buying 1st computer!!!

[greg_atlanta]

Any advice?

Have never owned my own computer, have always mooched off roommates or used the one at work. But work is starting to crackdown on internet abuse, and roommate's computer has been broken for a while.

Went to the Mac store at the mall. Cute for 5 mins, but now I'm over it.

Leaning towards a Dell right now. Price is not a big issue since I'll just finance thru Dell or slap it on a credit card. Seems I can get a LOT for $1500.

Any other brands to consider?

Questions:

- Do I need to order any special modem to do DSL or cable? Only option they list is an Ethernet card.

- Any good webcams, or ones to avoid? Looking for one that takes still pics too.

- Do wireless keyboards/mice work well?

Thanks!

p.s. -- Looks are important too. Like the all-black scheme.

[Stoneage_Turbo]

compaq blew , had to return 3 of there 1200 series laptops to get one that worked and it spent most of its 2 years at compaqs repair facilty , ate 4 hardrives and a display . died one night in decmber 2001 when the display died again and it was out of warranty , they fly quite well and make cool noises when you execute the mexican hat dane on them .

had my dell since febuary and has been very nice , only problem it has is its ports to hook stuff up on its sound card are messed up bad , godawful sound quality ....someone know where i can get soundcards for these things? one i bought didnt work it was too wide for its case , still under warranty but id rater upgrade the soundcard . the mouse is very weak i broke it within two weeks of ownership , it needed frequent cleaning i think they put too much grease in there mice so any dust around messes them up i highly sugest getting a new mouse for it , all the dells ive ever seen have the problem.

im no computer guru , probably why i smash them

[Mayhem_J30]

greg,first i would advise having one custom made, either by doing it yourself or having a local shop build you one to your specs. i'm a big gamer so i build my own. only bad thing is no warranty. if you definately going the already built route, you might as well go with Dell. They do have pretty good customer service, as far as computer support goes, and you can get a pretty good deal sometimes when purchasing a Dell Dimension Desktop online. if you get dsl or a cable modem you'll need that ethernet card, and you can probably buy the external cable or dsl modem through them seperately. I think all other brands suck, like Hewlett Packard, and compaq. Never tried a wireless keyboard, but the wireless mice work great. Oh yeah, the dimensions come in all black now.Stoneage,were you using microsoft mice? for sound cards, i would go with the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Platinum. For a good break down of it all go to http://www.gamespot.com and look under 'PC Hardware'. you might have to do a search for sound cards. They give one hellofa review on the different types.

[greg_atlanta]

Dell offers an opitical mouse as a $30 upgrade, so I think that fixes the mouse problem.

I would consider custom built, but have had a few friends go that route and they ended up with dead computers (lost data) and not much sympathy getting it fixed. $1000 vs. $1500 is meaningless if the computer will last 3-4 years.

I guess for DSL/cable you have to use the modem from the provider anyways, but I will get ethernet 10/100 (???) card.

I started off trying to keep the price close to $800, but internet gets dull, so nice to have other things to play with.... DVD, CD-R, webcam, etc.

The real challenge is the discipline not to get stuck in front of it for hours and hours and hours....... hours and hours and hours....... hours and hours and hours....... hours and hours and hours....... hours and hours and hours.......

:help

[DDWQ45T]

Sounds like you got the general ideas covered for options. You might bounce HP and Gateway's pricing for features against Dell, but Dell is a good all around choice for price/performance/customer service. The custom built idea might save you a few dollars, or get you some more features for the same money, but for something that works straight out of the box, Dell is pretty nice.

You will want an ethernet 10/100 card, since you may want to do DSL through a firewall. DSL seems to be consistently faster, IF you are close enough to a phone switch substation. The cable systems work pretty well, but they will bog down if enough people get on at the same time in your neigborhood. DSL does not.

I like having my DSL modem (from the DSL company) plugged into a cheap 5 port router. (maybe $100) I then connect it via an ethernet cable to a 5 port ethernet hub (which you would not need with only one computer) which lets me share the connection with all the PCs in the house via ethernet.

The two reasons for doing this are:

1. The router serves as a firewall to keep people from having access to your computer if you leave it on, or even while you are using it. It presents an IP address to the internet, but dynamically allocates a different address to each computer on your home network.

2. You get to share the connection with the rest of your computers. One DSL fee per month, plenty of bandwidth for three or four people to be online at the same time.

Software is easy... Windows XP makes the setup reasonably painless. You will want a decent anti-virus program. Mcaffee or Symantec both do well.

Have fun...

[juazam_186]

Greg,I am now enjoying my first computer.I bought it at Best Buy last November.It is an E-Machine that is 1 Gig FAST, 256 Meg RAM, CD-RW, & 17" Monitor. In the deal, they also threw in a Lexmark Printer("o.K. for FREE), IBM Web Cam-FREE, and 110 CD-R's - FREE.The initial cost was $869 + Tax. AFTER REBATES it was $369 + Tax!! I got ALL my rebates back in two months.It came pre-loaded w/ XP Home Ed.My system has worked flawlessly since I've had it and consider it the BEST purchase I have made in a while!!!Shop around, Best Buy has some pretty good deals on these machines and if something messes-up in the first 90 days, the store will replace it!!Good Luck and shop around-you'll end up with a good deal.:thumbup :arcadefre :ylsuper

[Stoneage_Turbo]

it was a dell mouse , unless mircrosoft makes them for dell , damned ball and roller inside would get all jacked up .

