Computer at or below $850

[thecoolnessrune]

This is for a friend... She plays the Sims... thats about all for games. Hard drive storage is not that big of a deal. Besides the speakers, the computer needs everything right down to the keyboard, including a monitor (Thinking a 17" LCD). Must be Vista compatible. Would buying a storebought comp be better? If so, what are the good brands right now.. Dell seems to own the market but the Dell im using is terrible.

 

[bahbahbooey]

id recommend Dell for a friend...you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else, unless thats what you want to do for her

however, does she play Sims, or sims 2?...u can get a fair prices dell that can handle Sims easily at medium settings

 

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: bahbahbooey
id recommend Dell for a friend...you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else, unless thats what you want to do for her

however, does she play Sims, or sims 2?...u can get a fair prices dell that can handle Sims easily at medium settings

I agree - you can get an E521 AMD Dell with 19" LCD for under $800 shipped easy.


Lou

 

[anthony88guy]

Originally posted by: bahbahbooey
id recommend Dell for a friend...you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else

I don't support that at all. I've fixed numerous computers and Dell is the most common. I have no trouble what so ever with the self-built PCs. As long as you do your research, your good to go : )

Originally posted by: bahbahbooey
you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else, unless thats what you want to do for her

Then go for the dell : )

Advantage with Dell is there cheap : /

 

[bahbahbooey]

http://www.edealinfo.com/dell/

check out that page...has a whole slew of deals on Dells... HOWEVER.... make sure that if u select one of those systems, you probly wanna upgrade the graphics card thats the default for the system, cuz the default is either guna be a ****** card, or its going to be onboard (which Sims 2 won't exactly play smoothly on)

pick one out there and then bring it back in here....there are just a ton to choose from

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I honestly dont mind the housecalls And im fairly sure its the first sims. would integrated graphics like the nVidia 6100 or Intel X3000 handle it alright?

 

[bahbahbooey]

Originally posted by: anthony88guy

Originally posted by: bahbahbooey
id recommend Dell for a friend...you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else

I don't support that at all. I've fixed numerous computers and Dell is the most common. I have no trouble what so ever with the self-built PCs. As long as you do your research, your good to go : )

Originally posted by: bahbahbooey
you dont' wanna do tech support for life, cuz thats all that will come from buildin a comp for someone else, unless thats what you want to do for her

Then go for the dell : )

Advantage with Dell is there cheap : /

you have fixed numerous Dell PCs cuz thats all those ppl have (DUH, cuz its the most common PC). have you ever built a PC for someone else (not ur own)?? Cuz when you do, they come to you for every single little problem that ever pops under the sun, because HEY, you made it, so u know whats wrong automatically...but with the dells if there are any majors issues, just have em take it to dell..and they also have nice recovery CDs, which a homemade PC won't have (unless u slipstream..)

 

[bahbahbooey]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
I honestly dont mind the housecalls And im fairly sure its the first sims. would integrated graphics like the nVidia 6100 or Intel X3000 handle it alright?

Goodness...im not sure on that truth be told... maybe someone else can get u a definitive answer

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Oh I know what your talking about. Built one for an uncle.... Didn't find out till later that he viewed pr0n... in Internet Explorer... you get the idea of the headaches...

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Im thinking this one... Upgrade to 1GB of mem. Swing with integrated graphics and get her something better later if she chooses to want to play some more games other than the original Sims. What do you guys think?

 

[bahbahbooey]

Dell Dimension 9200 Desktop, Core?2 Duo 1.86GHz, 512MB, 80GB, 16x DL DVD±RW/±R/CD-RW, XP Home, 20" LCD » only $729.00 + Free Shipping

yes, id be confident that this system would be able to run Sims fine. And shed have a really "lovely" screen too. But be careful, that 7300 is only a 128 mb onboard, it gets it to 256mb using shared memory. thats just my opinion..see what everyone else thinks

im sure u can turn off windows update, so u have an excuse to go over there and help her update it for her (and it prob will run into problems..i never said dell was infallible)

 

[thecoolnessrune]

lol XD turning off Windows Update might be a good idea Ill upgrade it to Vista when its released for $55... 7300 will be fine for her i think... Ill be getting a gig of memory for it... and ill upgrade the GPU if she chooses to play more games.

 

[bahbahbooey]

Originally posted by: thecoolnessrune
lol XD turning off Windows Update might be a good idea Ill upgrade it to Vista when its released for $55... 7300 will be fine for her i think... Ill be getting a gig of memory for it... and ill upgrade the GPU if she chooses to play more games.

Sounds like a solid plan. Stick around and see what others say. Im sure you will get a fair share more telling u not to get Dell, but it just seems like dells are always breaking down cuz its what most ppl have ...BUT, from my personal experience, I won't build a comp for someone unless im living with them..everything else will be a Dell..but thats just my opinion...ALSO, spend some time setting it up for her , when my parents got one last summer, i had to uninstall a buncha useless stuff, AND install Kaspersky virusscanner(get the free version from AOL) or whatever scanner u are used to

 

[thecoolnessrune]

thats the plan, score one for teh coolness in "your my hero" points.... ooooooooooooh yeaah

 

[mithrandir2001]

You may want to look at Dell's Outlet. I bought this configuration yesterday:

XPS 410 Mini-Tower
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
1GB DDR2-667 RAM (2 DIMMs)
250GB SATA II hard drive
256MB nVidia 7300LE TC
16x DVD +- RW DL burner
16x DVD-ROM
56k fax modem
1.44" Floppy
13-in-1 media card reader
Enhanced keyboard
Optical Mouse
Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005
Microsoft Works
PC-cillin suite with 36 months

$649 with free shipping.

Of course you can't configure at system at the Outlet, you have to find something from their inventory and grab it.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Originally posted by: mithrandir2001
You may want to look at Dell's Outlet. I bought this configuration yesterday:

XPS 410 Mini-Tower
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
1GB DDR2-667 RAM (2 DIMMs)
250GB SATA II hard drive
256MB nVidia 7300LE TC
16x DVD +- RW DL burner
16x DVD-ROM
56k fax modem
1.44" Floppy
13-in-1 media card reader
Enhanced keyboard
Optical Mouse
Microsoft Windows Media Center 2005
Microsoft Works
PC-cillin suite with 36 months

$649 with free shipping.

Of course you can't configure at system at the Outlet, you have to find something from their inventory and grab it.

sorry to sound like a noob... but where can i find this... "Dell Outlet"?

 

[mithrandir2001]

You can try this "direct" link to the Outlet. Then pick "Outlet Desktops & Workstations" for Home & Home Office.

Note that prices do not include a monitor, which is OK because you can get a monitor cheaper through Dell's software and accessories division (go figure).

 

[thecoolnessrune]

ah, thanks alot