Cheap PC recomendations??

[BUTCH1]

Hello all, I am buying a low-end PC for My mom so she can just do e-mail and surf,
however most I see are preloaded with Vista SP1 as the OS. I've never used Vista so my question
is will an entry level system (2Ghz CPU, 1Gb ram) do OK on Vista or should I opt for one with XP.
Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions..

 

[JackMDS]

In most cases if you buy a Low end system with 2GB RAM, good onboard graphics, or a decent sub $100 Graphic card there will not Vista would work well for your purposes.

Some of the alleged problems stems from vendors selling Low end computers with 512KB or 1GB RAM that slows down Vista, or that the Mobo is with a "Cr**" on board graphic that does not take advantage of Vista's Graphic capacities.

The 2GHz CPU should be OK with 2GB RAM, and decent Graphics.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
In most cases if you buy a Low end system with 2GB RAM, good onboard graphics, or a decent sub $100 Graphic card there will not Vista would work well for your purposes.

Some of the alleged problems stems from vendors selling Low end computers with 512KB or 1GB RAM that slows down Vista, or that the Mobo is with a "Cr**" on board graphic that does not take advantage of Vista's Graphic capacities.

The 2GHz CPU should be OK with 2GB RAM, and decent Graphics.

Thanks for the response, yea most I've looked at have onboard graphics that share system memory (often 1Gb). I do
my own builds, but hard to match OEM at this price point. Are there any decent integrated graphics chipsets? always
thought integrated meant bottom-of-the-barrel...

 

[0roo0roo]

all recent integrated video is vista capable.

 

[Abu Som3a]

I recommend the following:
$30 - AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Single-Core Processor
$50 ($10MIR) - Foxconn 6100K8MA-RS Socket939/GeForce 6100 Motherboard
$65 ($30MIR) - 2X1GB DDR-400 Memory
$35 - Seagate 160GB 7200.9 Hard Drive (Model ST3160812AS-RK)
$25 - SAMSUNG Black SATA 22X DVD Burner
$55 (5% OFF) - Antec Three Hundred ATX Computer Case
$30 - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply

 

[Roguestar]

Every new Dell you'll buy can run Vista with Aero with no problems. And of course you get the warranty and the fact that (well, so far) Vista will be supported for longer than XP.

 

[JackMDS]

Originally posted by: Abu Som3a
I recommend the following:
$30 - AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Single-Core Processor
$50 ($10MIR) - Foxconn 6100K8MA-RS Socket939/GeForce 6100 Motherboard
$65 ($30MIR) - 2X1GB DDR-400 Memory
spx?Item=N82E16817371005[/L] - Antec earthwatts EA380 380W ATX12V v2.0 Power Supply

Using these three you save few $$ (or nothing if you find a good sale on modern combo), and you buy a dead end technology.

 

[Abu Som3a]

Using these three you save few $$ (or nothing if you find a good sale on modern combo), and you buy a dead end technology.

Actually, this is not bad at all for a $250AR build that is intended for surfing the internet and checking e-mails.
But I'll have to admit that the OP will most probably be better off looking for deals on prebuilt desktops.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Roguestar
Every new Dell you'll buy can run Vista with Aero with no problems. And of course you get the warranty and the fact that (well, so far) Vista will be supported for longer than XP.

yea even intel graphics have supported aero for quite some time now. running vista is quite far from having to run any modern game after all

 

[BUTCH1]

Thanks for all the responses guys, I found a cheap ($300) E-machines on sale @ walmart, and it comes
with XP pre-installed. BB also has a "19 westy LCD on sale this week for $149. The E-machines is Celeron
440, 1Gb, 160Gb, DVD combo drive + mouse and KB..