[Mayhem_J30]

it was a dell mouse , unless mircrosoft makes them for dell , damned ball and roller inside would get all jacked up .

were you cleaning it out? i hope that wasn't the problem, because that's standard maintenance on mice. DDWQ45T is right, that statistically DSL is faster then cable. But I think it all depends on where you live, both in relation to your distance to the NOC and where in the country. In Louisville cable modems apparently aren't that popular because I've never seen a DSL service outrun my cable service. On most days I was hitting 1.3Megs/sec, up to 1.7Megs.

[maxnix]

Look for a local builder. Know that all cut a corner somewhere to be competitive in price. Know the components like you know your car.

Tom's Hardware and Anand Tech periodically publish preferred designs for a particular user-type and budget. I usually agree with their choices of components.

[greg_atlanta]

AFTER REBATES it was $369 + Tax!!

Not bad! Price it not the main issue, but still gets my attention!

I dropped by Circuit City and wasn't too impressed with what they had. But I'll give Best Buy a try.

But I gave my roommate a guilt trip about his computer being broken and he's getting it fixed today..... now if I can get him to a get a real ISP and ditch AOL. :bash

[cnichols]

I'll build you a computer...seriously. That's what I do for a living.

All we buy here at work are Dells, but lately I haven't been too impressed and I've heard that their tech support is moving to India or various other countries in order to cut costs. Good luck getting help with them or anyone else.

The guys who told you to get a custom made one were right. Higher quality parts throughout. Whatever you do, stay away from AMD if you want peace of mind and longevity. AMD runs much hotter than Intel and will literally fry if the heat sink or ever comes loose or comes off.

E-mail me at [email protected] if you're interested. I don't charge much for the install, I just like doing it.

And...stay away from e-machines...trust me.

Tom's Hardware kicks A$$...they know their $hit.

[MOTOP]

Chichols,

Came across this post. I have AMD Barton XP2500 running rock solid for 5 months. Temperature - 45C under 100% load.

AMD is a great processor and cheap as well. Make sure you invest in a good HS/FAN when buying. Stay away from those that clamp and buy ones that are atached with 4 bolts.

What gives AMD a bad reputation stability wise is the dominance of cheap VIA chipsets which don't work well untill Revision 3

My 0.02 cents.

[Trppen37]

laptop or desktop....?

[Wuss]

If this is your first computer, and you yourself are not savvy with computers, I'd reccomend going with a pre-canned solution. i.e. Dell, gateway, etc.

Out of those brands, I'd have to reccomend Dell. They're by no means perfect though. I have had a history of problems with some Dell computers, but most of them were work stations ( corporate computers ). The home computers seem fairly stable.

DO NOT get emachines, or any other "frugal" systems. In computer land, you TOTALLY get what you pay for. Emachines are cheap because they use cheap components. The last thing you want is a computer with 2nd rate components crashing on you, and you on the phone for 4 hours with tech support working out a solution.

Dell uses quality namebrand components, although I have qualms with their choice of western digital hard drives. They seem to crash more then I like.

Don't get one made from you at joe shmo shop, or anyone else on these forums. If this is your first computer and you run into problems, you're going to appreciate 24/7 support, and the ability for a large company to handle your problems. As opposed to calling Bob on Monday,leaving a voicemail, then waiting another day for a return, then waiting another few days for a solution, etc etc.

Personally, I always make my own computers. That's the only way I know that everything going in it is quality. But for a first time buyer, go Dell.

[cnichols]

Chichols,

Came across this post. I have AMD Barton XP2500 running rock solid for 5 months. Temperature - 45C under 100% load.

AMD is a great processor and cheap as well. Make sure you invest in a good HS/FAN when buying. Stay away from those that clamp and buy ones that are atached with 4 bolts.

What gives AMD a bad reputation stability wise is the dominance of cheap VIA chipsets which don't work well untill Revision 3

My 0.02 cents.

Funny you should resurrect that. I decided to put together a quicker machine about 5 months ago as well and chose the 2500+ Barton core too. Can't beat the price.

Went with the top of the line Coolermaster solid copper heat sink w/ heat pipes and used one of the MSI motherboards w/ the NForce 2 chipset. Flawless so far.

But, I was referring to the older AMD chips that will actually fry should the heat sink come off. Not sure about the newer ones, but you can't beat $90 for a replacement. You could fry two and still be around the cost of an Intel.

[IvoryJ30t]

well, i do computer repair, maintenance, construction, networking blah blah blah...

my computer i built in 98 with a 500 MHz pentium, 256 mb sdram and its running like a charm with xp.

in the middle of cisco system courses so i can get my ccna.

i currently have A+, working on CCNA, MCSE, and i have my CDL, S endorsement [tow truck] and im the electrical system specialist in the shop i work at.

after my computer networking courses, im thinking about getting a degree in electrical engineering