New PC purchase recommendations

TreeTopFlyer · 05-12-2008, 08:12 AM

My mother has finally got off her ass and givin me a budget to replace her old PII 333 desktop. I got $600 to get her a new tower w/o a monitor. I was thinking about a Dell 530s. Her needs are basically: 500GB HD, Ethernet, DL DVD burner & a media card reader. I'd like to put her in a Dual-Core machine. She loves editing digital pictures, e-mailing her friends, and occasionally surfing the net. (She also likes long walks on moonlit beaches but I'm waiting to post that until my old man kicks the bucket)

I'd appreciate links to similar deals or suggestions on machines. No Desto, I'm not putting her in a Mac. I gotta do the tech support for her and I'm a Mac virgin.

Wobbly Goblin · 05-12-2008, 08:52 AM

This isn't much help, but I've had a "Dell 8200 Dimension" for over 6 years without a problem. I also just purchased a "Dell XPS M1530" and I couldn't be more happy with it. It replaced my old "Dell 8200 Inspiron", which worked flawlessly for years. My daughter on the other hand has had a few problems with her "Dell E1405 Inspiron", but I honestly think it has more to do with her carrying it around then anything else.

Wobbly Goblin · 05-12-2008, 09:45 AM

One quick note:
If you're considering "Windows Vista" and your mother has some older programs that she's comfortable using, be aware they might not run on Vista. I found that to be the case with several programs that I was attached too. Therefore my only option was to purchase newer versions to run an my laptop.

DESTOROYER · 05-12-2008, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TreeTopFlyer

No Desto, I'm not putting her in a Mac. I gotta do the tech support for her and I'm a Mac virgin.

I wasn't going to recommend a Mac. I was just going to recommend a computer that can run both OS X and Windows, oh wait.....nevermind.

To go along with what Wobbly said, I wouldn't get her a machine that has Vista on it at all just because she has already learned XP, and what Wobbly said as well. XP really is a good operating system, I would upgrade to SP3 and then turn off Automatic Updates though, just because M$ likes to make really crappy patches.

I personally, have never liked Dell's, as I have always had some of their hardware mess up on me in some way or another. What about building her one? I can't imagine that it would be too expensive. If you don't want to do that, I would get her this one. Only problem is that you will have to remove Vista and install XP and get a bigger HDD, but that's an easy fix.