Time for a New DeskTop

[Eager]

OK, It's time for a new DeskTop for the Family. I'd really rather buy shoes than a PC, so I haven't really "kept up" on the technology. Anyway, we've got a $1k budget, might be able to knock the printer outside that. There's four of us, wife and I, daughters in middle school and just starting community college part time. we mostly surf. email, download and play music, pics but not extreme, do homework, letters, etc. We like speed for those tasks, and probably would like a 23-in flat monitor. We have cable internet already. Also, they want good, but don't have to be great, speakers to play their techno, poppy, teenage music, while they surf, and chat/blog to their teen friends.

I think we can live without wireless. No one's a big gamer, nor will likely become so inclined.

I can get Microsoft word, excel, etc. from my work deal, and some security/anti-virus thing, don't have the details yet.

Based on my limited knowledge so far, I like this one:

Gateway DX4831-01e

Gateway DX4831-01e

Anything wrong with that, or is there a better choice? Any general recommendations for what I should be reading, where I should be looking to help me do this?

[JACKAL]

Was just looking at a Dell Inspiron 560 at Sam's Club 23" wide screen, 1TB hard drive, 2.94GHz Duo Core Processor for $799.

[Eager]

I think I'm about to "pull the trigger" on the Gateway DX4831-01e. They've got them locally here at BestBuy for $529 (includes keyboard, but not monitor). I like it for the Intel Core i3 processor, the memory, and hard drive, which seem to be rated about as good as I can get within my budget, and should work real well for what we want. Serious gaming, is out side this. And it has a convinient amount and location of ports. No wireless, but I don't think we'll need that. Doesn't really look expandable, but for ~$500, we'll likely just throw it away in a few years anyway.

This: http://compreviews.about.com/od/buyers/bb/DesktopPCs.htm seemed to be the most useful guide. Along with personal reviews.

I think I'll go for a 23-in LCD monitor, probably an ACER from Best Buy, which seems to rate as good or better than others at this price and class. Then I'll get some small but decent speakers, for the music fans, then a basic printer, the software...

I can see why there weren't many responses to this. There's so many similar computers our there, and things change so fast, and by the time something is proven reliable, it's obsolete.

Anyway, I'll think we'll be happy with this...

as long as it doesn't breakdown.

Edited February 6, 2010 by Eager

[larry cazes]

DELL is shipping computers again with XP Pro installed. Dont know if that matters to you but it does to some.

[Eager]

All hooked up and running!

I got the Gateway with an Intel Core i3 processesor, which per the "How to Buy PC" sight above, seemed to be about the best for my budget. Got it from NewEgg.com, which seemed pretty highly recommened (along with TigerDirect.com). Both of those sellers have lots of buyers reviews, and info, which helped narrow the choice. Choosing the monitor was difficult because , every monitor under $350, had a significant percentage of buyers that absolutely hated it, and advised to avoid at all costs. I ended up with a $125, 20" monitor (smaller than the budget and what I had in mind), because reliablity and performance wise it was rated as well as more expensive ones, and if it gives up, it won't be too upsetting to just buy a new one. It appears that monitor support by sellers and manufacters is not stong, such that you pretty much are SOL, if it fails.

I studied the option of XP vs Windows 7, and to me, Windows 7 didn't look bad enough in comparison to avoid.

[Cultldr]

[quote name='Eager' date='19 February 2010 - 08:21 PM' timestamp='1266632474' post='1157038'

I studied the option of XP vs Windows 7, and to me, Windows 7 didn't look bad enough in comparison to avoid.

Congrats on the buy! I have been running Windows 7 for a while on this laptop here at home (32 bit) and have had no complaints so far. And just loaded up a machine at work with 64bit Windows 7 just for giggles and again so far so good. We have a lot of proprietary software so I've been playing with getting those loaded but all in all Windows 7 is better than my experience with Vista.