Picked up a Gateway DX4200-09 and have some questions about Vista and the hardware on this and such.

[Crow550]

Figured it was time for an upgrade as my old pc was giving me problems....Plus it was a P4 1ghz cpu with 1gb of ram with 80gb hard drive and a Radeon X1650 256mb AGP with X-FI Xtreme Music which i'll be transferring over.

So the specs of this system is:

http://www.gateway.com/systems/product/529668220.php

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/ol...tabbed-customerreviews


I mostly surf the web and play yesterdays games, not the latest. I do plan to edit some video.

Just want some opinions as I am still debating on this.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Looks more than adequate for what you do. You'll want to pick up a dedicated Video Card though. The integrated graphics aren't much adequate for even yesterdays games at decent resolutions.

 

[Crow550]

So this video card isn't much better than my old x1650?

I plan to play GTAIV, Sims 3 and Duke Nukem Forever......lol! Kidding about For-never.

I don't know what else in latest games. I got so much to beat as it is.....

I compared Best Buy, Circuit City and Office Depot in one area and Best Buy came out with the best deal. The cpu seems great and enough memory for Vista....
Still will look around for other deals. This seemed like a good bang for the buck.

I am still getting use to Vista. Not my favorite, but I think I can deal with it till Windows 7. I hope I can still play older windows games. Just so use to XP.

Hope I don't run into 64 bit woes.

Firefox 3 64 worth using?

Any security stuff in Vista to setup? Does running in admin matter in Vista like it did in XP?

Now I need to setup all my apps like on my older pc. Fun.

Basically my old pc would lock up on usb and I got a webcam which cause a driver domino effect and blue screens and such. It was annoying. Plus the power supply went out a second time. I will get it replaced and use it for something..... I hope Vista is better. The whole "do you want to install this" asking crap is annoying. This pc does zip compared to my friends parents pc which had 2 gigs of ram and Vista Premium 32 bit edition on a 64 bit machine.

Is Gateway good now days? I have heard things in the past. I assume these days there all just slapped together pcs by manufacturers. Not hot glued ports and crap like the old days.

Also where the heck is the restore cds? Don't tell me I have to order them from Gateway. If so S.O.B!

 

[IlllI]

the HD 3200 gpu is better than any integrated graphics from intel. but if you plan on playing future games you might want to get something beefier

also, gateway was bought out by acer. its not the same company anymore. whether its better or worse, who can say

 

[Rockinacoustic]

If you're happy with your system, then stand pat. If you can return it though, you might want to look at Dell. The reason I suggest this is because you can configure the components to your needs, option for XP instead of Vista, and their build quality and support are excellent in my experiences.

Here's a solid deal. It comes with XP pre-installed and a Vista disc if you choose to upgrade eventually. It also comes with a quality 20'' monitor. And, if you really need the printer, I'd suggest buying it outside the deal. You can get a nice Canon printer for ~$50 these days.

Add in a 9600GT or 4670 GPU and you'll be good to game.