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[Matlock]

Okay, here's the deal:

The old (a little over 3 years old) Dell is decaying. Won't start up nowadays, so eh.

Right now, my parents are looking into buying a new PC, and the usage would be mostly limited to the following:

Solitaire
Email
Web-browsing
ICQ/Yahoo Messenger
Playing CDs.


...and that's it. I'm not looking for the greatest computer in the world, just one that would satisfy the above components.

Edit: All I'm really looking for is the tower, really. They already have a keyboard, mouse, monitor, printer, et al.

Second Edit: Building isn't an option.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Get another Dell, or see what decent flavor-of-the-week PC deals they have at Best Buy/Circuit City/etc.

Stay away from Tiger, online or off.

 

[DarthWoo]

http://www.edealinfo.com/index.shtml frequently has listings of various Dell builds that are as cheap as possible. They're about a third of the way down the page. The cheapest one right now is around $382.

Or you could always try your luck with freedesktoppcs.com?

Edit: The said cheap Dell is a 2400 system, with P4 2.8GHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB, CD-RW. Should be plenty for what they need to do.

 

[Matlock]

http://www.edealinfo.com/index.shtml frequently has listings of various Dell builds that are as cheap as possible. They're about a third of the way down the page. The cheapest one right now is around $382.

Or you could always try your luck with freedesktoppcs.com?

Edit: The said cheap Dell is a 2400 system, with P4 2.8GHz, 256MB RAM, 40GB, CD-RW. Should be plenty for what they need to do.

Dell has really poor service, and I'm not going to be around 24/7 to try to keep the computer in line, so that's hurting that decision. HP has a decent computer that could meet the needs, and have a 3-year warrantee for somewhere around $600, which isn't bad.

Edit: As for FDPC's, I was third on the list, I think only 10 people participated overall.

 

[DarthWoo]

Perhaps you should have mentioned in your original post that your parents can't fix the thing on their own then

 

[BlackMage]

E-MACHINES

 

[aoi tsuki]

Perhaps you should have mentioned in your original post that your parents can't fix the thing on their own then

How many parents do you know that can fix PCs compared to their kids? Besides, if they could he probably wouldn't explicitly stated that building wasn't an option.

 

[Joe]

keep checking out stores like circuit city and best buy and keep an eye for open box pc's. you can get a nice tower perfect for internet browsing (1.8ghz celeron, 256mb ram, 40gb hd) for around $400 plus it still has the same return policy/warranty as a brand new pc.

 

[Matlock]

E-MACHINES

After the fiasco that was the laptop, no thanks.

 

[BlackMage]

After the fiasco that was the laptop, no thanks.

what happened? I love their laptop. it's my baby.

 

[Matlock]

It kinda just died down, little by little, dissipating like a reverse snowball at about a year in. Traded up for a HP laptop with some more features and power behind it.

Here's a setup I was looking for for my parents:

price   $778.98         *
       instant rebate  − $100.00
       mail-in rebate  − $50.00
       price after rebate      $628.98

Operating System        Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
edit

Processor       Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.6 GHz
edit

Memory  512 MB DDR / PC2100 (1 DIMM)
edit

Hard Drive      80GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive
edit

Primary CD/DVD Drive    FREE UPGRADE from CD-ROM to 48x max CD-RW Drive
edit

Secondary CD/DVD Drive  16x max DVD-ROM Drive + Intervideo WinDVD Software
edit

Front Productivity Ports        2 USB 2.0 Front Ports
edit

Graphics Card   Integrated Graphics
edit

Sound Card      Integrated 5.1 Sound
edit

Keyboard and Mouse      HP Keyboard, HP Scroller Mouse
edit

Productivity Software   Microsoft(R) Works 7.0/Money 2004/MSN Encarta Plus
edit

HP Extended Service Plans       3-year HP extended service plan
edit

I pretty much just stripped out everything we already had (other than the kb/mouse, couldn't take that out...probably save $10 if we did)...but it would probably work pretty well. Plus, I mean, we already have a whole lot of other HP stuff...heh. The main sticking point here is the 3 year service plan, which if HP's service stays up to where it was, should work out quite nicely.

 

[CrimsonSkies]

Dude. You can buy a 1.0 GHZ or a bit higher PC on Ebay with all that they would need for less than $200. Just do a search. I bought my parents one on there for $120 earlier in the year and it's worked dandy.

Just make sure the person you are buying from is reputable. The guy I bought this system from had 10,000 plus positive feedback.

 

[Chony]

www.ibuypower.com

I am sure you have copy of XP lying around already. You could get something very decent and bare bones.

 

[Matlock]

www.ibuypower.com

I am sure you have copy of XP lying around already. You could get something very decent and bare bones.

I was tempted to go through there, but I only have the system restore disks with XP on them.

:-\

 

[Chony]

I think you can get computers from there with XP pre installed, I just have my special copy of xp pro.

 

[Mama Smurf]

WTF do they need a 2.6GHz processor for?

