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11/28/2009 12:38:54 PM · #1 |
My neighbor wants to buy his wife a computer for Christmas, he can only spend around $500 possible 560 but not much more than that.
She has a canon camera and has been learning photo editing and getting big into digital scrapbooking so he wants to get her something good for that i.e. heavy on performance, low on fluff.
I had customized this one at dell but wanted a few ideas from people in the know...what do you guys think? I stuck with the default processor because the price increase didn't seem worth the little upgrade...I also stayed with the smaller HD since she has an external drive and she doesn't put music or other stuff on her main drives, and stayed with the 4 cell battery since she doesn't like to unplug the one she has but to move rooms with it. If I'm going with that much RAM should I go with new windows 7 or stick with Vista for now.
PROCESSOR Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB)
this is the other processers offered:
Intel Pentium Dual Core T4300 (2.1GHz/800MHz FSB/1MB) [Included in Price]
+ Performance Processors
Intel® Coreâ„¢2 Duo T6600 (2.2GHz /800MHz FSB / 2MB) [add $75 or $2/month1]
Intel® Coreâ„¢2 Duo P7450 (2.13GHz /1066MHz FSB / 3MB) [add $125 or $4/month1]
Dell Recommended
Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53GHz/1066MHz FSB/ 3MB) [add $200 or $6/month1]
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic Edition SP1
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
HD DISPLAY 17.3" HD+ WLED
MEMORY 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 800MHz
HARD DRIVE 160GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (Dual Layer DVD+/-R Drive)
BATTERY OPTIONS Lithium Ion Battery (4 cell)
WIRELESS CARDS Dell Wireless 1397 802.11g Half Mini-Card
INTEGRATED WEBCAM No Camera
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0
I appreciate all input...well except you all that say just buy a MAC...if he could afford a MAC I wouldn't be asking these questions. :)
Thanks in advance.
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11/28/2009 01:12:14 PM · #2 |
The processor sounds good for the purpose. I agree on the speed. I don't think the the others will give you enough extra performance to be worth the extra cash. I have a 3 Ghz dual core AMD. Plenty fast.
should I go with new windows 7 or stick with Vista for now.
Definitely go with Win7. The real choice is whether to choose 32 or 64 bit. 64 bit allows access to more memory. On my system, 32 bit Vista could only access 3.12 Gb of ram. A 64 bit OS may have some compatibility issues if she has any older hardware that will never get 64 bit drivers. My opinion is that the large scale move to 64 bits is (finally) on, and that it is the way to go now.
OFFICE SOFTWARE Microsoft® Works 9
Microsoft has turned works into an adware laden product. I suggest not even worrying about this. When they get the computer, install Open Office. It's free and does nearly everything MS Office does. It is compatible with the MS file types (.doc, .xls, .ppt) but you will have to change the default save types, as it defaults to it's own open-source formats. Takes all of a minute or two.
SECURITY SOFTWARE McAfee SecurityCenter, 30-Day Trial
Dump it and install the free version of either AVG or Antivir. There are some other good free anti-malware products out there, but these are the two I have used. I am preferring AVG, as Antivir gives me an advertisement window everytime it updates it's database.
Otherwise it all sounds like a decent configuration and probably will be hard to outdo for that money.
Message edited by author 2009-11-28 13:14:26. |
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11/28/2009 11:34:38 PM · #3 |
thank you very much for all that great detailed information and opinions yo_spiff...I will let them know.
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