What to look for in a new computer???

Question

Its so confusing! Price was always the main factor for me when buying a computer. Now, however it is just a factor not THE factor. This is making my decision so confusing. Here is my situation...

Work at home using CAD software and lots of pictures.

4 kids and I store my pics on my computer. I would use a CD to store but I have no burner.

Lots of internet surfing - you know - in my spare time.

Dh likes to play poker on my puter sometimes.

I am running a wireless network from my computer and 4 other computers in the house are connected.

I don't feel like my situation is unusual at all but my computer is so slow. I use WinCleaner regularly to purge internet files and spyware and I defrag regularly.

I want to avoid the torture of a slow computer in the future. What do you think I should look for in a new puter?

Answer 1

well Computer aid'd drafting :D. (I do it too). requires alot of processing and system memory. I use Valve's Hammer editor. there are times when my computer is using almost 2,250MB of system memory when im trying to render really big objects or drafting out of another texture. Viewing pictures isn't hard on a computer. neither is editing. but a good graphics card can really help with image quaility over all.

If it is for kids but they arn't old enough to play computer games then i'd still sugjest the computer come with at least a PCI-E slot it's called (P C I Express). this is what a graphics card plugs into.

these are what graphics cards look like.

http://www.nvnews.net/reviews/bfg_geforce_6800_ultra_oc/images/bfg6800uoc_sm.jpg.

Those let you play the newest and best video games. But they are Expensive. which is a factor in your searching. But the graphics card plugs into that PCI-E slot. just ask to the person your talking to and ask.. if he/she can make sure that the computer has a PCI-E slot on the motherboard."


System memory is another thing. get as much as you can in your computer. however system memory is cheap to buy online. for some speeds its around 60$ for 1024MB (1 gigabyte). Vs. the sometimes 150$ the company or store will charge you to ungrade the memory. you can save alof of money by doing it yourself.

since it sounds like your going to be saving alot of things on the computer.... you'll need a Large hard drive. A good aim for a budget computer is about 160GB (Gigabytes) some times the ad's for the computer will say Hard drive or Hard disk. it's the same thing. But again you can get a 320GB hard drive for 70$ and it takes less then five minutes to do it.

You can also transfer the old hard drive into the new computer. it's easy and every computer can handle multiple hard disks. heck iv'e got four + two DVD roms :D

As far as a computer. unless it's dirt cheap. every computer has a CD burner. most have DVD burners now also.

CD or DVD burning drives are called CD/RW and
DVD +/-RW it will say on the front of the CD trays or the person at the store will hopefully tell you.


you may also want to consider a Pen drive or USB drive. They are getting VERY very cheap now. and anything over 768MB (thats the amount a CD can hold)can hold more then a CD. they are faster then CD burners.And you don't need to worry about scratching the CD. and you can transfer back and forth as much as you want.

if iv'e got to give you straight system specs.. here's a decent list.



AMD Athlon 64 3800+ and ↑.

or


Intel Core 2 Duo any speed

1024MB ( 1.0GB) of system memory and ↑

Nvidia or ATI Intergrated Graphics card w/ available PCI-E slot on the Mainboard.

160GB SATA or PATA interface Hard disk. 7,200rpm and at least a 8M cache


a Good brand like HP,Acer, System max, Sony. shy away from Gateways or E-machines. ( they still suck. after the power supplies it's now the clock speed crystals going out)


DVD +/-RW Burner.

those are the basic specs that will fish you a good deal.

if you want my honest opinion. Try best buy or a place like Sam's club first. but don't walk out the door that day with a computer. Do a google search on local computer shops in your area. find the "nice" ones. and see what they can offer. alot of the times if it's a good store they can beat the price and have a better computer in one! Do a little bit of reading about the basics of computer hardware. it never hurts anyone and amazingly saves you a ton of cash. Sometimes recruiting a friend that knows alot about computer is a good idea :).

Answer 2

I'd say you can have a great environment for managing all those photos as well as not having to deal with wincleaner etc - and that is to use a Mac. I switched back to mac recent;y afetr using a pc for a long time. The photo and other media capabilities as well as internet issues far outshine what i dealt with on the pc (win xp).

however for autocad software you may have to stick with a pc - though a quick google search brought up this page - not sure what value it has: http://www.pure-mac.com/cad.html

At worst you could have a $500 mac mini for family / photos / internet -- and a pc for the work-related cad stuff. Not ideal I know but may make sense in a family seting.

whatever you do - usually keep attention on how much ram you put in your computer. that can usually affect speed (and your experience) more than any one thing usually. get a gig of memory or so...

for storage id suggest external harddrives. not internel because external you can easily pick it up and move it to a new computer once your old one has died. better than optical disks (dvds and cds) i think as you can store a whole lot more for pretty cheap. You can spend what? $100 for a 100 gigs of external storage?

Answer 3

Good call Czar...
Let me also add...If you are looking for a new computer, go to Best Buy, get an eMachine (unfortunately, it's going to come with the Vista "downgrade"), find a FULL install copy of Windows XP Pro, have THEM install it (part of their "Geek Squad" service) and then you'll be set. The best price I found on RAM was at newegg.com. My 2GB cost $89 for my eMachine.
I've had my eMachine, playing Battlefield2 for nearly 2 years without ANY issues.
Yes, eMachine used to have a bad reputation but I've done my homework. They used to blow power supplies. They've long since changed that.

Answer 4

I won't speak about different brands because each has it's own audience or following. However, when it comes to the differences between Desktops, Laptops and All-In-Ones, I would have to say that a desktop is the way to go. All of the components are (usually) able to be upgraded and with a desktop unit the power, including the heating and cooling is on a completely different level.

Answer 5

CAD requires a LOT of RAM memory, consider buying 2 to 4 GB of it. Buy a good hard disk 250 GB. Consider a good processor for CAD, for example the Athlon AMD (which has a 64 bit architecture).

Answer 6

Well if you are just now looking for a new one I would wait for the Vista phase to end. Meaning wait for all the software/programs to make drivers for vista and everything else...atleast a couple months to a year then buy a new computer.