Author |
Message |
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 9:14 am
finally decided we are going to get a new computer. of course, the biggest/fastest/most memory computer for the lowest price is what we want, but we will go up to $1,000. if you wanted to get the fastest,most memory, best graphics for game playing what should i be looking for? seeing as i am partial to Gateway, here are some options from their site. http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529596848.php http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529596912.php http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529665349.php i used to know how to compare computers, but all the terms/technology has changed so much since the last time i bought a computer i feel like i am trying to compare apples to oranges
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 9:20 am
The best thing you can do Texannie is go out and look at the latest games that you want to play and see what the hardware requirements are for those games. It's right on the box. Be sure to look at the optimum requirements.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 9:45 am
Annie, you're doing a bit of apples vs oranges there. 1. Do you want a laptop or desktop? That eliminates either one option or two. 2. If you are serious about a gaming system, the FX530 is the one you want. Look at http://www.gateway.com/home/gaming.php to see the systems they recommend. (Your laptop is not on the list.) 3. Almost every new computer will match most gaming requirements, except for memory. So whatever you do, get the max amount of memory you can (at *least* 1 GB but I'd highly recommend 2). Check to be sure the graphics card supports gaming (it does in the FX530). Personally, I'd pick a higher-powered laptop, but that's just me. I need the mobility, and I'm not a gamer. (Of course, nothing I buy is ever $1K or less, so that's kinda a moot point, yes? <sigh>)
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 9:56 am
I love the mobility that a laptop gives me. Just being able to move around the house with it is great.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 10:21 am
No kidding! If I get tired of working in my office, I can go sit outside on the balcony. Or if I'm trying to get some work done while cooking a meal, I can put the laptop on the kitchen counter. Or wander over to my neighbor's to show her something interesting on the 'net.
|
Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 10:49 am
Costa, I TOTALLY do the kitchen counter thing!!! (mainly during Big Brother, when I can't leave the live feeds....)
|
Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 10:53 am
We have so many metal studs in our house that I can't get wireless to work properly, even with repeaters. Anyone have any solution to this? (And I was recently told that the latest Gateway and HP laptops have had some serious overheating problems. This is from our friend who runs a very reputable/good computer repair/sales business.)
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 11:55 am
I've heard the same about some Dell's (over heating). These chips and hard drives run hot and a laptop has less ability to dissipate heat than a desktop. However, there are things that you can do to help such as ensuring that you always sit your laptop on a hard surface, making sure that the fan is clean and even using a laptop cooler if you are running something that is especially CPU intensive.
|
Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 11:59 am
My Toshiba overheated in the 16 DAYS after I bought it. Overheating is part and parcel of owning a laptop. Cooling pads are quite necessary.
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 12:05 pm
What happened when it overheated Eeyore? Did it give you some sort of a warning or did it just shut-down?
|
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 12:18 pm
Thanks! Jimmer & Costa Costa, I threw that laptop in without really explaining..oops! dh keeps going back and forth about buying a laptop now and then giving it to ds next year when he goes to college. I am leaning towards a desktop (since this is the one family computer..i know, old fashioned! LOL) plus i think ds will probably want a MAC. thanks for the suggestions on memory and graphics cards. we have never spent less than $1,000 either, but i really, really don't want to spend more than that right now. oh, btw..how do i go about saving all my favorites, folders in Outlook and things saved to my documents when i do this new computer? should i go ahead and get a computer with Vista? i know you can still order XP from Gateway.
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 12:25 pm
Some older peripherals and programs are cranky with Vista so that may be a deciding factor depending on what you use. With respect to buying a laptop to give to your son when he goes to college, unless you really want the laptop now for yourselves it would be better to wait. They will continue to get better and cheaper as time passes. That's technology! Are you using Outlook or Outlook Express. I think the procedure is slightly different for each of them.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 12:41 pm
Annie, if you are using XP, there's a File and Settings Transfer wizard that'll help you a LOT! You can pick 'n choose which things you want to save to a disc (or other drive), and then you can "transfer" them to your new computer. (Choose Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > File and Settings Transfer Wizard.) It's really self-explanatory (hence the "wizard") and works great. I'd also do a manual backup of all your files you want to save. Your Outlook should be a .pst file (you can look in the options of Outlook to find out where it's located). A lot of your personal settings will be in C:\Documents and Settings\[yourname]\Local Settings. You can manually copy your favorites from here. Be sure to back up all folders containing your docs and pix and music, including your My Documents folder.
|
Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 1:01 pm
Argh! I never knew about that thing. I've always done it manually.
|
Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 1:06 pm
It would shut down, and not boot up again. Then, after it cooled for a while, I could start it again. After sending it in under warranty, we figured out that the air intake holes are mostly on the bottom, and having it on my lap or a pillow or couch would cause the holes to be covered by the material. So I bought a lap pad (lapinator) and haven't had a problem since. My friend told be that I could adjust some BIOS setting to control the "auto shutdown" when it overheats.
