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Author Topic: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER  (Read 5530 times)

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Offline Lacarnut

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BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« on: May 26, 2008, 07:21:40 PM »
My Dell 5 year old desktop is punting on me and I need help in buying a new  one. Just use it to surf the internet so don't need extra features. Thinking about buying a new Vostro 200 on ebay. What is the difference between that computer and a 530. Both have 2 duo processors and 3 gb of memory. 
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Offline Chris_

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2008, 07:44:21 PM »
Do you have links?  I tried looking them up on Dell's website and got pages of build-your-own options.  Not really sure what you're looking at.
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Offline thundley4

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2008, 11:20:05 PM »
Quote from: Lacarnut on May 26, 2008, 07:21:40 PM
My Dell 5 year old desktop is punting on me and I need help in buying a new  one. Just use it to surf the internet so don't need extra features. Thinking about buying a new Vostro 200 on ebay. What is the difference between that computer and a 530. Both have 2 duo processors and 3 gb of memory. 

I just did a quick search and it seems that they are the same except for the case and color of the case.  Of course buying from dell they could be completely customized so as to not be at all similar anymore.
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Offline RobJohnson

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2008, 11:57:12 PM »
Every once in a while this site had a great deal on a desktop

http://www.woot.com/
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Offline Lacarnut

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #4 on: May 27, 2008, 08:32:25 AM »
Quote from: thundley4 on May 26, 2008, 11:20:05 PM
Quote from: Lacarnut on May 26, 2008, 07:21:40 PM
My Dell 5 year old desktop is punting on me and I need help in buying a new  one. Just use it to surf the internet so don't need extra features. Thinking about buying a new Vostro 200 on ebay. What is the difference between that computer and a 530. Both have 2 duo processors and 3 gb of memory. 

I just did a quick search and it seems that they are the same except for the case and color of the case.  Of course buying from dell they could be completely customized so as to not be at all similar anymore.

Thanks, I bought the one on ebay; it was cheaper than what Dell was selling it for plus no shipping charges or tax. 
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Offline Uhhuh35

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #5 on: May 27, 2008, 08:54:24 AM »
I see Lacarnut has already bought a computer but I want to put this link up for anyone who is thinking of buying a PC or any electronic device.

www.techbargains.com

The site is updated daily and I've been using this site almost exclusively to determine to current prices on any consumer electronic item for a number of years now.
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Offline Bluesuiter-Retired

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #6 on: May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM »
I ordered a Dell through AAFES configured the way I wanted it.  It should be here early next week.

I ordered the 530 with Windows XP Home, the 2.66 Ghz processor, 4 GB Dual DDR 667 Mhz Memory, Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB video card, the 19-in-1 media, 250 GB hard drive.

I've got some Windows XP games I can't play on my current POS, but with the new one, watch out.

I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA


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Offline Lacarnut

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2008, 11:22:44 AM »
Quote from: Bluesuiter-Retired on May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM
I ordered a Dell through AAFES configured the way I wanted it.  It should be here early next week.

I ordered the 530 with Windows XP Home, the 2.66 Ghz processor, 4 GB Dual DDR 667 Mhz Memory, Radeon HD 2600 XT 256 MB video card, the 19-in-1 media, 250 GB hard drive.

I've got some Windows XP games I can't play on my current POS, but with the new one, watch out.

I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA




My Dell computer came in today and I also got XP.
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Offline jendf

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2008, 02:51:01 PM »
Quote from: Bluesuiter-Retired on May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM
I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA

My folks had to buy a new computer a couple months back. They went with Gateway and didn't have a choice of XP or Vista. They were stuck with Vista. They have had nothing but problems with it.
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Offline Chris_

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2008, 02:55:32 PM »
Quote from: Lacarnut on May 26, 2008, 07:21:40 PM
My Dell 5 year old desktop is punting on me and I need help in buying a new  one. Just use it to surf the internet so don't need extra features. Thinking about buying a new Vostro 200 on ebay. What is the difference between that computer and a 530. Both have 2 duo processors and 3 gb of memory. 

