rocknrobn26 Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 My other cuz (male, yeah I have a big family)) is getting a new 'puter. He wants to stick w/ the 24/7 Tech. Sup.. So he has Dell, Gateway, or HP for choices, IMHO. Opinions/Options? I've read bad stuff about Levovo on their lower end stuff. He's not a geek at all. He wants email, he has AT&T dsl, he does very little other than going on the web, printing a pic or two, Turbo Tax, Office, yada, yada! His SO works as a flight attendant w/ United and they have had problems w/ dial-up and the sight they have to go to (Java) to d/l the schedules, FWIW. Also, what's the comparison between AMD vs Intel chips? Regardless, which one has the most bang for the buck? Which flavor of Vista? Is 1Mb of ram enuff? Any reccs are appreciated. I have dealt w/ all three, so I already know they all suck. But being that he wants the 24/7 support, we are pretty much stuck w/ BB, CC, and Office Max/Depot! All opinions/answered questions are appreciated. TIA rr26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxfactor Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Not answering R&R, but I'm listening as I'll be in the market for a new puter very very soon. Mine is so old it is absolutely pathetic. I'm going to stick with HP as I've never had any problems with mine other than it being archaic. I will not go with Windows Vista Home Basic but probably the next upgrade. Hopefully by next FF season I'll be up and running with my new system and hopefully all the bugs are worked out of Windows Vista. I hate to lose my XP Professional but that's the breaks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grits and Shins Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 IBM doesn't have 24/7? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 IBM doesn't have 24/7? Maybe it does, but my only comment was that low end Lenovos seem to perform poorly, but they're high end ones are fine. That's all I know about IBM/Lenovo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 Not answering R&R, but I'm listening as I'll be in the market for a new puter very very soon. Mine is so old it is absolutely pathetic. I'm going to stick with HP as I've never had any problems with mine other than it being archaic. I will not go with Windows Vista Home Basic but probably the next upgrade. Hopefully by next FF season I'll be up and running with my new system and hopefully all the bugs are worked out of Windows Vista. I hate to lose my XP Professional but that's the breaks. I hear ya! Gimme XP Pro and I'm a happy dog! But I don't think that's a option for my cuz. Hopefully this thread will help you too, Jax! I'll be in the market for a new one by next ~Dec? So this info can benefit me also. Dam!!!! I remember when I knew all this chit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Puddy Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 (edited) IBM doesn't have 24/7? I don't know, does it? Edited March 23, 2007 by Puddy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I never get Home versions of anything M$. I always get Pro versions because they are usually easier to configure. The wizards they pu tin place sometimes work, somtimes don't, but when they don't they are a bitch to fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I never get Home versions of anything M$. I always get Pro versions because they are usually easier to configure. The wizards they pu tin place sometimes work, somtimes don't, but when they don't they are a bitch to fix. True dat. MS is still aiming it's Pro versions at businesses with the expectation that there's at least a few brain cells in residence. Home versions are aimed solely at shambling morans with no clue what they're doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smithkt Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 For me, I'd get the Ultimate edition, but for your friend, take a look at this link for some help deciding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted March 23, 2007 Author Share Posted March 23, 2007 I never get Home versions of anything M$. I always get Pro versions because they are usually easier to configure. The wizards they pu tin place sometimes work, somtimes don't, but when they don't they are a bitch to fix. True dat. MS is still aiming it's Pro versions at businesses with the expectation that there's at least a few brain cells in residence. Home versions are aimed solely at shambling morans with no clue what they're doing. If it were for me, I'd max it out, but for my cuz...... .........not a moran, but not very computer literate as yesterday I had to explain the difference between progs vs data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliaz Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 I would suggest not using windows at all and instead DL Linux redhat 9.0 which is free and runs just like windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrudge Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 For the typical user, there is little real difference between most major brand name computers as well as the whole AMD/Intel debate. For some time AMD was a ahead of Intel in the price for performance game. Any more I think it's a fairly level playing field. If you were going for a laptop, I would recommend Intel as they currently a little more power-conscience, but for a desktop it doesn't matter much. Which ever processor you go with, make sure it's 64-bit (even if you don't need it now or use a 64-bit OS) and it is dual core. As to what version of Vista, I would go with Home Premium for a home user. The only exception to this is if the user needed to be able to remote desktop. In that case Business or ultimate would be what you want. If you are going to make the jump to Vista, you are going to want the new Aero interface which does NOT come with Home Basic. And Business does not come with some of the Home Premium features like DVD authoring, Media Center, etc. Here is a table that has some of the major features of each edition. I would get a minimum of 1GB of memory (note, you said 1MB which I think was a typo). 2GB would be preferred but Vista will run ok with 1GB. Make sure that the video card is NOT integrated, has 256MB DEDICATED (not shared) memory minimum, and supports DirectX 9.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 for best performance. Also be prepared for "How do I do XXX" type questions as things are quite different between XP and Vista for the non-technical user. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10g_DBA Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 For the typical user, there is little real difference between most major brand name computers as well as the whole AMD/Intel debate. For some time AMD was a ahead of Intel in the price for performance game. Any more I think it's a fairly level playing field. If you were going for a laptop, I would recommend Intel as they currently a little more power-conscience, but for a desktop it doesn't matter much. Which ever processor you go with, make sure it's 64-bit (even if you don't need it now or use a 64-bit OS) and it is dual core. As to what version of Vista, I would go with Home Premium for a home user. The only exception to this is if the user needed to be able to remote desktop. In that case Business or ultimate would be what you want. If you are going to make the jump to Vista, you are going to want the new Aero interface which does NOT come with Home Basic. And Business does not come with some of the Home Premium features like DVD authoring, Media Center, etc. Here is a table that has some of the major features of each edition. I would get a minimum of 1GB of memory (note, you said 1MB which I think was a typo). 2GB would be preferred but Vista will run ok with 1GB. Make sure that the video card is NOT integrated, has 256MB DEDICATED (not shared) memory minimum, and supports DirectX 9.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0 for best performance. Also be prepared for "How do I do XXX" type questions as things are quite different between XP and Vista for the non-technical user. +1 Good info here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted March 24, 2007 Author Share Posted March 24, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the help. He set his budget @ $700 and he bought an HP. 17" monitor, printer, & system. It only has a gig and the graphics are on board, but he can always put a card in and bump the RAM. He is realy just going to use it for the Internet, email, some WP and that's about it. It will serve him well I'm sure. Again, thanks for the help. The links to the Vista flavors helped me as much as him. Edited March 24, 2007 by rocknrobn26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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