Old computer broke. Help me decide between these new ones? (laptop, desktop)

[Timm]

My trusty (ish) HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop (something like this, but not exactly the same specs, I think) crapped out on me the other day. Computer Clinic says it's the hard drive and after they do this, that, & the other it will cost me a little under $300 to get it back. This is a perfectly viable option, I suppose, but nothing fun about it. And I haven't been crazy about the computer for a while now. It gets VERY slow when I'm editing pictures in my old Photoshop Elements, and crazy slow if I try to do much else at the same time (such as internetting or iTunes-listening).

I don't recall the exact details of most of its specs, but I think it has an 80GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM (maybe even less, not sure), and a processor that leaves me underwhelmed (unfortunately, can't remember which one.) Runs Vista.

I'm considering replacing it with one of the choices below and am looking for advice on whether or not I'll see a whole lot of difference performance-wise. Basically, I'm looking to be able to edit photos while wandering the internet and listening to music - and have absolutely no slowdowns while doing it. I'm looking more at desktops, because my wife has a laptop so I figure we can just use hers while traveling.

Okay, here's what I've bookmarked:

Dell Inspiron i570-5189PBK Desktop -- $798 at Amazon.
1TB 7200rpm hard drive
6GB RAM
2.8GHz Athlon II X4 630 processor (which PassMark ranks at #130 with a mark of 3246)
Windows 7 Home Premium



Gateway DX4320-45 Desktop -- $899.99 at Amazon
paired with...
ViewSonic VX2250WM-LED 22-Inch (21.5-Inch Vis) Widescreen Full HD 1080p LED Monitor -- $168.99 at Amazon
(total price -- $1068.98)
1TB variable RPM hard drive
8GB RAM
AMD Phenom II X6 1035T Processor (ranked #53 on PassMark, with a mark of 4762)
Windows 7 Home Premium



Dell Studio XPS SX8100-2777NBC Desktop & 22" LCD Monitor Package at Best Buy -- $1319.98 (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+Studio+XPS+SX8100-2777NBC+Desktop+%26+22%22+LCD+Monitor+Package/9999139200050018.p?id=pcmprd139200050018&skuId=999 9139200050018&childSku=1244502&count=1 - broken link)
1.5TB 7200RPM hard drive
8GB RAM
Intel® Core™ i7-870 processor (ranked #29 by PassMark, with a mark of 5959)
Windows 7 Home Premium


Thoughts? Other suggestions?
I guess what I'm really wondering is if I'll see an actual performance difference between the $800, the $1100, and the $1300. Is one a better value than the others? I'm assuming any of these would be a big improvement over the performance of my laptop. Yes?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and/or suggestions.

[joey2000]

I think the cheapest desktop out there is probably more than enough and unless you have money to burn would go that route. All those above sound like overkill, frankly. But if you're fired up about going that route, I'm sure any would be fine and the diff between them miniscule.

[mensaguy]

Of those, I'd choose the Inspiron. It doesn't seem like you need the extra you would get with the XPS. I don't like Gateway.

[Treenoid]

NEVER Gateway !!!
If you are getting a Dell - why not go to Dell.com and build the one you want Why not Windows Professional It has some added features you might want..

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Treenoid

NEVER Gateway !!!
Why not Windows Professional It has some added features you might want..

If you drive a Honda, a Lexus might some added features you might want too.

If you don't know that you want these features, why pay for it?

Windows 7 Home Priemium is just fine for the vast majority of "home" users.

[ConeyIsBabe]

I've never been sorry I bought the 13" MacBook Pro ! Check it out

[Timm]

Thanks for the replies!

I've made a decision: none of the above.
I'm going with one very similar to the first one, but a little cheaper. I get it delivered to my door for a grand total of $750. It's an HP Pavilion p6620f, which I paired with a Dell st2220 21.5" LED monitor. Basically, this one has a processor that's rated a little bit higher (the AMD Phenom II 820 quad-core, ranked #109 by PassMark), but I give up an inch and a half of monitor. Sounds good to me. Everything else seems pretty much the same to me.

I talked to the guy at the computer clinic and he thought that as long as I had a four-core processor and at least 4GB RAM, I'd be fine with what I do. He also said that while there's no such thing as too much memory, I wouldn't actually be utilizing 8GB with what I do, so it really isn't necessary. So, I'll have what I think is a good four-core processor, 6GB of RAM (and apparently I can expand it to 8), and a big ol' 1TB hard drive.

Now all I have to do is stop looking at computers! Last thing I want now is to find something I like better!

[LogicIsYourFriend]

Be sure you have recovery discs taken care of. The worst thing about getting a prebuilt computer is when you have to reinstall and find out they don't have the courtesy to give you a windows reinstall disc, and you never made that restore disc when you first got your computer.