Well, guys. I'm not so great at hardware, so I decided I can ask a few of you to help me find a nice computer. Nothing fancy, don't have much money to spend, however, I'm hoping to find something better than my current PC. I have no more than $600 to spend(Although if you find a GREAT deal for anything slightly over, let me know).

Here is my current computer:
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
System Model: Dell DM051
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A00
Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.80GHz (2 CPUs)
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon x300 SE 128MB HyperMemory
Harddrive: 69GB
Memory: 512MB of DDR2

Doesn't matter what brand, as long as it's better than my current PC.

Go for the Duo Core Intell Pentium 4 with at least 1000MB RAM 120Gig HHD, Radeon Graphics card, and of course XP Pro.

That's what I'm getting.

The Pentium 4 processors don't come with Core2 Duo or Dual Core technology. They might have been pushing "Hyperthreading" as comparable, it's helpful but not the same thing.

Customized Dimension C521 from Dell for $519



Customized E520 from Dell for $669: (I think I had the 2 year warranty on this one, reduce to 1 year for a better price)




You could probably build either system for about the same price, some might argue cheaper, I'd challenge them to show me the parts and do the math. Regardless, buying it in one spot you don't have the headache of waiting for parts, putting it together, and if something goes wrong the warranty is all in one spot. I picked Dell because I have two Dell systems and they are great if something goes wrong. Most major companies are the same, though I avoid anything Sony like the plague.

Ahhh, thanks for the information. I'll check those out on dell.com.



I know only a tad about hardware, but most of this I can kind of understand. I'll see what the price is without the 2 year warranty on the second one before making a decision. I also need to buy a monitor though, so I may be forced to go with the first.


EDIT: I can't seem to build these on www.dell.com, how exactly did you do this?

I'd get a gig of ram also does dell offer Vista? Or at least a free upgrade cd?

Also, if a PC says it "comes with a free upgrade to Windows Vista", does that mean it will come with Windows Vista? Because I'm really liking this PC, but I think it comes with Vista, and most games do not support Vista.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/con...CWBA3&s=dhs

Go to Dell.com
Click Desktops, Home & Home Office
Under "Dimension" Click the green "Choose" button
Under "Versatile PCs" Click the green "More Details" button
Under E520 Click the green "Customize it" button
Under "No Bundle Savings - Minimum Protection" click the green "Customize it" button

Then click the green "go to next component" button to navigate through your selections.








The E520 system comes standard with these options:
-Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic [Included in Price]
-Genuine Windows Vista™ Ultimate [add $199 or $6/month1]
-FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/1GB memory add $0
-Genuine Windows Vista™ Business [add $149 or $5/month1]

These are just different versions of Vista. Fortunately, Dell has a very workable sales staff and they might still send you an XP system with the option of upgrading to vista. We got ours a couple months ago with XP and a vista upgrade option for $10. I managed to talk them into a $50 mail in rebate on my laptop and have heard stories from others getting similar deals on software and changing hardware. I would never order online, but make an account online, add this to your wishlist, and call the 800 number (or use Live Sales Chat). This way the sales staff can look directly at the system you are interested in (though they will probably still verify the components with you), then you can ask any questions you have regarding the system. Another nice cheat if you have any questions about the system is to go to Dell's support section and search for the system service manual. There you can find information like the number of RAM slots, SATA connections, and other specifications you normally can't find on a purchasing page.

HP, e-Machines, and all those others might have similar systems worth checking out. If Dell doesn't do the XP anymore I'd definately consider going elsewhere.

Also a quick note, the Vista Home Basic only requires 512mb of RAM. The "free upgrade" to Vista Home Premium with 1gb memory just means that you can have the home premium, but the system will have to have at least 1gb of RAM in order to run it. The wording is a little funny on the page, just thought I'd clean it up a little.

Having not used Vista yet I can't say for sure, but I'd worry that the system would be crippled for gaming with only 1gb of RAM if Vista uses all of it. Just speculation, but...

Yeah, that's my main concern as well. I really don't want Vista right now. >.>

Do you have any friends that have a copy of xp? Seeing how much vista is that would be a good deal. You'll want Vista soon to take advantage of your new hardware.

Yeah, but I'm a gamer, and I CAN'T have Vista get in my way, lol. It only supports ONE game that I know, and that game isn't even out yet.

iexbeta had a nice Vista software compatibility list going but it's down right now. Hopefully it's temporary, it would come in handy. Considering putting Vista on the Dell. Don't really want to, but need to learn it for work.

Hmm, I'm just afraid I get stuck with not being to play games that I download. Especially WarRock. <3 WarRock.

I'll call Dell and see if they can give me the above PC with Windows XP. Maybe I can even get a discount XD.(Doubt it)

haha yeah for Warrock you'd probably want XP, seeing as how it eats up sooo much ram. (although they seem to have switched to eating up soooo much CPU after going out of beta...)

Edit to reaffirm this: I just got a new laptop with 2 gigs of ram and Vista uses around 40% of that when I'm only running firefox. It's a ridiculous resource hog.. and a lot of programs don't work with it at all.. if you ask me, just get one with XP, unless you have a seperate XP install disc to use to install a second OS.