Kanalua
Diamond Member
My brother is expecting his second child. He's got a miniDV camera and a decent digicam, but no computer. His wife stays at home all day with their 2 year old daughter and is due anytime. They both want a computer. Not something super fast and game-tasitc, something basic to edit some home video, store pics, surf the net, and watch movies on.
He wanted me to build him a computer (as I did for my other brothers and sisters) but I didn't really want to because of having to be his tech support. I suggested a Dell, but I think he was uncomfortable with buying it online. So yesterday we went to COmpUSA to "price" out a computer build. We also looked at some prebuilt machines.
On clearance they had a HP Pavilion a1230n Desktop PC with Windows XP Media Center 2002. Amazon link
It was on clearance for $349. We looked at some other computers there, but they were on a tight budget, trying to keep it under $500, and getting it made or at a B&M. I suggested he get the HP machine and upgrade the vid card (to a Geforce 7300 256 MB for $75 at CompUSA).
Took awhile to find someone to help us. But the salesperson who did was very nice. Explained to my brother all the options on a warranty, suggested the cheapest version if I was going to be doing the computer repairs. My brother declined the warranty coverage and the sales guy dropped with little protest. He threw in a free optical scroll mouse and carried everythig to the front for us. It was very nice. Didn't try to upsell us on a "better" computer, didn't pull the saleman stuff that the other sales people were doing on the other customers.
Walked out with a decent started computer for my brother and his wife for under $500 (they got a friend of their to donate a LCD monitor already).
Anyway, just thought I'd share my expirience.
Computer booted up fine and is running fine after I "fixed" it up for him (man there's a lot of crap pre-installed on that machine).
Cliffs:
- Went to CompUSA with my brother to help him purchase a started computer.
- Found a cheap refurb/clearance machine.
- Salesman was really nice, no usual sales BS (little warranty begging)
- Walked out of CompUSA with a computer and vid card upgrade after a very nice buying expirience.
- Computer works fine.
- Lots of pre-installed crap you do have to get rid of.
He wanted me to build him a computer (as I did for my other brothers and sisters) but I didn't really want to because of having to be his tech support. I suggested a Dell, but I think he was uncomfortable with buying it online. So yesterday we went to COmpUSA to "price" out a computer build. We also looked at some prebuilt machines.
On clearance they had a HP Pavilion a1230n Desktop PC with Windows XP Media Center 2002. Amazon link
It was on clearance for $349. We looked at some other computers there, but they were on a tight budget, trying to keep it under $500, and getting it made or at a B&M. I suggested he get the HP machine and upgrade the vid card (to a Geforce 7300 256 MB for $75 at CompUSA).
Took awhile to find someone to help us. But the salesperson who did was very nice. Explained to my brother all the options on a warranty, suggested the cheapest version if I was going to be doing the computer repairs. My brother declined the warranty coverage and the sales guy dropped with little protest. He threw in a free optical scroll mouse and carried everythig to the front for us. It was very nice. Didn't try to upsell us on a "better" computer, didn't pull the saleman stuff that the other sales people were doing on the other customers.
Walked out with a decent started computer for my brother and his wife for under $500 (they got a friend of their to donate a LCD monitor already).
Anyway, just thought I'd share my expirience.
Computer booted up fine and is running fine after I "fixed" it up for him (man there's a lot of crap pre-installed on that machine).
Cliffs:
- Went to CompUSA with my brother to help him purchase a started computer.
- Found a cheap refurb/clearance machine.
- Salesman was really nice, no usual sales BS (little warranty begging)
- Walked out of CompUSA with a computer and vid card upgrade after a very nice buying expirience.
- Computer works fine.
- Lots of pre-installed crap you do have to get rid of.
