Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
excel.

So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
tons of scarce cash.

I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for years.

Your thoughts please?

Buy a barebones system and finish it off to suit your needs. You mainly
buy a Dell, Gateway, Compaq for the support, but since you are being
transferred out then the support won't do you any good. Might as well build
one.

"x" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:htGRb.363$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
> watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word
and
> excel.
>
> So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
> weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby
saving
> tons of scarce cash.
>
> I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for
years.
>
> Your thoughts please?
>
>

where are you going?...if your into DVD then you'll need a regional DVD ROM or some 'crack' that will allow you to watch certain
disks. Building to .....save....... is not as easy as it used to be...building to suit your needs for the present and as far as the
budget will allow for the future. My Motto, works for me. Good luck where ever your journey takes you....

"x" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:htGRb.363$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
> watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
> excel.
>
> So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
> weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
> tons of scarce cash.
>
> I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for years.
>
> Your thoughts please?
>
>

"x" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:htGRb.363$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
> watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word
and
> excel.
>
> So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
> weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby
saving
> tons of scarce cash.
>
> I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for
years.

You will NOT be saving "tons of scarce cash". If you really want to save
money, buy a used computer with last year's technology. There are tons of
these around for bargain basement prices that will do everything the vast
majority of people want to do. Next option is to buy an eMachine, or Dell,
or Gateway - lower end model. Wait for free upgrade offers, free shipping,
or rebates as they appear every few weeks. Next option is to buy a cheap
machine from a local computer store with some eggheads working there. Last
and least is to build your own. Large cost savings (*any* cost savings) is
not the reason to build your own.

If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but it
will cost him some effort in research.
WWW.pricewatch.com
WWW.resellerratings.com
www.newegg.com
www.mwave.com

check out these sites first though
~Eric


"jeffc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "x" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:htGRb.363$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download
and
> > watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word
> and
> > excel.
> >
> > So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
> > weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby
> saving
> > tons of scarce cash.
> >
> > I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for
> years.
>
> You will NOT be saving "tons of scarce cash". If you really want to save
> money, buy a used computer with last year's technology. There are tons of
> these around for bargain basement prices that will do everything the vast
> majority of people want to do. Next option is to buy an eMachine, or
Dell,
> or Gateway - lower end model. Wait for free upgrade offers, free
shipping,
> or rebates as they appear every few weeks. Next option is to buy a cheap
> machine from a local computer store with some eggheads working there.
Last
> and least is to build your own. Large cost savings (*any* cost savings)
is
> not the reason to build your own.
>
>

"EWhite" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:O4VRb.45729$U%5.240036@attbi_s03...
> If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but
it
> will cost him some effort in research.
> WWW.pricewatch.com
> WWW.resellerratings.com
> www.newegg.com
> www.mwave.com

I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in the
store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400, including
display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting the
pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back $100.
You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 04:00:13 GMT, "x" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Am transferred out of USA and want to take a reliable comp to download and
>watch movies, game, and email with a bit of work on the side using word and
>excel.
>
>So, do I buy a Dell/Gateway/ etc or, following the advice I culled from
>weeks of lurking, buy stuff from newegg and assemble at home, thereby saving
>tons of scarce cash.

Easy! Of course you build it! It's lots of fun, and you get exactly
the components you wan't. And you get support for your individual
components, regardless if you happen to upgrade something or change
OS.

>I am not an experienced builder, but have been swapping out parts for years.

Then you've already tried all the hard parts. At least if you've
reinstalled OSes a couple of times, and messed with the bios, as well.

Only tricky thing left, is mounting the heatsink. But it's just a
matter of taking it real easy. And figure everything out in great
detail, before doing it.

>Your thoughts please?

Build it!
Protect your stuff against against static electric charge.
Read the manuals. Read the manufacturers webpages.
Mount cpu, heatsink and ram on the mobo before installing it.
Install mobo first. Have a flashlight at hand when working in the
case.
Only install videocard, HD and CD (and floppy) before installing OS.
If you belong to MS, make use of 'Windows Update".
Add other hardware later.

Oh, and never ever buy a Celeron! They're so horribly slow, - it's
outright fraud.

If you're interested in "saving tons of scarce cash" then lowend
components like Duron, AthlonXP2000-2400, VIA KT400A and KT600 mobos,
will still get you a quite decent system, at very low cost. (Twice as
fast as Dell's Celerons)

Ancra

"jeffc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> "EWhite" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:O4VRb.45729$U%5.240036@attbi_s03...
> > If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but
> it
> > will cost him some effort in research.
> > WWW.pricewatch.com
> > WWW.resellerratings.com
> > www.newegg.com
> > www.mwave.com
>
> I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in the
> store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
> system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400, including
> display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting the
> pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back $100.
> You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
> doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.
If he want's to play games then a $400 computer is not going to do
that. They are built with too slow intergrated graphics card. Well,
unless 6 FPS feels speedy to him. To get a computer that would play
games well brings up the cost to around $700-$800 and a computer could
be built to match that price range.

