Computer

[bobpbx]

I'm going to try and time the purchase of a new computer with the release of Windows 7. Since I received such good advice about my Windows 98 rolleyes, I thought I would post and see what your brand preferences are if you were going to buy a new PC. I will use mine for regular use; play music, surf internet, move photos around, etc. I am not a gamer and do not watch movies on my PC. I'll get an extended warranty....I do not want an all in one, and want to spend less than 1000.

 

[Boyd]

I got a Dell Inspiron 530 a couple months ago so I could run my high-end mapping software. I thought it was a very good deal - 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo with 6GB memory and 750GB hard drive for about $600 at Best Buy. It's a very fast machine, but has the integrated (on-board) graphics card which makes it less desirable for games and video, which I don't need either on this machine. I don't know if you can still find these, but if you're SURE you don't need top graphics performance, the machines with integrated graphics will usually be cheaper.

FWIW, my understanding is that you will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 with any PC that you buy now. Of course, it probably makes sense to wait for a pre-installed version in order to spare yourself the agony of upgrading it yourself.

Also... you could consider switching to the Mac. You are going to have to learn new ways of doing things under Windows 7 anyway, so this might be a good opportunity. There are versions of the Mac Mini for $600 and $800. For another $100 or so, you could also install Windows XP on it and have everything. Just a thought.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?mco=Nzk2MDUyNg

 

[bobpbx]

I got a Dell Inspiron 530 a couple months ago so I could run my high-end mapping software. I thought it was a very good deal - 2.8ghz Core 2 Duo with 6GB memory and 750GB hard drive for about $600 at Best Buy. It's a very fast machine, but has the integrated (on-board) graphics card which makes it less desirable for games and video, which I don't need either on this machine. I don't know if you can still find these, but if you're SURE you don't need top graphics performance, the machines with integrated graphics will usually be cheaper.

FWIW, my understanding is that you will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 with any PC that you buy now. Of course, it probably makes sense to wait for a pre-installed version in order to spare yourself the agony of upgrading it yourself.

Also... you could consider switching to the Mac. You are going to have to learn new ways of doing things under Windows 7 anyway, so this might be a good opportunity. There are versions of the Mac Mini for $600 and $800. For another $100 or so, you could also install Windows XP on it and have everything. Just a thought.

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/mac_mini?mco=Nzk2MDUyNg

Thank you Boyd. That was a very helpful post. Suppose I someday get Adobe Photoshop, would I need something more than integrated graphics?

 

[Boyd]

I don't think that would be an issue at all with Photoshop. It's more about getting the fastest possible frame rate for moving images (in games and HD video playback). I have PhotoShop Elements on my Dell and it works great. I also use Global Mapper which can handle HUGE image files (hundreds of megabytes). Works like a champ. For this kind of work I think a fast dual core processor and lots of memory are what you need.

Unless you are doing some advanced graphics work, I suspect you will find PhotoShop Elements more than adequate. I have the full version of Photoshop on my Mac, but Elements will do 90% of what I need and it was free - was included with a new printer I bought recently. Costs less than $100 retail while I think I paid $500 for the full version of Photoshop CS 3.

 

[bobpbx]

More good advice.....thanks

 

[Teegate]

I am a Mac fan all the way, but unfortuanly I would not recommend buying a Mac Mini. We have two here are are not happy with them. Also, do not buy a computer with the promise of an upgrade, wait until the system comes out. My wife bought a computer with a promise of an upgrade and it was like pulling teeth to even get them to respond. She gave up and stayed with XP.

Guy

 

[46er]

I'm going to try and time the purchase of a new computer with the release of Windows 7.

Almost all PC's being sold now come with a Windows 7 coupon for a free upgrade. As for preferences, I stay with Dell. FWIW, there are much better options for digital photoprocessing from Adobe than Photoshop that use much fewer resources and are much easier to use.

 

[ecampbell]

Beware Vista or Windows 7. This summer I got a Dell Vista computer that obsoleted my scanner and other hardware. There are no Vista drivers for it and since it's an orphan there are no drivers being developed for it. Will there be drivers for Windows 7, and if so when? If you have hardware to support think XP.

 

[bobpbx]

Beware Vista or Windows 7. This summer I got a Dell Vista computer that obsoleted my scanner and other hardware. There are no Vista drivers for it and since it's an orphan there are no drivers being developed for it. Will there be drivers for Windows 7, and if so when? If you have hardware to support think XP.

Thanks Ed, you made me think of it. The Brother printer driver I need will come with Windows 7.

http://www.brother-usa.com/lp/windows7compatibility.aspx

I'm betting I won't have to worry about my canon camera since it is such a name brand. They already support Vista.

 

[LARGO]

Thanks Ed, you made me think of it. The Brother printer driver I need will come with Windows 7.

http://www.brother-usa.com/lp/windows7compatibility.aspx

I'm betting I won't have to worry about my canon camera since it is such a name brand. They already support Vista.

Your camera should be fine. I have the similar model and it took fine on my Dell home computer with VISTA home premium and I just hooked it to the Toshiba Laptop I got with VISTA home basic and they talked instantly. No fuss. I think VISTA gets a bad rap from people who are highly demanding of a system. Then again I'm not such a great source of information on the topic. I use what I have, probably don't use it to it's capability, and go about my day ignorant of it's shortcomings. There are bigger things.

g.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Windows 7 supports a lot more older hardware than Vista.

