Time for a new computer - can u help?

K e v i n

Solid State Member
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I have used laptops for 7 years but I need a desktop now. I use it in my warehouse throughout the day with T-bird, Chrome, and FF always open. I always have 3 to 4 tabs open in FF; PayPal with RefreshEvery set to 5 minutes so I don't have to sign in every time I want to print a shipping label. The USPS site, the 3rd tab is YouTube because the ads are blocked in FF - sometimes a 4th tab is open to allow longer YT vids to load while I watch one already loaded in the 3rd tab and go back and forth etc.

Chrome has 5 to 10 tabs open at all times and they are online talk shows or podcasts, and several general surfing tabs and sometimes eBay. I usually have 70 to 90 processes running and my laptop only has 2GB RAM so I know I need more RAM on the desktop. My service comes from a transmitter 12 miles away to a receiver on top of a 50' pole on top of my warehouse so I guess I have wifi (?).


So I do not do any gaming and I do not use Skype or any other interactive stuff so with this info can someone make some suggestions on hardware minimum performance and maybe even where to purchase? I have been buying my laptops at Sam's but I probably shoud've shopped around first.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
Well, if you dont game then you aren't going to need anything huge. Decent amount of RAM and a decent CPU. Sound will be on-board and probably so will graphics. Probably dual core just because they are the sort of 'foundation' of CPUs these days. Also, 4GB RAM is common.

Do you have a budget? it would be useful to have a figure to work to. In the mean time, ill give you a mid-end option:

Newegg.com - HP Pavilion Slimline s5730f (BV528AA#ABA) Phenom II X2 511(3.4GHz) 4GB DDR3 750GB HDD Capacity ATI Radeon 3000 IGP Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit


also a few more questions you need to answer:

location?
will you be needing peripherals/a monitor with it?
 
DS,

Thanks for the reply. I have an old monitor from a previous desktop but it's years old so yes I do need a monitor. I live in rural north Texas, but there's quite a number of electronic places with an hour's drive of me such as a Fry's, CompUSA, best Buy and some other stores like that I can't remember the names of all of them.

I don't get into the big city often at all but when I absolutely have to go I do. My point is I buy as much from online shopping as possible I hate traffic and large groups of people (unless they are gathered around to give me money and flowers lol).

The only other peripheral I might want is something louder. I have a Altec BX1221 and it has good quality sound, but I need more decibals. Can you suggest a way to get louder (and still good quality) sound? Is there a way to get the computer to kick more watts out to the speakers? Maybe this system could handle more watts I dunno.

On the budget thing I don't have to scrimp but I am not one to spend needlessly either. that computer you linked looked to me like it would meet my needs just fine and it's within my price range. I guess I could use those specs as a baseline to shop around. Does brands matter with computers? I'm not a brand man when it comes to tools but with laptops for some reason I've always bought Toshiba's for some reason.

Thanks.
 
the brand usually gives a good insight into quality. HP, Samsung, Apple and Sony tend to get quite high marks for quality, whereas Fujitsu, Some Dells and eMachines tend to get very much marked down. You can usually tell the quality of an item based on the reputation of the manufacturer, and it's price in respect to other products of similar spec (i say usually, since this is not always the case).

How loud the sound can go tends to depend on the sound chip/card on the motherboard, in the case of the HP is should be plenty loud enough. Use the HP as a guide when shopping around, and ill give you an insight into what to try to avoid, and what to snap up ASAP here:

CPU

Good: Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Pentium Dual (Skeptical, but you're not a gamer so yeah), Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 (it's all good.). AMD Athlon II/Phenom II X2/4.

Try To avoid: Intel Celeron (crap as it gets these days), Intel Atom (it's a netbook chip, personally i dont think it should be in a desktop.), AMD Sempron (pretty bad single core), And i dont think Durons are around anymore but definately avoid those.

Manufacturers

Good by Reputation: Samsung, HP, Compaq (basically identical to HPs these days anyway), Apple (High prices, but the specs are usually good. Wouldn't recommend one to you though), Sony.

Not so good by Reputation: Dell (these are usually preferred by businesses, for no other reason except the warranties.), Fujitsu (very cheaply made and poorly assembled imho), eMachines (very budget machines, not good for reliability, or spec usually)

Memory

In modern times, you want to be looking for DDR3. DDR2 is fine but if you ever want to upgrade it your options will be few and expensive. You want to be looking for about 4-6GB in that price range.

GPU

you don't need anything special here. Intel, ATI and NVIDIA onboards will do.
 
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