Catie's Computer Thread

Okay people. I need your help. Again. I've been looking for a computer, actively, and have a bunch of questions for you computer savvy folks.

The biggest question is:
Pentium 4 processor vs. Athlon processor

The Athlon processors are a bargain, but are they comparable with a Pentium? In other words, is it worth saving the cash for a lesser known processor? Will they run the same software as the Pentium? Or should I just shell out the dough for the namebrand?

Anyone? Help!!!

 

Catie, I have an Athlon processor and we've been really happy happy with ours. Personally, I don't know that much about all this stuff but when I bought mine, rickSith said that Athlons were pretty good and comparable to Pentium. Our processor seems to be pretty good, so that's my opinion. Save your money and go for the Athlon.

 

Catie,

Processors aside you need to be more worried about where you going to get your PC. Athlon/Pentium isn't that much of a difference for the casual user.

What's more important is where you get your PC. If there is anything that you listen to, do NOT go to Milwaukee PC. Their work is unpredictable at best. I cannot tell you how many PC's I've had to make housecalls for after their owners made a trip to Milwaukee PC.

Also shop around, for the casual user a computer is a computer is a computer.


M

 

Check out Dell...I just got one of theirs recently and am very happy with it so far. Its a Pentium 4, but I think you may be able to get an Athlon if you want. You can customize it to your needs as well, and they are having specials too. If you have any questions please ask. I'm no expert, but I know to ask a lot more questions when buying pc's than I did when I got my first one. I'm sure there are people here as well who know much more than I who can help you too. Also, how much do you want to spend?

 

Pentium or Athlon. It's roughly the same. Their benchmark tests come very close to each other.
Some higher end programs may prefer Pentium, but they will usually run on Athlon just the same.

Where you buy your computer does matter, as said above. You have to decide how much service you need from a company. If you know computers pretty good, you probably don't need to pay for the service, but if you know nothing at all about computers, go for the works when it comes to service.

I have an aunt who bought a computer. She knew she had to get into the computer age just to keep up with others around her. She went with Gateway (not my first choice, but still a decent one) and they did everything for her, except setup the computer in her home (I did that for her). She ran into a few problems and they were nice enough to help her with them.

As far as service ratings go, Dell does have one of the highest, and their computers are reasonably priced. Gateway and Dell both use Pentium in their computers. No Athlon processors there. However, with all of the other things you will want to get, the difference in processor cost won't be much to worry about.

Let's go Dell, just for the heck of it. You can go to their website and configure whatever you want to be in your computer.
I would suggest getting the maximum memory you can get for your computer. Memory (RAM) is what gets eaten up the most by programs you run. Even the ones running that you don't see (yes there are programs that do that but usually it's a good thing). Games are big memory hogs. Email and internet don't need much, unless you hit a heavy graphics site (but then other things come into play too - connection speeds like modem, cable, or DSL - graphics cards - etc.)

Of course cost is everything in this economy, so splurge on processor and memory. How fast your DVD Rom or CD Burner goes doesn't really affect things as often as the processor and memory goes. Plus those items are usually upgradeable (so is memory, but why wait for that).
So you max out on processor, memory, and get a 64Mb Graphics card for sure.
DVDRom and CD Burner is a must and pretty cheap.
Get a BIG hard drive. You may think you won't ever use it all, but it fills up fast!.
Also get a fast hard drive. It just makes things run so much smoother.

Those are the important things really, in my opinion. Do as you will and cut back as your budget requires. Remember one thing though. Most computers have a lifetime of 5-6 years and then they are considered ancient or obsolete. So figure you are going to maybe upgrade or buy a new one after that time. That means spend wisely.

Good Luck and I hope this helps.

 

That's also another good reason to splurge on the memory/processor... it will lengthen the effective lifespan of your computer.

Well actually... barring any catastrophic hardware failures, the computer that you buy today will work just the same 5 or 10 years from now. It will run the same programs and do the same things it does today. If your needs don't expand, then you don't need to get a new computer... but the needs always do expand. That's why we all end up buying a new computer every few years. Processor/memory requirements for the programs we want to run goes up, so yes, it's usually good to get the best processor/memory you can. It might give you a couple extra years of running the latest and greatest programs before you'd need to upgrade. Especially important if you're planning on doing alot of gaming - that's the thing that really eats memory and processor cycles.


