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I'm moving into a household that has wireless internet. A first question, when I buy a new desktop next month is it even necessary to buy anything to latch onto their wireless network (in which case I would have Geek squad do it....) Some tell me new desktops come wireless network ready.
Anyway as far as desktop I want one of high quality: with lots of memory and RAM (if there's a difference, lol). I want one that won't slow down and has lots of "room."
Buying a computer is still tough because the industry is still run by "Nick Burns the Company Computer Guy" being very intolerant for those ignorant of innerworkings of computer science and computer lingo.
BTW I don't take digital pictures or "cam" (If you saw me you'd know why )
I'd much appreciate any advice and info.
Thanks ladies and gentlemen!
Last edited by Wes927; 07-24-2008 at 12:56 PM..
Reason: type-0
AFAIK, desktops don't come w/ a built in wireless card. you'll have to buy a seperate wireless adapter card to install in your desktop. I had one last year on my old desktop and it worked fine and easy to install. I got something like this, though I'm not 100% sure that was the same brand I used.
desktops are so cheap now and it's easy to find one that should meet your basic needs. best thing about desktops is that they are easy to upgrade, so you can start out w/ something cheaper and just upgrade the parts as needed. you didn't mention what you need the desktop for or if you need a good graphic card, but I can't imagine a mid-range desktop being more than $800.
Wes927, why do you want to buy a PC "of high quality"? Tell us about how you will use it.
Most PCs sold today are more than adequate for web surfing, email, and light computer gaming. If you're doing more than that, they you might need a better (more powerful) PC.
If you buy a wireless adapter card, care they good for any brand wireless network. I think my household will be Linkys (??) though I'm not sure
I'm not gonna do much except word processing, make some powerpoint, download some video and audio. I'd err on the side of more "memory" cuz I'm not a good upgrade, lol. I wonder if any desktop models come to mind....
I'm moving into a household that has wireless internet. A first question, when I buy a new desktop next month is it even necessary to buy anything to latch onto their wireless network (in which case I would have Geek squad do it....) Some tell me new desktops come wireless network ready.
Anyway as far as desktop I want one of high quality: with lots of memory and RAM (if there's a difference, lol). I want one that won't slow down and has lots of "room."
Buying a computer is still tough because the industry is still run by "Nick Burns the Company Computer Guy" being very intolerant for those ignorant of innerworkings of computer science and computer lingo.
BTW I don't take digital pictures or "cam" (If you saw me you'd know why )
I'd much appreciate any advice and info.
Thanks ladies and gentlemen!
Based on your need, just go for the price in something like a Dell. You don't need power, other than for the OS. You also don't really need Vista, so if they offer XP, go for that which will make your machine run faster anyway. You can get away with vista, but you should have a minimum of 2 gb of ram and make sure your processor is at the medium to above average.
Other than that, price should be your concern then.
edit:
Also, I think while you are building a Dell machine, they give you the option to add a wireless network card as an option. That should be fine for what you need.
I'm not going to twist your arm or anything, but it occurred to me that some people won't want a laptop because of the lousy keyboard (not to mention the lack of a "real" mouse.) It's hard for many to type on. I have a little miniature table that the laptop sits on, and I have a wireless keyboard and mouse. I'm using rechargeable batteries and I occasionally have to switch them out and replace them with fresh ones. If you should ever go that route, be sure to notice the mAh number and only use (and recharge) batteries that have the same number.
I don't want to start an entire tedious argument of the relative merits of Mac vs PC. That being said, I'm in the same boat as you in terms of my technical prowess. I finally broke down and bought a Mac and found almost everything to be pretty easy.
I was under the impression that you couldn't buy a new pc with XP installed, except for the super low end ones. If that's the case, then you would be wise to set 2GB as the minimum RAM you'll accept. Vista needs at least that much to run adequately.
Don't worry as much about "space." With the ease of use and low cost of external storage (external hard drives, jump drives, even DVD burners) you'll find lots of ways to save all the files, music, graphics or whatever you have.
I have PCs (four right now). I use them for work and for home. Except for the laptop, I've built the last three PCs myself. I wouldn't go with a Mac because I want to fine tune the computers that I use (still fine-tuning my expertise, too), because I need test environments for the business world, and because I want a higher-end gaming machine at home.
However, I've come to realize that not everyone needs a computer that they can fine-tune and upgrade...a lot of people just need a computing appliance.
If you just want something to work, don't care about how it works, don't want to run software that requires a Microsoft operating system, and can afford to spend a little more, buy a Mac product.
And also buy the expensive extended warranty with that Mac product, from the reports, you're probably gonna want it.
Even if you have to use some software that requires a Microsoft OS, they can now configure Macs to dual-boot Mac OS/X and Windows Vista...for the price of the additional Windows OS and the cost of having a Mac tech install it for you.
However, if you've got a really tight budget, go for the PC. A Mac mini new goes for $600, a name brand budget PC goes for $400. Yes, high end Macs are comparable in price to high-end Dells, but if you're on a budget then you're not looking at the high-end stuff. Yes, you can pick up refurbished Macs for less, but then you can also pick up refurbished PCs for even less than refurbished Macs. My dad got such a deal last week, my old Pentium IV 3.0 GHz with Windows XP SP3, 3GB RAM, 120GB of disk, DVD burners, and a low-range video card...all for free.
Oh, and get a good Anti-Virus software package for the PC.
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