Going to build my daughter a $500 system

[Mik3y]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob
You should get her a Mac Mini. It's much "cooler" looking than anything that you could build for her for under $500, and you won't have to worry about viruses and spyware.

Remember... most girls who aren't gamers don't care about processor speeds or graphics cards. They just want something cute looking that they can IM and download music with.

agreed

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: RickH The Dell has support.

For the duration of its 1-year warranty, you mean

"Help help, my system has an unknown virus and Norton won't run anymore, what do I do, Mr. Dell Support Person?"

What do you think Mr. Dell Support Person is going to suggest to solve this problem, and is the suggestion going to be accepted, or is she going to call Dad anyway. You tell me.

BTW, this would be a benefit of getting WinXP Professional, you can do Remote Desktop help from afar.

Yeah, the Dell support guy is probably going to tell her to reimage her system from the restore CD in that case. Why? Because it takes less than 5 minutes for them to tell her that, and those tech support bozos in India get paid by the call. Not only will she lose all of her stuff, but odds are that the restore CD will be about a YEAR behind on security updates. Her system will get reinfected pretty quickly, and then she'll come crying to Daddy for help, complaining the whole time about how much the Dell you got her "sucks".

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: RickH The Dell has support.

For the duration of its 1-year warranty, you mean

"Help help, my system has an unknown virus and Norton won't run anymore, what do I do, Mr. Dell Support Person?"

What do you think Mr. Dell Support Person is going to suggest to solve this problem, and is the suggestion going to be accepted, or is she going to call Dad anyway. You tell me.

BTW, this would be a benefit of getting WinXP Professional, you can do Remote Desktop help from afar.

Yeah, the Dell support guy is probably going to tell her to reimage her system from the restore CD in that case. Why? Because it takes less than 5 minutes for them to tell her that, and those tech support bozos in India get paid by the call. Not only will she lose all of her stuff, but odds are that the restore CD will be about a YEAR behind on security updates. Her system will get reinfected pretty quickly, and then she'll come crying to Daddy for help, complaining the whole time about how much the Dell you got her "sucks".

So? If she gets a custom made system she won't even get ANY SUPPORT and it'll be worser than the Dell situation...

The solution is to just get antivirii/firewall/antispyware programs and use your common sense and nothing will happen.

The Dell will probably already have some type of antivirus/firewall and just install Firefox in it and you're ready to go.

Besides, what files does she have to lose?

..

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: ItmPls

Originally posted by: ultimatebob

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: RickH The Dell has support.

For the duration of its 1-year warranty, you mean

"Help help, my system has an unknown virus and Norton won't run anymore, what do I do, Mr. Dell Support Person?"

What do you think Mr. Dell Support Person is going to suggest to solve this problem, and is the suggestion going to be accepted, or is she going to call Dad anyway. You tell me.

BTW, this would be a benefit of getting WinXP Professional, you can do Remote Desktop help from afar.

Yeah, the Dell support guy is probably going to tell her to reimage her system from the restore CD in that case. Why? Because it takes less than 5 minutes for them to tell her that, and those tech support bozos in India get paid by the call. Not only will she lose all of her stuff, but odds are that the restore CD will be about a YEAR behind on security updates. Her system will get reinfected pretty quickly, and then she'll come crying to Daddy for help, complaining the whole time about how much the Dell you got her "sucks".

So? If she gets a custom made system she won't even get ANY SUPPORT and it'll be worser than the Dell situation...

The solution is to just get antivirii/firewall/antispyware programs and use your common sense and nothing will happen.

The Dell will probably already have some type of antivirus/firewall and just install Firefox in it and you're ready to go.

I'm sure that Plumcuda1 has plenty of common sense when it comes to worms, trojans, viruses, and spyware. It's up to him to decide if his daughter has good common sense when it comes to computers, though.

 

[Terumo]

How about daddy getting some parts and introducing 13 year-old daughter in how they are built and how to maintain them?

She'll have to learn someday, and if daddy was helping her she'll learn the ropes easier. She'll also may not treat the computer as a play toy, but respect it more, too.

I was a teenager when I first learned to use and work on a computer in the days when computing was more about electronics than just turning a box on and chat. It doesn't take that much to learn, and who knows, she may even like to get a computer science degree after high school.

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: ItmPlsThe Dell will probably already have some type of antivirus/firewall and just install Firefox in it and you're ready to go.

If you buy a low end Dell, the antivirus software will cost you extra. For $62 you get your choice of McAfee or Norton for 15 months.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: ItmPls
LOL@Giving a 13 year old girl 160GB HD....................

Not sure if you've noticed but... those are about the smallest sizes that you can buy new anymore. The 80/120GB ones seem to be getting phased out. For good reason too, the 300/400GB HDs as entry/mid-level sizes are just around the corner. In 2 years, 1TB on the desktop will be commonplace. Just watch.

