate Dell they do have a fairly decent track record.
Cant's right about memory. You'll need at least a gig of Ram, whatever brand you go with.

 

[3113]

MacBook.

Love it, love it, love it. Best keyboard EVER, beautiful screen, magnetic plug so if you trip over it you don't drag the laptop down with you (it pops right on and off). Built in camera for video conferencing (and taking pictures of yourself), great trackpad, 4-5 hour battery (depending on what you're doing), core duo processer and a remote control.

And if you really need to keep using that Windows operating system, well, Macs can run Windows as well as their own OS.

Low end MacBooks start at $1100, and come bundled with all kinds of software. And Mac laptops have a good rep for not only customer service, but also for lasting a good long time and having a good resale value if/when you decide to sell 'em.

Only drawback is that the sound isn't so good without headphones.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I bought a new Dell desktop for the office (I'm the only employee, before you go off saying that the IT department should have done it, I am the IT department, and every other department, I'm just not the boss).

Stupid thing won't work on the internet here though. It'll work on the same internet service at other locations, just not here, so I'm still on the 5 year old Dell...

 

[Vermilion]

Got a Dell Inspiron 630M. Got it last March and wouldn't go back to desktop.
My writing has improved and increased exponentially since being able to write anywhere I want to. Seriously.
Cost about 400 quid I think, so... 800 odd dollars?
Seriously.. I love love love it. Next time I need a new comp it's another laptop for me.
x
V

 

[sophia jane]

Only drawback is that the sound isn't so good without headphones.

I think the sound is pretty comparable to some other laptops I've seen, but I might be wrong. The sound with headphones is great. I listen to Itunes and watch dvds on my laptop all the time.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Dell Inspiron 9400 here... wish I'd gotten the smaller screen... it's kind of a monster... but oh well! It's what I got, now...

I'm seriously considering a MAC next time though... I hear such good things... and if I can run windows and all the @&$#% microsoft-you-will-be-assimilated programs I'm stupidly dependent on now on a MAC? Way cool!

 

[Liar]

Good suggestions from Jenny. However...

4. USB Ports I think 5 is about right. Printer, cam, scanner, joystick plus one extra for something in the future (like your digital camera).

Preferrably more since most mouses and keyboards are usb too these days.

6. Awesom Sound Card I have an affinity for Advance Electronics AC 97's.

I thought you said awesome? Oh god, I'm such an audio geek.

 

[SimonBrooke]

As far as buying a new computer, buy one that does what you need it to do. The items that I always list (I'm on my 6th) are:

1. Processor speed Faster the better. I love my 3.0 Gig. Screw dual core processors. They are even faster, but there's no software to take advantage of it.

It's called Linux. I've been running multi-processor machines since 1996, wouldn't have anything else. The present incarnation (now two years old) has two 16MHz Athlons, and does slightly better than 6 billion instructions per second. The benefits of twin processors are

(i) Two are cheaper than one of twice the speed (even costing in the fancy mother board);
(ii) If some process goes horribly wrong and starts eating all the cycles on one processor, you still have a machine which performs well while you're sorting it out.

Obviously, dual core gives you most of the benefit of dual processor without requiring a fancy mobo.

2. Hard Drive Space LOTS and LOTS more. I have 2 500 Gig drives.

3. RAM space. I like 1 gig or more. I have 2 gigs now and thinking about expanding to 4. RAM space = SPEED. Always think EXPANSION. Personally, I like DDR PC2700's or DIMM PC2-6400's, but whatever the motherboard uses. I like those two because they run at 800 Mhz

2.5 gigs here. As things are at present you can increase the performance of most modern computers far more by increasing memory than by increasing processor speed. And memory is getting cheap.

 

[mismused]

delete

 

[Misty_Morning]

Fi-fi-fiftht-fifthteen hu-hun-dred? (*collapses in a dead faint*)

(*waking up*) Oh, what I got? Heh-heh. Uh, well . . . E Machines?