Speaking of nice computers, I really want one of these. Time to start saving up some cash.

 

Okay guys, I did it. I bought a computer. Thank you all very much for your advice. It helped a lot. I know most of the basic stuff, but when you throw in words like "ethernet," I get kinda scared. Things were a lot different way back when you had to hit the spacebar to shoot the deer. You old schoolers know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, here are the specs of my new computer, which should be here sometime this weekend (I hope). Let me know where I screwed up. I customized it myself, so I have no one else to blame.
 
Dell Dimension 4550 Series: Pentium® 4 Processor at 2.0GHz w/400MHz front side bus/ 512K L2 Cache

Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM at 266MHz

Keyboard: Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard

Monitors: 17 in (16.0 in viewable,.27dp) E772 Monitor

Video Cards: 32MB ATI® Rage? Ultra Graphics Card

Hard Drive: FREE UPGRADE! 120GB Ultra ATA/100 Hard Drive

Floppy Drive: 3.5 in Floppy Drive 

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Mouse: Dell® 2-button scroll mouse

Network Interface: Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet 

Modem: 56K PCI Telephony Modem

CD or DVD Drive: 48x Max CD-ROM Drive

Sound Card: Integrated Audio

Speakers: New Harman Kardon® HK-206 Speakers

Software Bundles: WordPerfect® Productivity Pack with Quicken New User Edition

Security Software: Dell SecurityCenter by McAfee, 90-day introductory offer

Digital Music: Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH

Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio, Image Expert (Standard)

Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options: 1 Year Limited Warranty plus 1 Year At-Home Service

Internet Access Service: 6 Months of MSN Internet Access Included

CD or DVD Burner for 2nd bay: FREE Upgrade! 40x/10x/40x Max CD-RW Drive 


The system originally came with a 60GB hard drive, and the upgrade was an internet special. So was the burner. I have to say that's what really sold me on this one. I thought about getting a DVDROM drive, but I already have three DVD players (if you count PS2 and XBOX), so the extra cost wasn't worth it to me. The standard monitor was the 15" with 13.8" viewable. I upgraded to the 17" for and extra $30. I just couldn't resist.

So, after all is said and done, what was the cost? Not including shipping and taxes, it's $889. And, there's a $100 rebate. So that makes it $789. But shipping and taxes come out to about $106, so I'm back up to the $890 range. So, did I do okay?

And who's going to come over and give me lessons on how to use the thing? Especially with the internet stuff. Like posting links, things like that. I'll provide Cheetos and Mountain Dew. Because according to PCs for Dummies, that's what you people like to eat.

 

Sounds like a good deal to me - especially since it's nicer than the computer that I bought from Dell 2 years ago that cost me about $2200. Only differences on mine were a smaller hard drive, no monitor (already had one), and twice as much memory.

The only thing I would have done different with your computer is get more memory. If you find that you need more you can always upgrade later, but you'll probably be just fine.

 

Yes, more memory woulda been a good choice. Also a 64Mb Graphics Card instead of the 32Mb one would a been better.

Other than that, everything else sounds excellent.

Ethernet is mostly for setting up a network, but can also be configured for DSL (if I remember right), if you plan on getting that some other time in the future.

Oh, and I probably woulda spent the extra cash for the XP Professional version instead of the Home version. I hear that the Pro is more stable and has more to offer. But you can always upgrade to it later.

*** When would you need someone to come by to give you lessons? I wouldn't mind helping you out. I'd just have to know ahead of time so to plan it with family and etc.

Also some directions could be helpful, if you wish for my help.

 

Sounds good Catie. Didn't go with the THX certified surround sound? It will replace any sound system in your home...

And the XP Pro is more stable but I doubt seriously if you're going to run into any problems at all.

Also, ethernet is great, you can hook up your Xbox and play online. However, if you're still using dial-up I seriously recommend getting either DSL or Cable modem access. DSL isn't as fast as Cable because with cable you can upload and download at the same time...if you already have cable you can get roadrunner for like $40 more a month and you'll get your own access. And if you like I'll help you set up email.


M

 

Cally and I are having something of a debate. Well, maybe debate isn't the correct word. Here's the scoop.