Besides, with network bandwidth and video-compression being what they are.. soon she may be downloading entire music-videos, instead of just mp3 soundtracks.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Terumo
How about daddy getting some parts and introducing 13 year-old daughter in how they are built and how to maintain them?

She'll have to learn someday, and if daddy was helping her she'll learn the ropes easier. She'll also may not treat the computer as a play toy, but respect it more, too.

That's like... teaching your 17/18-year-old daughter, when she's about to graduate HS, how to build her own automobile, instead of buying her one. To a techie, that sounds like a good idea, but... if my sister is any indication of the general attitude of women towards cars and computers... unless she has a vested interest in it herself, she just won't care "what goes on inside it". Only a question of "does it work, or not?"

Originally posted by: Terumo
I was a teenager when I first learned to use and work on a computer in the days when computing was more about electronics than just turning a box on and chat. It doesn't take that much to learn, and who knows, she may even like to get a computer science degree after high school.

Well, yeah, but you, I, every one posting on these boards is pretty-much a techie. Although I compliment you on your plan to generate more girl-geeks in the future, sadly, most of them don't really that strong an interest in the technical side of things. Especially not when they're 13.

 

[Plumcuda1]

Well I am in any means a techie ... so I doubt I would get my daughter involved in building a pc with me. I am sure it would challenge me alone. I know the basic stuff .... watched a few builds ... its the trouble shooting that I would be in trouble with.

I just can't buy a dell ... I can't. To get a decent one (after all the upgrades) its just stupid. I know I listed the uses of this PC in the first message but it will also be used by her mother. It will be the "house pc" As for the mini-mac .... seems like the lack of the IM programs on the mac and having to learn a new OS is enough for me to not want a mini-mac for her.

So it looks like I am back at square one ... AMD or Intel? I myself was always a Intel person ...... until I came upon this site and toms and started to see benchmarks of the AMD's vs P4's. Of course it was a bit late as I had JUST bought a P4 3.6. Thats how I came across anandtech I was searching for some info on my overly HOT LGA775. Long story short (maybe too late) I dumped the P4, mobo and gfx card on ebay and got my current stuff and I love it. So now I am leaning towards AMD.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Both of those are overkill for a "web surfing / mp3 downloading / IM" rig.

Dude, get her a ($300) Dell.

- M4H

Ripoff!!

get her a $200 AMD computer...starts here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-241&depa=1

Now just add case with PSU ($22), HD ($45), CD($14), KB+ mouse($18) and 256MB mem ($30)...

~210 total

this is a cute little case too she can carry around too, $22.
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp...PG/11-145-009-13.JPG/11-145-009-14.JPG

I don't understand spending more than this.. it'll be faster than she ever needs..buy $300 in saving bonds for her with the rest.

 

[slpaulson]

Do you need to get a monitor with that $500?
I'd personally look at getting a shuttle sff system. Looks are probably as important as anything.

 

[halfadder]

Originally posted by: Plumcuda1
As for the mini-mac .... seems like the lack of the IM programs on the mac and having to learn a new OS is enough for me to not want a mini-mac for her.

I think a ~$210 PC is the way to go. But I did want to clarify something...
Fire is a very popular Mac IM client, it supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Jabber, IRC, and Yahoo.
There are many others like this, as well as the official clients:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/default.aspx?pid=msnmessenger
http://www.aim.com/get_aim/mac/latest_macosx.adp
http://download.yahoo.com/dl/mac/ymsgr_2.5.3-osx_install.bin
http://www.icq.com/download/mac/
http://www.jabber.org/software/clients.html

Mac OS X also comes with iChat which can do AIM chat as well.

 

[mechBgon]

I know the basic stuff .... watched a few builds ... its the trouble shooting that I would be in trouble with.

You can look at my photo guide for 1st-timers if you want to mentally review the routine and make sure you're on familiar ground. And for troubleshooting, you're in Help Central here and we won't put you on hold, read you a script, or tell you we can't help because your warranty expired, either.

 

[corinthos]

A Mac Mini sounds like it'd be perfect for her purposes, comes with a good OS and software bundle that's worth a good amount by itself also. Don't know about which IM programs support it, I'd imagine AIM has a MAC version but not sure.

Originally posted by: Plumcuda1
She doent game (has an Xbox for that) Really just going to be so she can surf, downloand some mp3 and chat mostly.

I have priced it out both ways (AMD / Intel) 2800+ AMD system comes out to about the same price as a P4 3.0gHz.


Here are the common items for the system

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101318">Hard Drive</a>

Memory

Video card



Here is the AMD combo I was thinking

AMD combo

Intel stuff

3.0 P4

MSI mobo

LMK what ya think. Just remember this doent have to be an uber gaming rig ... I also dont want to build junk ... thats why I am here for any suggestion!

THX !

Havent decided on a case yet .....

 

[Zebo]

Mini mac? please, you could get a 17" LCD AND a faster setup with AMD system I spec above for less than that. Apple is a rip. They charge 200% markup a least on all thier hardware..