|
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 1:52 pm
Jimmer, that is my thinking on the laptop too. We are going to keep our printer/scanner/fax all in one unless there is just a fantastic deal that comes with the puter. we need new everything else. I am using Outlook Express. I do have a yahoo account, could i forward stuff to there? would that be easier? Thanks for the info Cost!!! that's great news. still confused on whether or not i should just go with Vista. my understanding is that one of the reasons you need to get alot of memory is because Vista uses alot.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 2:08 pm
That "thing" is an awesome way to transfer files from one computer to another, as well as just back up your settings (in case you need to reformat your system). When you go thru the wizard, you can choose if you want to select the items to save. It's really a pretty powerful tool! Annie, I wouldn't forward your mail to your Yahoo! account. Seriously, if you are using Outlook more than likely your mail is stored in a .pst file (and by default it's gonna be in C:\Documents and Settings\[yourname]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook and will be named Outlook.pst. Copy that file. If you are use Outlook Express, it'll be a bunch of .dbx files that are usually located in C:\Documents and Settings\[yourname]\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\[identity number that's difficult to read]\Microsoft\Outlook Express. Copy all the files from there. If you are using Outlook Express, you'll also want to copy your address book, which is usually located at C:\Documents and Settings\[yourname]\Application Data\Microsoft\Address Book and is a .wab file. IIRC, though, you can using the File and Settings wizard thing to copy all of this information for you. WRT Vista... it's really a personal decision. Yes, Vista is a bit of a memory hog, but most new systems come with sufficient memory these days, so that's not an issue. It really boils down to whether or not you'll upgrade before support for XP runs out (in 2009) and if you have any legacy applications that are not supported on Vista. If you use pretty much "normal" stuff (email, Web browsing, Office apps) and you have fairly current versions, then they will all work. If you have a specific gaming program in mind, you may want to see if it's supported on Vista and which OS (not all apps work on all Vista OSes). If you purchase a Gateway with XP, will they give you a discount to upgrade to Vista at a later date? If so, you may want to go that route. Or, if you own XP (as in, it was not installed on the system when you bought it, but you actually have a real installation disc and license) then you can go with Vista and reinstall back to WinXP later if you want. Personally, as much of a geek as I am (and most of my friends), we're holding off upgrading our production systems for a while. I've got Vista running on a test server, because I have to. But I'm not upgrading my work or personal laptops to Vista for at least six months.
|
Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 4:14 pm
One of my "computer guru" friends (does computer security for a living) said do NOT get Vista yet. It's too new, the bugs aren't worked out, and many people have had some serious issues with it. It would definitely be better to get XP w/the upgrade option for later. I've got a newer Dell (about 9 mos. old) and it is a LOT less hot than my old one. I've not had one problem with it overheating (even my old one that was warmer didn't overheat.) There was a recall on some specific batteries w/older Dells that had problems w/overheating, but that was the battery, not the computer itself. And it was only for computers that were 3-5 years old, not the newer ones.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 4:43 pm
If you use your computer primarily for basic things, like email, surfing the net, or the occasional letter in Word, then Vista works just fine. The issues that've been found have more to do with incompatibilities with other software (Vista wants to take over the security of your system, for example). If you are a basic user, there's no reason not to use Vista when you get a new system. However, if you are a power user, have a lot of various different applications, or have a complex home office network, you'd best wait until SP1 comes out.
|
Yankee_in_ca
Member
08-01-2000
| Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - 7:40 pm
I am on a new laptop, which I've been using on the road this week for the first time. It has Vista. I have several programs/applications that are not working yet with Vista. And it really needs over 1 gig of RAM to really work. At least. Bootups and signoffs were excruciatingly slow until I bought another 1 gig stick. It is pretty, though.
|
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 5:36 am
i am not understanding what things don't work with Vista.
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 5:59 am
There are a whole slew of applications that are not yet compatible on Windows Vista. The "unofficial" list of compatible and incompatible programs can be found HERE. The Microsoft list of "certified" to work with Vista can be found HERE.
|
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 6:31 am
thanks!
|
Texannie
Member
07-16-2001
| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 11:42 am
ack! this is making me crazy! i went to PC World to get their recommedations for minimum and max requirements. I thinkbased on discussions here and reading up..this is what i should want minimum Intel Core 2 Duo Chip or Athlon 64 X2 Processor 2 GB RAM at least 120 GB hard drive..but the more i can get the better (hard drive and storage are the same, right?) at least 2 USB ports up front, room for expansion, how many open bays? minimum 256 MB of RAM graphics card, with upgrade option confused on removable storage CD/RW or DVD/RW sound? basics ok? am i on the right track? how do any of these look? http://tinyurl.com/3c3oph http://tinyurl.com/376eou http://tinyurl.com/2sy858 http://tinyurl.com/3bdyea http://tinyurl.com/33pcjm thanks so much, i really appreciate the help. i swear i wasn't this clueless when i bought my last one! LOL
|
Costacat
Member
07-15-2000
| Wednesday, April 11, 2007 - 12:02 pm
Some of them have extras you may not need (surge protector, printer). I'd get more than 2 USB ports (two in the front of the system, at least 2 but more likely 4 in the back). At least 120GB is good, more is always better. I have a personal preference for Intel Duo Core. Take that with a grain of salt. (For what I do, Intel is better.) Get a DVD/RW. You can record DVDs, which means you can burn DVDs and all.
|