Calling Computer Buffs

[partypooper]

Ok, I have 2 lap Tops and 3 desk tops all playing up one way or another, mostly old machines. I have $1000 available (gift cards) and want to buy a new machine.

I mainly use the comp for the Horse racing activities (3 screens) and e-mail, don't download movies or much of anything else though the kids probably would if they could.

A little advice as to what I should be looking at would be greatly appreciated,

at the same time I want to get rid of the USB type internet and probably go back to ADSL, so again any advice welcome. bearing in mind when it comes to comps "THRIFT" is very much in mind.

[lomaca]

want to buy a new machine.

You nailed your pennon to the mast there party.

Not knowing what you currently have, makes it hard to give advise but if they work well enough on a USB stick they are recent enough to have a complete zapping of the old system and a system reinstall, if they are "playing up" as you say, and go for the ADSL, if available, it's a no brainer.

[Shaun]

Where are the gift card for?

[jose]

I will probably get crucified for this from the heavies here but here goes.....

Get yourself down to the nearest Apple store and sit in on one of the free lessons.

Buy a Mac.

No more troubles. No Viruses. No worms. No trojans. No more buying a "new" anti Virus program every 2 minutes. (more than likely from the very people who write the viruses).
No more worries.

I have had the same Mac for over 4 years and the only thing I have ever had to do with it is buy a new charger.

Bring on the sniping!

[Shaun]

I won't say you are wrong, just Mac's are very different to PC i have not used a mac in about 20 years but would love to compare it to a PC.

[partypooper]

Shaun, The gift cards are for Harvey Norman,

Jose, Mac, well, like most people just a bit afraid I think, but I have contact with several people who exactly the same as you.

Lomaca, er will have to work that out, hang on this one is note book, e thing, with xp installed ( a toy basically)

the desk top with problems is ......minute by todays standards i.e. Celeron2.4GHz, (YES that was 2 POINT 4) 224MB of ram.

System, XP Pro 2002, service pack 3

Like I said a bit old, but when you stop laughing, I would appreciate any tips as what I should buy. I'm just wanting to up-grade to something appropriate but within budget?

[Shaun]

your main issue is ram 224 is nothing and will struggle to run even a web browser, running service pack 3 will be slowing it down, is there any chance you can pull out the ram and have a look at what is written on it, i have a lot of different ram modals around here and you are welcome to what ever you need as it is of no use to me anymore.

[Shaun]

If you intend to get something with the gift cards it is a bit hard to say as i don't know what they have in that price range.

Best thing is for you to talk to them see what they have for the money you want to spend then get the specs of a couple different systems and post on here before you buy.

[moeee]

your main issue is ram 224 is nothing and will struggle to run even a web browser,

I , until today , have been running with 256K of Ram.
Today , I placed 1 Gig of Ram.

As far as browsing the Web is concerned, I've not noticed any change whatsoever.

Enough of anything , is enough.
Any more than is necessary is simply a wasted effort.

When you are thirsty , you only drink enough until thirst is quenched.
Too much will only lead to bloating and possibly drowning in the excess.

[Shaun]

I won't argue with you about the experience you have had with the increase in ram but if you don't notice any difference in normal running over the next week i will not post another thing on this site as i know you will see an improvement.

I have been in IT for many years and ram is the cheapest upgrade you can perform, i recently increased mine from 4gigs to 8gigs a bit of over kill but it was cheap, i also installed an SSD drive as my main drive and can say they run fantastic.

[moeee]

I won't argue with you about the experience you have had with the increase in ram but if you don't notice any difference in normal running over the next week i will not post another thing on this site as i know you will see an improvement.



That was 256M , not 256K.

And you seem to be correct already.
Acrobat reader and Excel seem to be quicker.
But the web Pages speed is limited by things other than Ram.

I think the speed increase is because the Computer is using the ram Storage rather than Hard Drive storage , and that is much more efficient.