Uh, 2 of 'em, in fact. One's about 3, the other about 2. One was for less than $300, the other slightly more. Oddly enough, the cheaper one has more goodies on it (that I have no idea how to us).

(*slinks away in )

PS: Oh, uh, and use land line. Slow, but . . .

Actually, babe, what I was looking at last night and this AM runs about $2500. Which isn't so bad, I guess...my last 'puter set be back about $3500.

 

[mismused]

delete

 

[Foxee Browne]

I have 2 computers, one is an Acer Laptop Travelmate 4060, it's about a year old and it gets extremely heavy usuage .... and it takes it all. I have not managed to kill it yet!

My tower is a custom built one (I built it myself) and it is also made for heavy usage. I think custom made is better because if something does die, it is easy to replace.

I recommend : large hard drive 200GB or larger, Minimum 1GB Ram, dual core processor, and if you are a windows user do not buy vista .... not yet. It has way too many flaws.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

 

[tolyk]

I won't go on a down-the-nose rant about the computer companies I dislike, or the reasons for disliking them.. all I'm gonna say is check out eurocom.com

They're fully upgradable laptops, you can customize them however you like, and they're powerful as hell.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

if you are a windows user do not buy vista .... not yet. It has way too many flaws.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

You got that right

After Vista comes out with SP 1 to fix the mess and Microsoft will actually tell you what hardware you need to run it... Vista is the Edsel of the computer world

 

[Trinique_Fire]

Well, I'm really depressed right now. And when I get depressed I spend money. So I've been thinking about what I'm gonna buy. A new computer. I really need one. Mine is really old and has been on it's last leg for the last 6 months. My gf and I have done just about everything to keep the POS running and I'm just fucking tired of the daily struggle with it.

So I went online and was checking out computers. Yeah, everybody says that theirs are the best. The last time I had to buy my own computer was several years ago. I'm really not sure what I want.

I figure I'll buy a laptop. I'm kinda looking to spend about $1500 or so. I know I can check out some sites that compare the various manufacturers and models. But I would prefer to hear what you folks use and if you would recommend your laptops to someone.

So...whatcha got? Do you like it or wish you had bought something else?

Can I have your old computer?

 

[Foxee Browne]

You got that right

After Vista comes out with SP 1 to fix the mess and Microsoft will actually tell you what hardware you need to run it... Vista is the Edsel of the computer world

Edsel of the computer world! I like that. I just wish I could install the godammed programs on Vista so they work. Out of the four I was supposed to install, one works. How sickening, all I can say is Apple must just LOVE Vista.

Unlike the Edsel, nobody will want to collect the first retail version of Vista in 30 years LOL

 

[RogueLurker]

I just got a new Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop with all the bells and whistles... memory, memory and more memory with a kick ass processor and video card.

This one is a widescreen laptop ... which is great ... I can read documents and play games without my eyes getting crossed. I also invested in a "Flip" switch that will allow me to hook both my laptop and my desktop to my flat screen monitor, keyboard and speakers for when I want a bigger monitor or the sound system. My partner isn't sure about the fact that I can bring the computer anywhere now ... but at least I come out of my office more often (with laptop in hand)

If you buy a new computer ... you'll probably get it with MS Vista and MS Office 2007 ... they are very different from the older versions. They are supposed to be more intuitive ... I'm still trying to decide if that's a good thing or not. There are things that I just can't find (like the "Run" program and some other things). I hate change. But I still have fond memories of working in DOS. As an OS, it's okay ... annoying at first, but not enough to make me switch to LINUX (I am not enough of a geek). I am getting used to the changes though and I'm starting to really like Word 2007 (they revamped the menus ... I hated it at first but I'm starting to appreciate the enhancements).

 

[CrimsonMaiden]

My desktop is a Dell. I've had it for 5 1/2 years now and had no problems whatsoever. My laptop is an HP. It's a couple of years old and runs fine. I've had no major issues with it.