In the meantime, you can change it to Linux -- best thing i ever did to a laptop (although I haven't had a chance to play with it for a while).
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Offline Chris_

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2008, 02:56:01 PM »
Quote from: jendf on May 30, 2008, 02:51:01 PM
Quote from: Bluesuiter-Retired on May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM
I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA

My folks had to buy a new computer a couple months back. They went with Gateway and didn't have a choice of XP or Vista. They were stuck with Vista. They have had nothing but problems with it.

They are all Vista these days -- you won't get XP.
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Offline rich_t

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2008, 05:05:44 PM »
Quote from: freedumb2003 on May 30, 2008, 02:56:01 PM
Quote from: jendf on May 30, 2008, 02:51:01 PM
Quote from: Bluesuiter-Retired on May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM
I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA

My folks had to buy a new computer a couple months back. They went with Gateway and didn't have a choice of XP or Vista. They were stuck with Vista. They have had nothing but problems with it.

They are all Vista these days -- you won't get XP.


I have Vista on my new machine.  I haven't had any real problems with it other than it refuses to run some of my older DOS programs that ran fine under XP.
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Offline Lacarnut

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2008, 06:00:58 PM »
Quote from: freedumb2003 on May 30, 2008, 02:56:01 PM
Quote from: jendf on May 30, 2008, 02:51:01 PM
Quote from: Bluesuiter-Retired on May 30, 2008, 10:58:17 AM
I specified the WINDOWS XP HOME because I've heard nothing but bad about WINDOWS VISTA

My folks had to buy a new computer a couple months back. They went with Gateway and didn't have a choice of XP or Vista. They were stuck with Vista. They have had nothing but problems with it.

They are all Vista these days -- you won't get XP.


You can still get a Dell desktop with XP but they are going to quit making them in the next month or two. 
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Offline Bluesuiter-Retired

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2008, 06:22:24 AM »
There are still some systems using XP out there.  I was browsing at Wal-Mart before I ordered the Dell and they had two which still had XP.

FOR THOSE STUCK WITH VISTA -- One way to get around it is when you buy a new computer [and if your hard drive isn't corrupted], just have your old hard drive installed along with the one which came with it or just swap them out by pulling the new one out and installing the old one.
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Offline SemiSpook

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Re: BUYING A NEW COMPUTER
« Reply #14 on: June 09, 2008, 05:47:51 PM »
For those of you that can, you can still get XP Home or Professional for cheap. Here's how:

Army Knowledge Online (AKO) is slowly migrating to become Defense Knowledge Online (DKO) at http://www.us.army.mil/. The good thing about this is that if you're AD, Reserve, Guard, Civilian and/or Retired (regardless of service), you can sign up for an account. Yeah, you'll need your name and SSN to verify who you are, but once you get the OK, you'll be in. This is important.

There's a tab on the main navbar at the top of the portal that says Self Service. Click on that to get a pull-down menu, and click on Army e-Commerce. That will bring up the Fort Monmouth Army e-Mart, or what is now called Computer Hardware, Enterprise Software and Solutions (CHESS, https://ascp.monmouth.army.mil/scp/index.jsp). From there, click on "Government Employee Purchase Program" on the right side of the screen (it'll be the top link in the blue "More CHESS Resources" box).

This link brings up the entire list of hardware and software providers that have contracts with the USA. Microsoft is at the bottom of this list. Now, here's the reason why I said having an AKO/DKO account is important. To get to the MS EPP site, you will need to have an @us.army.mil address. They won't let you in without it. That and the provided code will get you in to the MS site, where copies of XP Home run at $64 (+tax and shipping) and XP Pro run $129 (+tax and shipping). These are FULL versions. Trust me, it's worth it.

Funny how a DoN Civilian in the Excepted Service can use the Army for cheap stuff. Too bad Apple doesn't give you a decent discount.
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