[Shaun]

It won't make the actual pages load faster just the program itself, i should have been more accurate in what i was saying.

Depending on the ram party has i have 2 gigs of ram sitting here he can have.

[partypooper]

Shaun, thats very nice of you for the offer, are you saying that the system is not THAT bad just upgrade to more RAM?

like cos I thought in computer terms its probably ancient??

Anyway b4 I do anything I'll have a Squizz in
Harvey Normans tomorrow and see what they are offering, as I say there is more than one problem with the desktop, and my feeling is I may as well upgrade NEW, rather than throwing good money after bad. (I think I'd be the mug they are waiting for) the repairers that is!

Will be in touch!

[AngryPixie]

Poop

The new AMD Fusion notebooks give decent performance at low cost. There may be some desktop models also. Failing that a Intel Core i3 notebook or desktop will probably do what you want. Stay away from Intel Atom's and don't let them flog an old Intel Core Duo model to you.

Get at least 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB+ HDD.

I buy hundreds of PC's and notebooks each year (other end of the market though). I've just bought a AMD Fusion for general use around the house.

[Shaun]

I would agree with the above sounds good, as for what you have would be fine as a pc for surfing the net or e-mail just stick some more ram in it.

As i said get the specs of what ever system they offer you and post here we will give you an idea on it's value for money.

[Shaun]

Poop

The new AMD Fusion notebooks give decent performance at low cost. There may be some desktop models also. Failing that a Intel Core i3 notebook or desktop will probably do what you want. Stay away from Intel Atom's and don't let them flog an old Intel Core Duo model to you.

Get at least 4GB of RAM, and a 250GB+ HDD.

I buy hundreds of PC's and notebooks each year (other end of the market though). I've just bought a AMD Fusion for general use around the house.

The atoms are fantastic for what they were designed for and that is low power usage, i bought an eeepc for my daughter just for surfing the net and facebook and she can get almost 9 hours out of a full charge and this thing runs windows 7 starter edition, not bad for just over $300

[AngryPixie]

Shaun

Yep it's a game of leap frog. The AMD E-350 betters the Atoms in most areas (particularly graphics) at present. It's sure to change though. I wouldn't expect too much from these but for the everyday 2D stuff Poop described machine built around this chip are good value for the money. Will probably turn mine into an entry level HTPC.

[partypooper]

[QUOTE=AngryPixie]Poop

a and don't let them flog an old Intel Core Duo model to you.

Well, had a quick squizz and I think thats exactly what they were trying to do

Details EON G2 Intel Pentium DC
E5400 2.7 GHZ
4GB DDR3 RAM
500GB HDD
INTEL X4500 128MB
CD/DVD DRIVE
CORDED KEYBOARD + MOUSE
WINDOWS 7R HOME PREMIUM 64Bit

$588

Alternative, but not sure,

Lap Top Toshiba C660/01M 15.6" screen

i3-380m Procesor
4GB RAM
640GB hard drive
512 MB Graphics
CD/DVD Burner Drive
Windows 7 Home Edition

Just a starting point so any comments welcome.

[Shaun]

The first one is a mix of old and new for the price, not worth it if you are getting a new pc.

at price is the laptop, the only other thing you need to check is they are installing the 64bit operating system because 32bit will only see 3gig of ram.

[AngryPixie]

Poop

Could they show you one of these?

http://www.harveynorman.com.au/product/1256976294256/asus-ku-sxv-laptop

No idea what these are like (all care no responsibility) but this looks not too bad.

Of the two you listed I'd also prop for the second although I'm not sure it's the current model as I think they're going with the 2nd gen i3 in those now.

[AngryPixie]

Agree with Shaun re the 64-bit Windows. You actually take a very slight performace hit with 64-bit Windows (when running 32-bit apps) until you get to the 8GB ram mark.

The only reason I'd use 32-bit Windows on a 4GB+ machine now is if there was a driver issue with some older hardware.