I've heard the "Turn Off the Computer Completely vs. Leave the Computer on Stand-by" arguement. I think Cally's for the Stand-by side. I am undecided.

So, what is the best approach? Should I turn off the unit completely every time I'm done? For the record, I go online twice a day, once in the morning when I get home and once in the evening after I get up. I have no idea how often Cally is on.

Is one really better than the other?

 

Well, our friend Mike is the systems administrator for the city of Brookfield, and he recommends leaving your computer on all the time, as he claims the constant start-up/shut-down isn't all that hot for a computer. Now I have no idea if this is true or not, but it does seem to make some logical sense. Consequently, we leave ours on all the time at home, with the occasional reboot for good measure. However, I shut mine down at work every night when I leave, simply because I don't want anybody messing with it, although I know many people just leave theirs on overnight often enough that it requires our systems administrator at the museum here to email everyone and remind them to shut down when they leave so she can do late night server work.

So, I guess it's all up to personal preference. Needless to say, I prefer leaving it on all the time myself--that way it's always easy-access when you need to do something, and you don't have to wait for the start-up to cycle through--I mean, what are screensavers for, right?

 

Personally, I leave my home computer on all the time, but that's just because every time I reboot it, there's a chance my hard disk won't come back. The stability of my computer is tenuous at best, so when my hard disk first started showing signs of having corruption, and Windows started giving BSODs because of the hard disk, and my computer taking 2 hours to boot instead of 2 minutes -- that's when I decided to throw the thing on a UPS battery and keep it up as much as possible. Now that the holidays are over, I will have the time to start building my own PC; my current one is 5 years old.

I do power my work computer down every day... but that's because it's a bit stupid to keep the laptop on while driving home. =-)

The last I heard (this would be around 5 years ago), home computers are more tolerant of powering up/shutting down than heavy duty servers. The theory I was told was that servers have thinner wiring and/or connections within the transistors. These thinner connections are more likely to overheat and break during a power surge, such as turning on the machine. Home computers at the time didn't have quite as many connections and they were more tolerant of power surges.

As technology has advanced, though, connections have gotten thinner and thinner for home computers, too. *shrug*

-Phil/Suddenly getting the urge to hit the wagon trail and fight off the dysentery...

 

Sy, I purchased a Dell earlier this year, I turn it off every night, mostly because when I left it on for a few days, the clock started getting WAY off (something to do with the screensaver or power saver mode or something). The clock keeps up fine when I'm using it (even though it does have a tendency to loose a few minutes every time I leave it idol for a few hours or more). This could be my computer, but I've heard other Dell owners complain about the same problem.

If anyone knows of any way to fix this, I would be eternally grateful.

~H~

 

Yes, it should be ok to leave it on all the time. Just remember to reboot once in a great while- in my experience computers start getting a bit flaky after being on for a month or more. But that was with an older operating system last time I experienced that.

Personally I like to shut the computer off at night because it's in the bedroom and the roar of the cooling fan gets annoying while I'm trying to sleep. Also, it just seems wasteful and unnecessary to leave a machine on all the time even when I'm not using it. But if it's better for the machine to be on all the time, then I guess I can understand doing it.

 

It's a machine regardless of what it's supposed to do or how good the opsys is...they need a break now and again. Also with the processors it's good to give the fans a break. I shut it down at night. It is certainly not going to hurt it and when you reboot the system set up the antivirus software to scan on reboot. It'll save you oodles of trouble later on. When you have them hooked up to a network it's a little different but at home, it's not going to hurt a thing. Leaving it on stand-by throughout the day isn't a problem but it's like any other machine, it'll last longer if you give the beast a break.


M

 

Marcy is right. It is best to turn it off. Perhaps not every night, if you are the impatient type (though the start-up cycles are quite fast with th enewer computers).

The reason I shut-down completely each night is because programs eat resources and shutting down resets that. If you leave your computer on for too long, you will definitely notice a slow-down. So I feel it is best to shut-down each night and give my computer a fresh start the next day.

 

Wasting electricity makes Baby Jesus cry.

 

I am of the group that just leaves the computer on all the time. Currently I haven't rebooted my computer in about 2 weeks, and it's still going fine. (win XP Pro) Of course I have my computer set up for several server-type functions, so even if i'm not using it, other people are...