Check in here and see if it's supported: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/Default.aspx?type=Hardware

 

[46er]

I'm betting I won't have to worry about my canon camera since it is such a name brand. They already support Vista.

You have no worries, the camera appears as a HD to the operating system, the mfg and model does not matter. The only small concern I would have is if you have special software you use specifically for that camera that is no longer supported.

 

[bobpbx]

I'm seriously looking at the Dell Studio XPS 9000.

Processor: Intel core i7-920 (8mb L3 Cache)
Win 7
8GB dual channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1066 mhx-4 dimms
1TB hard drive 7200 RPM
nVidia@ GE Force@ 310 512M GDDR3 video card
16X DVD +/- RW Drive
22 inch Dell ST2210 Full HD widescreen monitor

Both positive and negative comments welcome...I am not into building my own. I found the HP site clunky and they seemed to try and make you take things you were not interested in. I had heard that Dell computer hears the concerns about bloatware and you may find they have less and make it easier to delete it.

By the way, I was looking into what I have to do to reload security software. Comcast is moving to Norton from McAfee.

 

[46er]

Dell used to have the option of not having any extraneous software preloaded. It is how I ordered mine, twas one of the selectables on the customizing portion of the order. If its not there I would give them a call and ask for it.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Bob,

That Dell looks amazing. That's a computer that I wouldn't mind running. If anything, maybe look at the Studio XPS 8100 and a bigger monitor.

With that amount of memory, you're going to need to run Windows 7 64 bit. So you should make sure that all of the hardware you have has 64 bit drivers.

I wouldn't worry too much about the bloatware. Dell is not as bad as many other companies are. Plus, you live close to me and I'd be happy to come down and help you set up the new computer.

 

[Boyd]

Personally, I hate McAfee. My Dell included a free trial of Trend Micro antivirus software, and I find it much, much better so I opted for the full version. We have McAfee on our machines at work, so I got it when I installed Windows XP on my Mac. Every time you start the computer up (and this is booting directly into Windows, not running along with MacOS) it virtually brings the system to its knees while it does a scan. This is on a Core 2 Duo 2.4 ghz system with XP FWIW. But the computer is so slow during this scan that it's just an exercise in frustration to use it. No such problems with Trend Micro. When my McAfee software expired, I deleted it and installed Trend and the same system is great now.

Aside from that, I had some other issues with the company, renewing the software, and the fact that they keep your credit card info on file and you can't delete it yourself (I had to contact their support and ask them to remove it). I will never use McAfee again. Your mileage may vary...

 

[bobpbx]

Thanks for the advice and offer to help. The one thing I am unsure of is the monitor. How big is too big? After awhile, does your eye get tired of trying to look at too much. Also, if this is what Dell is offering to come with it, maybe I should look into a monitor with better quality?

PS: my 2 pet peeves; when I click on a site, and it takes its sweet time loading because I did not know it was loaded with somebody's lifelong blog, or when a news channel insists that I want to see a video.....AND I CAN'T STOP IT FROM LOADING!....and go about my business. The other is the McAfee scan or download. It refuses to let you stop it with a few clicks. It says...."I'm in charge, not you...so you'll just have to wait". Boy that bugs the hell out of me.

 

[Ben Ruset]

I have a 27" monitor on my desk at work. I think the larger the better, especially if you're going to be looking at it for a while. As long as you're not going to be sitting right on top of it, your eyes won't be strained. If I was going to buy a new monitor right now I'd probably look for a 27" one.

I wouldn't worry about getting a better "quality" monitor. LCD's are fairly uniform in quality thesedays, with only two types of panels. Unless you want to spend a ton of money, you're better off going for size. I'd stick with Dell because of the warrantee. You don't want to have to deal with Samsung or some other company if you have a monitor problem.

As far as the videos, the only site I go to that auto loads videos is CNN.com and I hate it too. That's why I generally go to Google News instead.

 

[Boyd]

I have the Dell 23" monitor and it's fine considering the price. But it has a pretty narrow viewing angle for best image quality; the contrast and color change pretty significantly as you move off-axis. Not much of a problem for a computer where you sit dead center, but not so good if several people wanted to watch a movie on it. I have an Apple 23" Cinema Display next to the Dell, and it has a much nicer image. The Dell is brighter but the image is too contrasty, regardless of the settings. This probably won't bother most people, but it's not so good for video editing or photoshop work.

I believe most (if not all )the Dell monitors in the 19"-24" range are 1920x1080 which makes sense because it's the HDTV standard, but in this case you just get bigger dots on the screen as the size increases and the monitor doesn't show you any larger area. Actually, I was a bit disappointed when I got this screen at Best Buy because a year or two ago 16:10 monitors were common at 1920x1200 pixels, which gives you a bit larger area to work in. Best Buy didn't have a single one like that anymore, they were all 1920x1080.

Regardless, I think the Dell monitors are a good value and a huge improvement over the old 1024x768 screens that were the standard not all that many years ago. For typical home use like web browsing and multimedia, they're a good choice.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Yeah, I'd consider the Apple Cinema Display to pretty much be the gold standard for monitors. That's why I love the iMac I have on my desk at work. It's a shame that all of the new ones are mini-DP only.