35 replies to this topic

[mylo]

Define "almost dead". If you just need a new hard drive, pick one up online and be done with it for < $50 bucks

[eVader]

If you think it is just your hard drive, why not buy just that part? No need for a whole new tower. Installing a PC component is much easier now than it was in the 80's, I think pretty much anyone can do it.

Absolutely, it is easy to upgrade PCs nowadays and HDD is <$50-60.

If needs have changed (video\photo editing, gaming, replacing analog TV with PC etc) PCs are also VERY inexpensive. The OP could move up from an older P4 to a Core2Duo or Core2Quad with more power and functionality than the old system.

[mylo]

The expense of upgrading a PC is not in the hardware, it's dealing with a new copy of Windows, getting all your apps setup, and working all the stupid kinks out. If you've got a working PC, except for a drive, it's well worth putting 2 mirrored drives in instead of attempting to convince Microsoft not to be stupid.

[johncam]

My recommendation is to buy another HP, they're the best PC on the market

if you have any questions about any HP models or need recommendations, let me know

....the ones with Intel inside of course.

[Dave Burrell]

....the ones with Intel inside of course.

absolutely! - an HP computer with Intel inside is THE BEST PC that money can buy!

[supermom]

Agreed.

"Best" is in the eye of the beholder.

When people say something is "the best", my poo-detector goes off.

Now, having said that, I am the best golfer in Folsom.

uhhh???????

did you just admit out loud that you are full of sh__?

Maybe I misunderstood that.

Surely no one ever talks about themselves like that!!!!!!!!!

[ChipShot]

Surely no one ever talks about themselves like that!!!!!!!!!

Unless you can back-it-up, of course!!!

BTW, which day of the year do you lighten-up ??

[supermom]

BTW, which day of the year do you lighten-up ??

Awwww----I was playin......


I don't actually think that you believe you are full of sh__.


BTW---Merry Christmas!

[wellwishing]

I think I got a fairly good deal on a computer over at Fry's yesterday.

I got there at about 8 o'clock in the morning and the masses had not yet taken the place completely over. But as I left, drivers were getting crazy trying to find a parking space.

I knew what I wanted, as I had seen the ad, which was a one day sale on an HP computer, Epson All-In-One printer and a 22 " LCD monitor.

The costs was $544 out the door and I feel confident it will suit my needs. I'm not a gamer at all, so there was no need for the super powered $1000 tower that was offered.

So, rather than pay a shop $200 to replace my sick hard drive, I put a few more hundred into the mix and come out with not only a better and new computer, but a much better printer and a larger monitor!

Merry Christmas to me!!!! If I could get the icons to work on this site, you'd be seeing the little guy jumping up and down with joy.

[eVader]

I think I got a fairly good deal on a computer over at Fry's yesterday.

I got there at about 8 o'clock in the morning and the masses had not yet taken the place completely over. But as I left, drivers were getting crazy trying to find a parking space.

I knew what I wanted, as I had seen the ad, which was a one day sale on an HP computer, Epson All-In-One printer and a 22 " LCD monitor.

The costs was $544 out the door and I feel confident it will suit my needs. I'm not a gamer at all, so there was no need for the super powered $1000 tower that was offered.

So, rather than pay a shop $200 to replace my sick hard drive, I put a few more hundred into the mix and come out with not only a better and new computer, but a much better printer and a larger monitor!

Merry Christmas to me!!!! If I could get the icons to work on this site, you'd be seeing the little guy jumping up and down with joy.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Bonus points for being HP and Intel too.

[bunny]

Pretty good decision. Besides the hard drive and replacement cost, you'd have had to dig up whatever copy of windows that came with the machine, reinstall it, reinstall your apps and data, and then watch Windows Update run for a day and a half. Or pay someone else to do all of that.

At least with the new machine, you've got a recent copy of windows already on it, and much less worries that the system you just dumped $300 into will pop a power supply, motherboard or a stick of ram. We all know that intel processors never fail, so that wouldnt be a worry.

For a little more, you've got a new system with a warranty, far more speed and capabilities, and it may even sip a little less electricity. A lot of those old pentium 4 based machines swilled 150-200 watts, more if you had a fancy graphics card. The newer systems have much more efficient cpu's, and the other components either are better at power saving or are turned down/off by the system when not in use.

My ~2001ish pentium 4 machine with a mid range graphics card pulled 220 watts and in standby used 45. My more recent core 2 duo system with dual mirrored disks and 4x the memory uses between 70 and 100 watts and in standby uses 3.

Nice savings on the pg&e bill if you use it a lot.

[wellwishing]

Pretty good decision. Besides the hard drive and replacement cost, you'd have had to dig up whatever copy of windows that came with the machine, reinstall it, reinstall your apps and data, and then watch Windows Update run for a day and a half. Or pay someone else to do all of that.