[partypooper]

Poop

Could they show you one of these?

http://www.harveynorman.com.au/product/1256976294256/asus-ku-sxv-laptop

No idea what these are like (all care no responsibility) but this looks not too bad.

Of the two you listed I'd also prop for the second although I'm not sure it's the current model as I think they're going with the 2nd gen i3 in those now.

Angry, (excuse the the total lack of knowledge on the subject) but could I use this machine but connect to 2 monitors as well?

[Shaun]

You could run a second monitor along with the laptop monitor.

[AngryPixie]

Yes it has VGA for connection to a monitor, and HDMI for connection to a suitably equipped TV.

You need to have a fiddle with one. Don't just take my word for it ;)

Caveat emptor.

[Shaun]

I have not tried to connect both TV and monitor at same time but older model laptops don't support 3 outputs not sure if they have changed that in newer models.

[AngryPixie]

Yes I suspect it will be notebook screen and one of the other output options only.

If you want to part with the whole $1000 you could do better Poop.

[Silver_and_sand]

FWIW, I picked up a Lenovo z560 earlier in the year and love it.

Here's it's specs:
Processor: Intel Core i5 460M 2.53GHz (Turbo 2.8GHz)
Chipset: Intel HM55
Storage: 500GB 5400rpm
Optical: DVD multi-burner
Display: 15.6" HD WXGA LED Glossy (1366 x 768)
Graphics: nVidia GeForce GT 310M 1GB
Comms: 10/100 base Ethernet, Lenovo Wireless (a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.0
Webcam: Integrated 1.3mp
Card Reader: Integrated
Ports: 3 x USB, HDMI, eSATA
Audio: Integrated w/ Stero Speakers
Battery: 6 cell
O.S.: Windows 7 Home Premium

You can get a Lenovo z560 now for as little as $599 (after $100 cashback), but it isn't through Harvey Norman. It easily does everything I need it too, which is mostly just internet browsing, Word processing and Excel spreadsheets.

From personal experience, I would steer clear of Compaq and Acer laptops. I've had good experiences with Toshibas. My Mum has had a Toshiba laptop for 6 years now, and she still loves it, and it hasn't had any problems.

Um, just a heads up in case you weren't aware. Harvey Norman and Dick Smith Electronics are just about the most expensive places to buy electronics from, but they will match competitor's prices. So if you must shop at either of them, go online first and find the best price from a competitor, print it out, and take it in to DSE or HN, and they'll match it.

I also highly recommend the staticice.com.au (http://www.staticice.com.au) website. It's basically just a price comparison website for electronic products in Australia. It will list who is selling the electronic product you're after, and for what price, and it seems to be kept very up-to-date. As crazy as it sounds, it's often cheaper to order products from interstate and have them shipped to your door, than it is to buy from the shop around the corner.

Good luck.

[Shaun]

That's funny you say that but i have bought a couple computers from ebay from a seller based in Sydney, proper business they just choose to sell via ebay and they have some of the cheapest systems i have seen.

[partypooper]

Yes, I'm starting to regret taking Harvey Norman Vouchers now.

I may be better to just buy the comp elsewhere and use the vouchers for other stuff.

Any ideas? (remember computer dumb here)

[Shaun]

where do you live again.

[Silver_and_sand]

[QUOTE=AngryPixie]
Lap Top Toshiba C660/01M 15.6" screen

i3-380m Processor
4GB RAM
640GB hard drive
512 MB Graphics
CD/DVD Burner Drive
Windows 7 Home Edition

Just a starting point so any comments welcome.How much are HN selling the Toshiba c660 laptop for? Using that staticice.com.au website, I found a place you can get it delivered to WA for $665.20, so if you were hooked on that model, then try to get HN to match that price.

The Toshiba c660 comes up a little short when compared to the Lenovo z560 which I mentioned before. The Lenovo z560 has a better processor and graphics card, which may help to future-proof it a little bit, but it does have a smaller hard drive (500GB vs 640GB), but realistically the average person will struggle to ever fill up that much space. Allowing for shipping, the Lenovo z560 will probably cost about $30 less than the Toshiba c660.

