Shopping for a new Computer, what should I look for?

jonmartensen · Post by **jonmartensen** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 12:13 am

Oh, the kiddies have reverted to comparing their IQ. My gaydar readings are going off the charts here.

Ok, just had to say that, good oportunity.

rubyeye: While most people hate compaq with a vengance it usually can be pretty good, I would recomend gateway or HP though.

[MOD467: The off-topic banter that is referred to in this post has been moved here.]

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 1:01 am

While the kiddies were fighting I was checking out some vendors

DELL is a big fucking rip-off. HP & Gateway seem, ~okay~.. less of a rip off, but still ripping you off!

~klinky

ErMaC · Post by **ErMaC** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 3:28 am

I'm currently using an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro, dual-head, on two 17" monitors in WinXP and it runs fine. Very nice not having to deal with 2 video cards anymore.

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 3:59 am

Okay, fine we can say the 9000 Pro is "okay". The reason I don't like it is because it's a 9000 Pro, but it's more or less equal to a 8500. There is really no point to that silly product. It's ATI's version of the Geforce4 MX, which is not really a Geforce4, it gets performance around what a Geforce2 gets

They're misleading, thus I hate them.

~klinky

MistyCaldwell · Post by **MistyCaldwell** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 4:45 am

Hey, for the monitor, try a pawn shop

..no, really

I am using a Mitsubishi Diamond Pro 900u, 19" CRT (18.0" diagonal viewable image) that was at a pawn shop. Poor thing had been through some rough treatment and had a little cosmetic damage thanks to a UPS shipment. It was still brand new but needed a degausing job. Other than that, fine....and a steal at 50 bucks

compared to it's suggested price being 700

ErMaC · Post by **ErMaC** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 5:40 am

klinky the 9000 Pro and Geforce4MX's are just fine for doing work. You don't need anything better than them unless you just have to play Unreal Tournament 2003 @ 1280x1024 with all the whizbang options turned on.

I was running on a TNT2 Ultra for the last like 4 years without any problems. I moved to the 9000 Pro because 1) it was cheap 2) it played Warcraft 3. The other cards which are about TWICE as expensive will just give you higher framerates, that's all. And since rubyeye said nothing about games in the original post, I don't think it's right to recommend those kinds of cards when they really aren't warranted.

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 6:46 am

My statement is not that they NEED it, but it's cheap enough that it might as well be added.

OEMs are rip offs. The Mx brand is basically so comapnies can put the word Geforce4 on their comptuer spec list and charge GF4 prices. Meanwhile it lacks the shaders of a actual Geforce4, uses SDRAM & really has nothing to do with the GF4 line. Carmack said it himself.

It's just brand-name PCs are such a money-flusher-down-the-toilet. Let's integrate everything or use every single "Value part" we can find. I use the value high end stuff. ^_^ You'll probably be paying just as much for the low end card from a vendor as you would purchasing the high-end card yourself.

A Dell PC w/ 2.4Ghz P4, 256MB RDRAM, a 30GB hard drive w/ onboard sound/video. $1600. That is no where near worth it.

Bah... I don't like them...

Maybe I am stating this more in the fashion of I would not buy them because you can get much better for not a whole lot more.

Of course it would be a waste if it never went to use.

Okay, I guess my suggestion has no play on the inept, joe schmoe, doesn't know his cd-rom from his coffee coaster type of user...

~klinky

Sub0 · Post by **Sub0** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 9:10 am

klinky wrote:Okay, fine we can say the 9000 Pro is "okay". The reason I don't like it is because it's a 9000 Pro, but it's more or less equal to a 8500. There is really no point to that silly product. It's ATI's version of the Geforce4 MX, which is not really a Geforce4, it gets performance around what a Geforce2 gets

They're misleading, thus I hate them.

yeah

coarse it costs a little less, has pixel shaders... but yeah

Sub0 · Post by **Sub0** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 9:28 am

klinky wrote:My statement is not that they NEED it, but it's cheap enough that it might as well be added.

OEMs are rip offs. The Mx brand is basically so comapnies can put the word Geforce4 on their comptuer spec list and charge GF4 prices. Meanwhile it lacks the shaders of a actual Geforce4, uses SDRAM & really has nothing to do with the GF4 line. Carmack said it himself.

It's just brand-name PCs are such a money-flusher-down-the-toilet. Let's integrate everything or use every single "Value part" we can find. I use the value high end stuff. ^_^ You'll probably be paying just as much for the low end card from a vendor as you would purchasing the high-end card yourself.

A Dell PC w/ 2.4Ghz P4, 256MB RDRAM, a 30GB hard drive w/ onboard sound/video. $1600. That is no where near worth it.

Bah... I don't like them...

Maybe I am stating this more in the fashion of I would not buy them because you can get much better for not a whole lot more.

Of course it would be a waste if it never went to use.

Okay, I guess my suggestion has no play on the inept, joe schmoe, doesn't know his cd-rom from his coffee coaster type of user...

thinky klinky meany retail ;-p

Original Equipment Manufacturers produce the hardware and are known to sell it alone, along with to Retail companys (with applications). (may have to read that sentance twice...)

... and more often than not you pay extra so you don't have to contract help yourself (intel does I think... at least did 2 years ago o.0, fer 50 a year) or find a chat that's helpfull enough (pc911.com) and free. Also Dells in particular is REALLY easy and nearly automated as they keep close tabs to zere kinda. Dell is very worth it dude! but Retail made computers ARE for those who don't wanna work on their computers if/ when they mess it up.

*somebody has a clump of retail shit stuck in their throat ;-p*

if you trust you won't mess it up after it's put together I'd gather the parts from OEMs like www.mwave.com or www.newegg.com than pay a local store (Best Buy'd do it!) to put it together... should be ~$70 + cost! simple really

HP is the only one that has that XP Multimedia Center thingy AFAIK ;-p

klinky · Post by **klinky** » Mon Nov 18, 2002 9:43 am

No sir.

OEMs are companies like HP, DELL, Gateway.

If you purchase a OEM version of a product, it usually comes in a white box with a driver disc.

If you got a retail version, it's got nice fancy graphcis on the front, a manual, a bunch of foam and plastic and maybe a game or two.

mwave, newegg and others sell OEM as well as retail parts.

The reason for OEM's coming in plain packaging is that when a PC vendor builds computers they don't need all the packaging(duh) or the fluff, just the hardware.

OEM parts usually have a shorter warranty period as well. The support is usually done through the OEM, not the original hardware manufactuer.

~klinky