 

[Matlock]

Point taken, but I'm not sure if my parents would dig a non-national brand (even though you and CK have given them glowing reviews).

WTF do they need a 2.6GHz processor for?

That was the lowest-rated non-celeron computer.

 

[Mama Smurf]

Give 'em a Celeron then.

 

[Matlock]

I will not have a Celeron in my household!

 

[KarishBHR]

I will not have a Celeron in my household!

Beggers cant be choosers

 

[Chony]

They would be getting all name brand parts, and that is what really matters.

 

[Idle Will Kill]

Since it's your parents using it, you should get a computer that has a really stable OS and doesn't need much user intervention to stay running in great form.

 

[Mason]

Since it's your parents using it, you should get a computer that has a really stable OS and doesn't need much user intervention to stay running in great form.

Well as long as they're not installing strange programs or messing with registry files, XP is perfectly stable.

 

[AntoneM]

From Compaq.....

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2

Processor AMD Athlon(TM) XP 3000+ operating at 2.16GHz

Memory 512MB DDR / PC2700 (1 DIMM)

Hard Drive 80 GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive

Primary CD/DVD Drive FREE Upgrade from 48X CD-ROM to 48X max. CD-RW

Secondary CD/DVD Drive 16X max. DVD-ROM

Front Productivity Ports 2 USB + 1 Firewire + Front Audio Ports

Removable Storage 3.5 in. 1.44MB Floppy Drive

Graphics Card 64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForceFX(TM) 5100, TV-Out

Sound Card Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ Front Audio ports

Keyboard and Mouse Compaq Keyboard & Scroller Mouse

Speakers JBL Platinum Speakers w/ Digital Audio Port

Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works Suite 2004 includes Word 2002

price $692.99 *
instant rebate − $50.00
mail-in rebate − $50.00
price after rebate $592.99

 

[Matlock]

Hrm, that compaq doesn't look too shabby.

Also: I'd rather not have a celeron, I've had some real bad experiences with them in the past, as well as athlons. I try to stick with the Pentium* family.

Edit: Max, could you supply the model number for that?

 

[Matlock]

Hrrrm.

price   $683.98         *
       instant rebate  − $50.00
       mail-in rebate  − $50.00
       price after rebate      $583.98

Operating System        Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
edit

Processor       AMD Sempron(TM) 2800+ operating at 2.0GHz
edit

Memory  512MB DDR / PC2700 (1 DIMM)
edit

Hard Drive      80 GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive
edit

Primary CD/DVD Drive    FREE Upgrade from 48X CD-ROM to 48X max. CD-RW
edit

Secondary CD/DVD Drive  16X max. DVD-ROM
edit

Front Productivity Ports        2 USB + 1 Firewire + Front Audio Ports
edit

Graphics Card   64MB DDR NVIDIA GeForceFX(TM) 5100, TV-Out
edit

Sound Card      Integrated 5.1 Capable Sound w/ Front Audio ports
edit

Keyboard and Mouse      Compaq Keyboard & Scroller Mouse
edit

Productivity Software   Microsoft(R) Works 7.0/Money 2004/MSN Encarta Plus
edit

HP Extended Service Plans       3-year HP extended service plan
edit

vs.

price   $778.98         *
       instant rebate  − $100.00
       mail-in rebate  − $50.00
       price after rebate      $628.98

Operating System        Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
edit

Processor       Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.6 GHz
edit

Memory  512 MB DDR / PC2100 (1 DIMM)
edit

Hard Drive      80GB 7200 rpm Ultra DMA Hard Drive
edit

Primary CD/DVD Drive    FREE UPGRADE from CD-ROM to 48x max CD-RW Drive
edit

Secondary CD/DVD Drive  16x max DVD-ROM Drive + Intervideo WinDVD Software
edit

Front Productivity Ports        2 USB 2.0 Front Ports
edit

Graphics Card   Integrated Graphics
edit

Sound Card      Integrated 5.1 Sound
edit

Keyboard and Mouse      HP Keyboard, HP Scroller Mouse
edit

Productivity Software   Microsoft(R) Works 7.0/Money 2004/MSN Encarta Plus
edit

HP Extended Service Plans       3-year HP extended service plan
edit

Could probably strip the vidcard out of that and go with integrated vid, but it's probably alright either way.

 

[Diablos]

Matlock - http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=1

$418. Can't beat it.

 

[Jill Sandwich]

[ /shogbait]

 

[Wellington]

I hope you don't want a service plan for just clearing out spyware for your parents... not only would that be a waste of time, but I don't think major dealers would even offer that service. Hell, imagine if they did. :lol

 

[Matlock]

I hope you don't want a service plan for just clearing out spyware for your parents... not only would that be a waste of time, but I don't think major dealers would even offer that service. Hell, imagine if they did. :lol

:lol

I just put it on so that if anything messes up with the hardware, it's covered. I always go with the three-year warrantee.