Desktop

[Mara]

My friend asked me to help (knowing I am queen cheap skate maybe?) her to find a good deal on a desktop. They are on a VERY tight budget but want something that can do internet and all your basics. To darn bad they didn't mention this a few days ago before BF huh. I was thinking Dell maybe? Anything else I should look at?

 

Mara

[Mara]

Question on this. when will Dell have thier quarterly clearnace? Is now a good time to look or will the deals in January after Christmas be better because of any they didn't sell for the holidays? Thanks

 

Mara

[RossMAN]

How about a new desktop PC with Windows XP Home, 17" flat screen monitor and color printer for $399?

[Mara]

How about a new desktop PC with Windows XP Home, 17" flat screen monitor and color printer for $399?

That would be good I think. Which one is that do you have a link :) Rossman have I told you I luv you

 

Mara

[RossMAN]

That would be good I think. Which one is that do you have a link :) Rossman have I told you I luv you

 

Mara

Of course I have a link, click me.

 

Let me know if you have any questions :)

 

Ross

[*Karen*]

Question on this. when will Dell have thier quarterly clearnace? Is now a good time to look or will the deals in January after Christmas be better because of any they didn't sell for the holidays? Thanks

 

Mara

Mara, sorry to hijack your thread, but I thought I could piggy back yours so I wouldn't have to start a new thread.

 

But, what she asked above. We're wanting to upgrade what we have now, we have a Dell that I bought about 3 years ago. We have a Dell Dimensions 4550, Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.00 GHz, 256 MB of RAM.

 

RossMAN, is that laptop you have in your signature better than my desktop? I'm so clueless when it comes to computers.

[RossMAN]

Mara, sorry to hijack your thread, but I thought I could piggy back yours so I wouldn't have to start a new thread.

 

But, what she asked above. We're wanting to upgrade what we have now, we have a Dell that I bought about 3 years ago. We have a Dell Dimensions 4550, Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.00 GHz, 256 MB of RAM.

 

RossMAN, is that laptop you have in your signature better than my desktop? I'm so clueless when it comes to computers.

I think Mara will forgive you for the thread hijack

 

No, your desktop is a better machine and should last you for years to come.

 

I do have a few recommendations to keep your 4550 fast and furious:

• Backup your data documents, e-mail and browser information to another hard drive, CD-RW or DVD-RW. Reformat your hard drive and do a clean re-install of Windows XP Home. If you are using Windows 98/Millenium, get rid of it and buy XP Home.
• Definitely upgrade your RAM to 512MB or 768MB, 256MB is around $30.
• Consider getting a better video card, larger hard drive or DVD Burner.

Laptops are nice for portability but you have a solid machine (my wife has a Dimension 4550 which is such a nice case to work with) and it's running with no problems. So unless you need the portability of a laptop, stick with your Dell. After upgrading your RAM and doing a clean OS re-install you should notice a speed increase.

 

Hope that helps

[*Karen*]

How hard is it to upgrade the RAM? Do you think I could take it apart and figure it out? We already have XP on this machine, so that's good.

 

Okay next question I want to get a flat panel screen. I'd like a 19", where is the best deal?

[RossMAN]

How hard is it to upgrade the RAM? Do you think I could take it apart and figure it out? We already have XP on this machine, so that's good.

 

I would refer to page 92 of your owners manual

 

Here is a quick and dirty:

• Turn off and unplug your computer.
• Put the case on it's side.
• Open the case, it's a clamshell design and no tools are required.
• Make sure to ground yourself, by touching a piece of metal, static is bad bad bad. Don't rub your feet on the carpet and do this. Maybe on the kitchen table assuming you don't wear socks in a carpeted kitchen.
• The owners manual can explain the rest.
• It should take about 10 minutes and it's a lot easier than you would think. Just make sure to buy the CORRECT type/speed of RAM.

Okay next question I want to get a flat panel screen. I'd like a 19", where is the best deal?

What's your budget?

[*Karen*]

What's your budget?

I'd like to stay under $225, is that possible?

[RossMAN]

I'd like to stay under $225, is that possible?

Yes but it won't be a top notch LCD with DVI, it will probably just have analog.

 

If you're not a gamer, you probably won't notice and analog will work just fine.

 

Monitor deals: http://www.gottadeal.com/Deals/Category/monitors

 

Are you a CostCo or Sam's Club member?

[*Karen*]

Cool, I didn't realize that was there, I'm still learning the site. I used to be on a different shopping board, but this one blows that one out of the water. :) I do have a Sams and Costco card.

[RossMAN]

We hope you'll stick around as we're open year round and devoted to Hot Deals as you can tell :)

 

Staples B&M has the Samsung SyncMaster 914V for $199 after rebate, very good deal.

[Mara]

Mara, sorry to hijack your thread, but I thought I could piggy back yours so I wouldn't have to start a new thread.

 

But, what she asked above. We're wanting to upgrade what we have now, we have a Dell that I bought about 3 years ago. We have a Dell Dimensions 4550, Pentium ® 4 CPU 2.00 GHz, 256 MB of RAM.

 

RossMAN, is that laptop you have in your signature better than my desktop? I'm so clueless when it comes to computers.

rotten hijacker you by all means have at the thread

 

Mara

[Mara]

Cool, I didn't realize that was there, I'm still learning the site. I used to be on a different shopping board, but this one blows that one out of the water. :) I do have a Sams and Costco card.

Gottadeal ROCKS they get me such good deals. Upgrading RAM is really easy like Rossman said just make sure your grounded. You can even pick up Dell RAM on ebay a lot the dual channel sticks. We sold ours when hubby got the system and 2 days later decided he needed a gig or ram. Sold the 2 256 sticks really cheap and they were brand new. worth a peek

 

Mara