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Okay first of all I am leaning towards a desktop, but am open to a laptop. I have a PC running XP that was bought around 2002/2003 and a laptop that is from 2005 with XP.
I need to upgrade from my desktop for sure. I am looking for something to surf the web (up to 10 web pages at the same time) while streaming music and sorting through pics that are stored on the hard drive.
Right now I have trouble browsing 3 or so pages and if I try to listen to music already downloaded onto my hard drive....FORGET IT! It lags and will freeze until I end the program.
I was looking at the AMD Phenom II and it seems like a nice unit. I am considering building my own desktop this time around.
I will be using a 42" plasma as my monitor and a wireless keyboard/mouse. I eventually will run the sound through my receiver for 5.1 sound, so a nice video/sound card is required with HDMI output.
Other than that I never game and do homework. That's about it.
Any ideas on about how much I should be spending? I understand that building one can result in better parts for about the same price as buying a built desktop.
A piece of advice if you are building your own is to only do it if you are fairly technically proficient. Building it is not all that hard and can be a lot cheaper but if you have problems with the components later on you have to know how to troubleshoot to figure out which one is faulty.
I bought my Lenovo Y430 laptop for under 750 and it has HDMI output and the display is fairly decent.
You definitely get more bang for your buck with a desktop.
So you want a mid-grade, high response, memory-fat media browser. We can do that.
For your purposes I the Phenom would be fine, make sure to get a good motherboard to support it. The motherboard is the heart. Don't skimp on this. For all that you are doing, the more memory you have the better. Four GB would be good, 8+ would be better ( of course that means going to Windows 7, since XP doesn't support more than 3). Get a motherboard that supports DDR3, and pay the extra for that extra fast RAM.
You probably want two hard drives, one smaller and faster to run the OS so that it doesn't glitch. And one bigger and okay-to-be-slower for all of your media.
Even though you aren't gaming, you will want a mid range video card, just so that processing is off the motherboard. Anything PCI Express 2 will be fine, you may want to research them to get one that has good movie playback.
You can get 5.1 or 7.1 sound on the motherboard that sounds good, but if are an audiophile you will want a Creative sound card.
Thanks scarmig. I will check into that. I want DDR3 and W7 with at least 6GB of ram.
EC, I know ppl say this, but I plugged my old desktop into my new 1080p Plasma and it looks exactly like this $400 LCD monitor I use at work....only BIGGER! So no complaints here, it's real crisp and looks great.
Thanks scarmig. I will check into that. I want DDR3 and W7 with at least 6GB of ram.
EC, I know ppl say this, but I plugged my old desktop into my new 1080p Plasma and it looks exactly like this $400 LCD monitor I use at work....only BIGGER! So no complaints here, it's real crisp and looks great.
The problem is resolution. My 20" LCD is 1680x1050 and even though I have two of them, I still often feel cramped. I'd hate to be confined to the typical HDTV resolution.
I've used mwave.com to assemble a desktop for me. You put the bits and pieces you want in the shopping cart and add the "Build it for me" for $80 or so and they'll assemble everything, test, load any software you buy, etc. mwave.com: All Items*SERVICES - ASSEMBLY and TESTING
The nice thing is you get the computer plus all the CDs and manuals for the chip, motherboard, hard drives, etc. And there is no junk loaded in the computer.
Other companies probably do this too, but the only one I have experience with is mwave.com I was extremely pleased with the computer they built for me.
I bought a huge case that I love, although it almost needs a desk of its own. But I can put in lots of fans and hard drives without any problems.
You do need to research the bits and pieces and to make sure they work together (although they will call and let you know if there's a problem with compatibility) but I think it's worth it. It's build your own without the hassle and swearing.
It's build your own without the hassle and swearing.
Bah. It's not really your computer until it's got your blood in it.
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So no complaints here, it's real crisp and looks great.
