How to Buy a Computer (Part 2)
I've been thinking about buying a new computer for the house, see Part 1 of this article.
Now that you've decided on desktop or laptop, you know what you want to use it for, and you know about how much you want to spend, you're ready to start picking out the specs you're looking for. Shopping for a computer is like buying a car, except you have to pick out your engine first, then decide how big a gas tank you want, and seats and a steering wheel cost extra.
The first decision is the processor, or to use my car-buying metaphor, the engine. Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 systems are the top end of the heap right now. For the highest performance, you can buy a system with a dual-core processor, which will allow for faster multitasking. For the best value, you should always buy one or two levels down from the top - you really won't gain more than 5 to 10 percent in performance by paying for the top of the line, and that extra 5 or 10 percent is very very expensive.
Looking at Dell, the lowest cost dual-processor package is an XPS 400 with a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (3.00GHz, 800MHzFSB, 4MBCache) for $999. Gateway has a DX-300S with no monitor with a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (2.80GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB cache, non-HT EM64T) for $699 after a $50 rebate. HP has a d4100y with no monitor that has a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB) for $799 after rebate. And Big Blue (IBM, oops, no, now it's Levono) has a ThinkCentre (sic) M52 with no monitor with an Intel® Pentium® D Processor 820 2.80GHz 512 MB for $1079.
So, if I want the Pentium D 820, I'm spending at least $700, and with add-ons probably close to $1,000, but still doable in my budget. I really didn't expect to spend less than $500 for a high-powered computer anyway. It's hard to tell which of these vendors will offer the best deal, the devil will be in the details, but I think IBM is really out of the running.
More decisions next time.
Now that you've decided on desktop or laptop, you know what you want to use it for, and you know about how much you want to spend, you're ready to start picking out the specs you're looking for. Shopping for a computer is like buying a car, except you have to pick out your engine first, then decide how big a gas tank you want, and seats and a steering wheel cost extra.
The first decision is the processor, or to use my car-buying metaphor, the engine. Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 systems are the top end of the heap right now. For the highest performance, you can buy a system with a dual-core processor, which will allow for faster multitasking. For the best value, you should always buy one or two levels down from the top - you really won't gain more than 5 to 10 percent in performance by paying for the top of the line, and that extra 5 or 10 percent is very very expensive.
Looking at Dell, the lowest cost dual-processor package is an XPS 400 with a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (3.00GHz, 800MHzFSB, 4MBCache) for $999. Gateway has a DX-300S with no monitor with a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (2.80GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB cache, non-HT EM64T) for $699 after a $50 rebate. HP has a d4100y with no monitor that has a Intel® Pentium® D Dual-Core Processor (2.8GHz, 800MHz FSB) for $799 after rebate. And Big Blue (IBM, oops, no, now it's Levono) has a ThinkCentre (sic) M52 with no monitor with an Intel® Pentium® D Processor 820 2.80GHz 512 MB for $1079.
So, if I want the Pentium D 820, I'm spending at least $700, and with add-ons probably close to $1,000, but still doable in my budget. I really didn't expect to spend less than $500 for a high-powered computer anyway. It's hard to tell which of these vendors will offer the best deal, the devil will be in the details, but I think IBM is really out of the running.
More decisions next time.
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posted by drewc4 at
5:02 PM
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