what kind of computer should I buy?

12/26/02

[knak]

I need a new computer and hear conflicting things about different brands. Can anyone recommend one or tell me why not to buy a particular brand?

I also want to know if an intel celeron? is the same as a pentium 4

[rhombus]

What tradeoffs you make depends on what you want to do with the computer.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

You need to tell us what you want to use the computer for -- today, and in 2-4 years...

[Eaker]

Dell supports the Anti-gunners.

I assembled mine from parts. All name brand, Intel processor and a board made for Intel.

Works great!!!

Stay safe; stay armed.

[George Frm Br00klyn Park]

K, If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, buy a MAC. Peace and love, George.

[RandallFlagg]

I thought Dell didn't support either side and stays neutral? I probably read the same threads you did, but I thought it was resolved. Who do they contribute $$$ to politically?

[ALASKA]

Though the gas models are cheaper to run, I'd stick with an electric one.

[RandallFlagg]

Don't go Gateway; their CD-ROMS are junk.

[krb]

Build your own AMD Athlon machine. They rock and are cheap.

A celeron is not the same thing as a Pentium 4. A Celeron is a Pentium 3 (which as actually about 10% faster than a Pentium 4 running at the same clock speed, but its slower memory bus lowers the throughput overall), with half the L2 cache that a real Pentium 3 has. It is designed to be cheaper to manufacture and is marketed to people who want a cheaper computer, and are willing to settle for less performance than the top of the line. A Celeron is plenty fast for 99% of what people want to do, but for the same money, you can just get an AMD Athlon XP that is not the fastest avaliable and save a bundle and get a machine faster than the Celeron. Check out pricewatch. The Athlon XP 1800 at $59 seems to be where the sweet-spot for a deal is.

[Revolting cat!]

Prediction: You'll be advised to build your own and to use an AMD CPU! Or if you don't know how to use a screwdriver, or have no inclination to use one, you'll be advised to buy a no name clone from your local Chinese/Vietnamese/East Asian vendor!

[On the Road to Serfdom]

I don't think dell supports antigunners, I remember there was one customer that they messed up with (and offered a free computer which he declined) and maybe a web link that that an anti org linked to them to get affiliation points or something.

[knak]

I got a new nokia digital camera for christmas and it won't work with what I've got. I don't really do a lot on my computer except for the internet.

[Wooly]

For a retail computer the only one to buy is a Dell. A celeron processor has less on-chip cache (Memory on the CPU chip) than the P4. This leads it to be slower than the P4. NOw you ask how could a, say 1.7ghz be slower than a 1.7ghz P4, we as far as processing the data they are the same speed, but since the celeron cache is smaller it has to stop processing to refil from the system ram or hard drive more often.
Another way is to check with system builders in your area or if you are handy with a screwdriver and understand the computer you have now, build it yourself. I have built all of my computers for the last 3 years and several more for people I know. There is a lot of information out there on how to. THe advantage to building them is that you get much better componants than the ones in the retail box computers and the ability to upgrade it for a few years in order to keep it current.
A good site is the forums at http://www.pcmech.com/index.htm

[Lunatic Fringe]

Build it yourself- I built a machine comparable to a top of the line Dell for just $600. I used a SOYO Dragon Lite KT-333 motherboard, an Athlon XP 1800, Western Digital 30 GB hard drive, Kingston PC2100 memory (256MB x 2), and a Panasonic CD-Rom. All purchased on sale at various times at Fry's for a total of $600.

[Drammach]

Check out your local computer news(paper)
Or, go out and buy a "Computer Shopper"

I just bought a new system, but went AMD 2100 instead of Intel.
But, that's just me. I don't like Intel.

Too many instances of Intel's willingness to put in backdoors for government surveillance for my liking.

[knak]

The box my nokia came in says I need a mmx pentium 300 MHz or higher. Do I have to have pentium or can I use AMD or any other?

[RandallFlagg]

Yep. They keep it up and they'll go the way of Packard Bell.

Note to all: DON'T GET A PACKARD BELL!!!!! -I got mine for free years ago and (thankfully) a penny dropped out of my pocket onto the mutherboard while changing the modem for the 3rd time....ZAP!

[RnMomof7]

At the risk of getting laughed off the thread may I suggest you go to Comp USA and give the Mac OSX a try..it is an awesome unit..you will pay for it but you do get what you pay for

The G4 is very powerful ..but most users do not need much more than the imac