At least with the new machine, you've got a recent copy of windows already on it, and much less worries that the system you just dumped $300 into will pop a power supply, motherboard or a stick of ram. We all know that intel processors never fail, so that wouldnt be a worry.

For a little more, you've got a new system with a warranty, far more speed and capabilities, and it may even sip a little less electricity. A lot of those old pentium 4 based machines swilled 150-200 watts, more if you had a fancy graphics card. The newer systems have much more efficient cpu's, and the other components either are better at power saving or are turned down/off by the system when not in use.

My ~2001ish pentium 4 machine with a mid range graphics card pulled 220 watts and in standby used 45. My more recent core 2 duo system with dual mirrored disks and 4x the memory uses between 70 and 100 watts and in standby uses 3.

Nice savings on the pg&e bill if you use it a lot.

You are right on the money on all counts. I don't know how I could have made a better deal and I'm fairly sure a new hard drive on a seven year old computer would have soon lead to more repairs further down the road. AND, all in a computer which really would have to be rebuilt to match the one I just bought.

A friend said I wouldn't like the Windows Vista system as much as the Windows XP, so I have yet to find out. I have been too busy with other things to set the new system up yet. I'm trying to find about 6 hours for setup and playing around with it afterwards. Those are my plans for tomorrow.

As for the savings of energy....I'm always for that!

Thanks for all your support. Let me know if you have any suggestions on the Windows Vista operating system. Now, what my friend said has me a bit worried.

[wellwishing]

Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Bonus points for being HP and Intel too.

Thanks man!

I wouldn't go with anything but an HP with Intel inside. The sales person suggested I go with a more powerful computer of another brand, but I dismissed that idea right away.

HP and Intel are hard to beat!

Thanks again for the thumbs up!

[bunny]

I intensely disliked Vista when it was first released. It wasnt very stable and a lot of my applications didnt work with it. Further, some of them like my favorite backup software (acronis trueimage) didnt work with it and a vista compatible version wasnt released for quite a while after vista was available.

Since around the time service pack one was released, I've found it to be just as stable as XP, if not more so. Most of the compatibility issues were resolved. Most application vendors have vista versions.

Worst thing, you might have to buy or re-buy a couple of tools or apps if you cant find a free alternative.

Otherwise its a pretty easy, friendly version of windows IMO. Biggest downside is its a performance sucker. Its a good bit slower than XP. But I'm sure your new machine has about 4-6x the performance of your old one, so a 20% performance deficit (at worst) wont be very noticeable.

Of course, as a former seller of microprocessors, I love products like this.

I've also run it for over a year without any antivirus, using just the built in Defender spyware tool and running a virus scanner once every couple of weeks. Not a problem, although I dont open email attachments from people I dont know or that look suspicious, and I dont spend a lot of time on russian porn web sites, so I'm maybe a little less susceptible to the average virus/worm/vulnerability. The security improvements are a nice step up over what were available in XP.

But of course, its not perfect and YMMV...

[wellwishing]

I intensely disliked Vista when it was first released. It wasnt very stable and a lot of my applications didnt work with it. Further, some of them like my favorite backup software (acronis trueimage) didnt work with it and a vista compatible version wasnt released for quite a while after vista was available.

Since around the time service pack one was released, I've found it to be just as stable as XP, if not more so. Most of the compatibility issues were resolved. Most application vendors have vista versions.

Worst thing, you might have to buy or re-buy a couple of tools or apps if you cant find a free alternative.

Otherwise its a pretty easy, friendly version of windows IMO. Biggest downside is its a performance sucker. Its a good bit slower than XP. But I'm sure your new machine has about 4-6x the performance of your old one, so a 20% performance deficit (at worst) wont be very noticeable.

Of course, as a former seller of microprocessors, I love products like this.

I've also run it for over a year without any antivirus, using just the built in Defender spyware tool and running a virus scanner once every couple of weeks. Not a problem, although I dont open email attachments from people I dont know or that look suspicious, and I dont spend a lot of time on russian porn web sites, so I'm maybe a little less susceptible to the average virus/worm/vulnerability. The security improvements are a nice step up over what were available in XP.

But of course, its not perfect and YMMV...

Thanks a ton for setting my mind at ease about the Windows Vista. You don't know how that eases my concerns. I guess my buddy has a newer version of it or something.

I think I'll just set this baby up tonight. What the heck, I can pull an all nighter, as this is Saturday night and I can sleep in late tomorrow.

With all this talk about it, I just can't wait till tomorrow! Now I want to play with it!

Wish me luck on the set up and pray there are no kinks to deal with.

I'll get back to ya about the set up and further details.

Thanks again!