Sooo like the topic says, I'm starting to look for a new computer, since my current one is almost three years old & wasn't exactly super-speedy to start with. 🙄

I don't need anything fancy, most of our computer use is:

email & internet, of course~
downloading (mainly IRC) & reading manga
downloading (mainly torrents) & watching subbed dorama & anime
downloading & playing music
burning stuff to cd & dvd
some word processing & spreadsheet stuff
a few games (this is low priority though)

I'm starting to run into trouble watching some video files - have to shut down EVERYthing else, otherwise the video gets jerky & the audio & video don't match up. 🤢

Price is VERY much a consideration, but at the same time I want to be sure that whatever I get will last me a few years. I really have no clue where to start, if "video card x" is better than "video card y", or if either of them is overkill for what I need or not good enough. (I'm also not thrilled at the thought of switching to Vista, but don't see much alternative. Secondary question - if I have a secondary internal hard drive on my WinXP computer, will I be able to just plug that into a Vista machine & use it, or will it have to be reformatted or something so that Vista can read it??)

What are the minimum requirements I should be looking for? Suggestions for where to find good deals? Any suggestions at all? Please? 😀

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Depending on your budget, you should at least get:

2GB DDR2 Ram (Don't go for anything less)
200GB HD or higher
256-512MB Graphics Card
16x-32x Dual Layer DVD-RW
11 in 1 Media Reader or higher (Helps a lot for digital camera etc. No need for USB cables)
19 inches Widescreen TFT Monitor
If you can get XP, then go for that. Otherwise, Vista Home Premium.
At least 2GHz Processor (The brand is up to you. I normally prefer AMD though)
And as much extras as you can get.

Quote from lockhart

2GB DDR2 Ram (Don't go for anything less)

That is the most important peice of infomation here, 1GB is by far to little amount of Ram.

Quote from lockhart

256-512MB Graphics Card

The Graphics Card would really count on how much you are going to play games (don't get intergrated where the Graphics Card shares the Ram).

Quote from lockhart

At least 2GHz Processor (The brand is up to you. I normally prefer AMD though)

At the moment Intel's Core 2 Duo's have left AMD in the dust so I would go with a Core 2 Duo.

Quote from lockhart

If you can get XP, then go for that. Otherwise, Vista Home Premium.

I think you should go for Vista, its not as bad as people make out and if you are not really going to be playing games as much (or none of the newer games) it is useful to have insted of XP.

I've got to burn your eyes.

you know....it all depends on the gaming part, if you want to play gamesthen you should look for the strongest pc out there, but if you don't care for gaming, then you can use any standard Pc on sale.

[img]http://www.ponpokopon.net/Katsu1.jpg[/img]

Quote from ranmaru

you know....it all depends on the gaming part, if you want to play gamesthen you should look for the strongest pc out there, but if you don't care for gaming, then you can use any standard Pc on sale.

Gaming is not a priority, but I don't want to end up with video troubles, and like I said, I'd like the thing to last a while. :/

@lockhart & Eiskaltnz - thanks for the info! 😃 Now I can start watching for good deals. From what I see online, it'll be ~$500... 😔

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Basically, whatever you've got now, except with more disk space, at least 2GB ram, and newer software and hardware in simple terms. Nothing too fancy, that's standard these days.

I'd recommend HP.

Well the really basic/cheap ones I'm finding have only 1GB ram, which I'm afraid might cause me trouble sooner rather than later.

My disk space right now really isn't an issue (as long as I burn dvds fairly often) because I added a 200GB secondary hard drive...which I'm hoping I'll be able to just switch over to the new comp (when I get it). 😀

HP seems to be more on the spendy side, but it'll take a while before I'm ready to spend $500, so I'll stay on the lookout for good deals. 😃

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Dell always seems to have some good deals for your average home user. You normally get a 22" or so moniter with even their cheaper models 😀 .

I've got to burn your eyes.

How does this one look: http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/713870/HP-Pavilion-a6300f-Desktop-Computer-With/

After rebates etc. it'll be $349.99......

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

24/7 toll-free technical support ? It takes away the fun 🤣

Nah, seriously. It looks good.
Just notice, that it already has half of the RAM that can be installed. Not like you're gonna need it in the next 2 years anyway...And you could upgrade the graphic card to at least 256 ( if you want to play games ).
It has all you need, I think...and with Microsoft Works, you probably won't even need the Office ( not like you can't get MWorks legally in other ways 🤣 ).
The light scribe function is gonna be a lot of fun 😀

[img]http://img.userbars.pl/69/13603.gif[/img]
Still the [color=red]bad[/color] cop.

That looks like a solid PC, you don't need 2gig ram. I'm using a laptop with only 1gig and im running fine (my friend runs on 256 ram, hehehe he has a LOT of patience). I guess the 2gig comes in when u wanna burn stuff fast. Personally if you got a tech buff friend, switch to Linux. If you want to game, then get an XP. For your computer specs, gaming would do better on an XP OS rather than Vista.

24/7 tech support is overkill, but I can't really tell them, "I don't need the tech support, can you reduce the price..?" 🤣 Somehow I don't think the Office Depot people would be amused~

Linux...heh....thanks but no thanks. I once uninstalled Linux from a hand-me-down computer, but in order to do that I had to use Linux a bit. It was...painful... 🤢

My kids think they want to game; I think I don't want the comp to be great for gaming because I want to use it sometimes too! 🤣

Actually I'm not thrilled about Vista, but I haven't seen any of the 'bargain' computers with anything but Vista, so I guess I'll go with it.

Still thinking about it, it's a lot of money to spend on something that isn't strictly necessary, but good to know that this one's a reasonable option. 😀

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

actually you wont need 2g memory, if you are not planning to play some heavy 3D shooting game.

I'd say get more harddisk at least 500gb perhaps another one just in case for backuping your files.

"we are people because of other people"
"I am who I am because of who we all are"

Hmmmm the 2 gig seems safer for future needs, tho...

And this one has a 500 gig harddrive. 😀 I've been getting by with a 40 gig + a 200 gig, so 500 ought to be enough for a while.

"[English] not only borrows words from other languages; it has on occasion chased other languages down dark alley-ways, clubbed them unconscious and rifled their pockets for new vocabulary."
-James Nicoll, can.general, March 21, 1992

Quote from TofuQueen

Actually I'm not thrilled about Vista, but I haven't seen any of the 'bargain' computers with anything but Vista, so I guess I'll go with it

Microsoft wants us all go Vista... sigh but it eats so much RAM :/ 1gb is a minimum to run it without bigger problems, but try to add some more complicated soft... 🤢
There's never too much RAM! lol

[img]http://img.userbars.pl/69/13603.gif[/img]
Still the [color=red]bad[/color] cop.