[partypooper]

SILVER, FORGOT BUT AROUND THERE$



Shaun. Greenmount mate, not too far from you, well comparatively speaking that is.

But my Daughter is in Palmyra

[Silver_and_sand]

Ok. I think the minimum you need in a laptop nowadays is an i3 processor and 4GB ram. Having these two specs will somewhat future-proof your notebook for a few years. Given that as a starting point, I've had a bit of a look around to see what would be the cheapest ... I mean the most cost-effective option available.

Here's the best value 4GB laptop with an i3 processor I could find:
Lenovo G560-06798HM
CPU: Intel Core i3 370 2.4GHz
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
RAM: 4GB DDR3
HDD: 500GB SATA
Graphics: Intel GMA 4500
Integrated VGA Screen: 15.6” LED Monitor (1366x768)
* 1yr Warranty * WiFi 11N * Card Reader
* 2.7kg * 6 Cell Battery * HDMI * Webcam * eSata

Price is $449, but there's a $50 cashback offer. Plus you can buy it through MSY, which has stores in Cannington and Balcatta, so you won't have to pay a shipping charge. So, all up it's just $399.00. It sounds like a pretty good bargain. Here's the MSY (http://www.msy.com.au) website, and here's the brochure (http://www.msy.com.au/Parts/notebook.pdf) listing their laptop deals (scroll down to page 4, and look for the $399 tag on the right hand side).

Don't know if you've ever been to an MSY store before, but here in Victoria they're an extremely basic, no-frills kind of store, so while you shouldn't expect great service, you can expect a great price.

[Silver_and_sand]

Here's the MSY Balcatta (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Unit+3,+511+Wanneroo+Rd+balcatta&hl=en&ll=-31.860874,115.826937&spn=0.002196,0.014656&client=firefox-a&gl=au&z=17&layer=c&cbll=-31.860871,115.826932&panoid=eUvRdjrQ5BSrz_w_5gCQ-g&cbp=11,266.41,,0,6.33) and Cannington (http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=Shop+14,+64%2F66+Kent+Street+Cannington,+WA+6107&hl=en&ll=-32.014981,115.927563&spn=0.002192,0.014656&sll=-31.888927,115.878983&sspn=0.15479,0.338173&z=17&layer=c&cbll=-32.014984,115.927566&panoid=J1ZM6NMxtwv4QhMq95th5A&cbp=11,271.77,,0,-0.99) store locations if you're interested in checking them out. Like I said, don't expect to be dazzled by a fancy showroom, but you will find lots of bargains there.

[Shaun]

These are the 2 cheapest places in Perth for PC gear and they won't sell you rubbish.

http://www.austin.net.au/

http://www.ple.com.au/

[partypooper]

Many thanks Angry, Silver & Shaun 'n'all, I'm sure I'll get something suitable out of those leads, I'll let you know what I get.

Now, for something else, as I said I had several machines playing up so just thought I'd have a go and re-load the disk,...... first with the lap top, presto worked a treat, all my old stuff still there but I can also get on the net now etc. so success.

So then I thought I'd try it on the desktop. copied what I needed to a Flash Voyager USB and re-loaded the disk following the prompts exactly the same, it kinda worked; but has wiped everything and I sarted again with a clean comp, loaded the Broadband USB and it works ok (using it now) loaded Works (as most of my files are Works) but when I plugged in the Voyager all the files are shown as corrupted and can't open??

Got a yell of a shock as there is YEARS of research, so plugged into the Lap Top and breathed a sigh of relief as most of the files are accessable (but not all) does any of that make sense?

The ones that are not accessable come up with that prompt asking what programme created it etc etc

Oh yes and also the desktop er how do I explain .....too big for the screen I suppose you'd say I've clicked everything from herte to there but can't seem to change the setting?