MustBuy New System Within 24 Hours Help?

[Alaska Wolf]

I have a relative in Scottsdale Arizona who is elderly. His 9 year old Gateway has died the final death. He wants me to select a new tower and monitor for him. He ONLY wants to purchase it from Best Buy. My entreaties to look elsewhere have failed.

He will use the system to do basic surfing and e-mail. I'd like the monitor to be 23" or bigger as his eyesight is failing and was hoping a larger screen would allow for larger text, and generally easier reading.

His budget max's out at $750. That must cover the tower, monitor, and perhaps speakers. Keyboard and mouse is already covered.

I would REALLY appreciate it if the brain power here could help me make a god recommendation for him! I prefer Intel chips but would like all feedback!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Desktop-...at212600050011

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Desktop-...at212600050008

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Computer...d=abcat0509000

Thank you all very much!

Wolf

 

[DominionSeraph]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/eMachine...&skuId=2633033

E5800 processor is better than what I have, and I have no complaints. (And I do some image editing and gaming on mine)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+2...&skuId=2246173

You can throw in a 60GB SSD and still be over $100 under budget.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233188

 

[gorcorps]

My only suggestion with pre built boxes its avoid Compaq.

 

[texasnightowl]

I'm partial to the Lenovo K330 actually. A friend just bought a refurb one off the Lenovo Outlet and is very happy with it. I don't have any input on a monitor though, sorry.

 

[corkyg]

Of those you cited, I would buy the Lenovo. Monitor . . . Samsung.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I'm partial to the Lenovo K330 actually.

What are the specs/price on it? (links don't work for me)

 

[texasnightowl]

$800??? There is a K330 model that shows up on bestbuy.com for $450 for me?

Model: K330B-77471TU| SKU: 2677297
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Lenovo+-...k330&cp=1&lp=2

Edited to add: yes, you can get more expensive models with the i7 (which is what my friend got off the outlet) but the $450 one on bestbuy.com has the Pentium G620.

 

[airdata]

Elderly, Replacing 9 year old Gateway.... $300-400 Dell + LCD.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Compaq+P...99163800050000

I'd go with this one and let him know that computers are alot cheaper, and better than the used to be. A $300 computer today is far better than the 1500 computer of 9 years ago.

You can give an elderly person a celeron and they'd be set.

 

[DominionSeraph]

but the $450 one on bestbuy.com has the Pentium G620.

An E5800 would run neck-and-neck with the G620 for $100 less.

 

[texasnightowl]

An E5800 would run neck-and-neck with the G620 for $100 less.

Not saying it wouldn't...but personally, I would pay for the Lenovo over Dell, Compaq, HP, etc.

 

[Alaska Wolf]

This is what he finally decided to order.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+Inspiron+Desktop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Core%26%23153%3B+i5+Processor+/+8GB+Memory+/+1TB+Hard+Drive/2834822.p?skuId=2834822&productCategoryId=pcmcat212600050008&id=1218354836619
for $699
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Cyber+Acoustics+-+2.1+Speaker+System+(3-Piece)/1430517.p?skuId=1430517&productCategoryId=abcat0515039&id=1218258077135

For $54.99

And http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Acer+-+2...=1218320157250

For $189

Total $944.97

 

[sm625]

Dont buy a socket 775 anything. You dont want the thing to choke up when he goes to play a video from the grandkids. They can do it smoothly under optimal conditions, but 2 years from now the video is gonna get choppy as windows gets ... tired.

The best thing you could do is get a cheap sb or llano tower and a 32 inch lcd tv to use as a monitor. Make sure it is 1366x768 native resolution.

 

[BoomerD]

Damn...You should try harder to get him to buy a Dell.

For most older people, it's going to do everything they need...and more.

If you buy from the Dell Outlet, you should be able to get everything you need at a very reasonable price.

(Yes, I know...sometimes, older people are stubborn and set in their ways...I are one.)

 

[Alaska Wolf]

I'm old.This was for my Father. Hopefully it will load the NY Times faster for him.

 

[gorcorps]

Wow... that's a lot of money for an old people PC.

You dun goofed boy

 

[DominionSeraph]

Total $944.97

Ouch.
I certainly hope he's one of those rich retirees and so $300-$400 is meaningless to him. I would've never let my grandmother waste her limited funds on that.

 

[mfenn]

Damn...You should try harder to get him to buy a Dell.

For most older people, it's going to do everything they need...and more.

If you buy from the Dell Outlet, you should be able to get everything you need at a very reasonable price.

(Yes, I know...sometimes, older people are stubborn and set in their ways...I are one.)

Hell yes, Dell Outlet is one of the best places IMHO to get fairly good quality machines for a good price. As an added bonus, if you shop for the Optiplexes, you will get a 3 years NBD onsite warranty standard.

For example, I'd much rather my grandfather have this $400 Optiplex 380 with an E5800 and 3 years warranty than an Inspiron with a Core i5. Sure, the i5 is way faster, but he doesn't need it in the slightest and can definitely benefit from the knowledge that his hardware expenditure will be $0 for the next three years.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Dont buy a socket 775 anything. You dont want the thing to choke up when he goes to play a video from the grandkids. They can do it smoothly under optimal conditions, but 2 years from now the video is gonna get choppy as windows gets ... tired.

Why do you say that? XP and a S775 E5200, @ 3.5Ghz, is more than fast enough for my friend to watch all kinds of online video. @ 3.0GHz, it's fast enough to watch Blu-Rays, decoding in software. (Which is kind of necessary, if you have a G41/X4500 chipset, as it doesn't do 1080P video decoding in hardware like the AMD chipsets do.)

S775 at 3.0 or faster, dual-core or better, is more than fast enough for video.

And it's unlikely that online video is going to move to 4K video any time soon, 1080P video is bad enough to clog the internet pipelines.

 

[VirtualLarry]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/eMachine...&skuId=2633033

E5800 processor is better than what I have, and I have no complaints. (And I do some image editing and gaming on mine)

This would have been a perfect machine for him. X4500HD, the "HD" is important, that will decode 1080P video in hardware.

Could even add a Blu-Ray drive.