On 28 Jan 2004 22:28:21 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) (jamotto) wrote:

>"jeffc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
>> "EWhite" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:O4VRb.45729$U%5.240036@attbi_s03...
>> > If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money but
>> it
>> > will cost him some effort in research.
>> > WWW.pricewatch.com
>> > WWW.resellerratings.com
>> > www.newegg.com
>> > www.mwave.com
>>
>> I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in the
>> store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
>> system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400, including
>> display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting the
>> pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back $100.
>> You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
>> doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.
>If he want's to play games then a $400 computer is not going to do
>that. They are built with too slow intergrated graphics card. Well,
>unless 6 FPS feels speedy to him. To get a computer that would play
>games well brings up the cost to around $700-$800 and a computer could
>be built to match that price range.


Where are you getting these prices for components?
I get good 17 inch monitors for around 100 bucks.
Mobo's for around 50-70 bucks(MSI socket A's or P3/P4)
My current system cost me about 400 bucks total.
Compaq 7110 cpu(socket a with 1.2 gig cpu and 1gig ram.)
80 gig ata 133 HD with controller.
cd burner and dvd player.
Monitor- sony 17 inch vio with built in stereo and sub channel- 50
bucks clearance price.
I just added a dvd burner for 110 bucks.(Liteon 411S at a clearance
price.)

I just purchased an IBM computer with a 650 mghz Celeron cpu 384 mgs
of ddr ram. Full package of modem, ehernet card and a fairly good 64
mgbyte video(Nvidia) card.
Cost: 20 bucks clearance.(Distributor that I buy parts from gets large
lots of office computers that he refurbishes and sells. sometimes many
units are new in the box. Offices and corporations dump perfectly good
computers anually in upgrade swaps.)
Just gotta know where to look.
I've even found 1 year old systems in dumpters, in perfect working
order.
Just gotta troll the back of office buildings and computer repair
shops.
Lately everyone's dumping 17 inch monitors in favor of larger flat
screen displays. You can find perfectly good monitors on the curbs.
I just picked up a brand new 17 inch HP monitor with speakers off the
street corner. It manufacture date was NOV 2003.
They'd put less than a 100 hours on it, just switched over to LCD's to
avoid employees using eye fatigue as an excuse to claim medical on hte
job.
People in this country are nuts when it comes to technology,
everybody's gotta have the latest, read yesterdays, electronics.
If it gets more than 6 months old "dump it"!
If they want to be that crazy, fine by me.
I haven't paid big bucks for a system since 94, when I got screwed
paying nearly 2 grand for the "latest" 486 system.
People seem to loose perspective when it comes to computers.
It's just electronics, just like TVs or stereos.
Once you look past the hype and BS you can see that there really isn't
much under the hood hardware wise these days.

"tweak" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On 28 Jan 2004 22:28:21 -0800, (E-Mail Removed) (jamotto) wrote:
>
> >"jeffc" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:<(E-Mail Removed)>...
> >> "EWhite" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >> news:O4VRb.45729$U%5.240036@attbi_s03...
> >> > If he builds a system with last years Tech he CAN save a lot of money
but
> >> it
> >> > will cost him some effort in research.
> >> > WWW.pricewatch.com
> >> > WWW.resellerratings.com
> >> > www.newegg.com
> >> > www.mwave.com
> >>
> >> I'd like to see a system total price that betters what you can buy in
the
> >> store for equal quality parts. Don't forget the cost of the operating
> >> system. You can buy a brand new computer these days for $400,
including
> >> display and printer. I just don't see doing that buying after putting
the
> >> pieces together. The operating system alone is going to set you back
$100.
> >> You're going to be out at least $150 for a 17" CRT and printer. That
> >> doesn't leave a whole lot for the computer itself - only $150.
> >If he want's to play games then a $400 computer is not going to do
> >that. They are built with too slow intergrated graphics card. Well,
> >unless 6 FPS feels speedy to him. To get a computer that would play
> >games well brings up the cost to around $700-$800 and a computer could
> >be built to match that price range.
>
> Where are you getting these prices for components?
> I get good 17 inch monitors for around 100 bucks.

I said 17 inch monitor PLUS printer for $150. How is that so different?

> Mobo's for around 50-70 bucks(MSI socket A's or P3/P4)
> My current system cost me about 400 bucks total.
> Compaq 7110 cpu(socket a with 1.2 gig cpu and 1gig ram.)
> 80 gig ata 133 HD with controller.
> cd burner and dvd player.
> Monitor- sony 17 inch vio with built in stereo and sub channel- 50
> bucks clearance price.
> I just added a dvd burner for 110 bucks.(Liteon 411S at a clearance
> price.)

And I see there's no operating system there, as I already mentioned.

> I just purchased an IBM computer with a 650 mghz Celeron cpu 384 mgs
> of ddr ram. Full package of modem, ehernet card and a fairly good 64
> mgbyte video(Nvidia) card.
> Cost: 20 bucks clearance.(Distributor that I buy parts from gets large
> lots of office computers that he refurbishes and sells. sometimes many
> units are new in the box. Offices and corporations dump perfectly good
> computers anually in upgrade swaps.)

Hardly what we're talking about, is it?

> Just gotta know where to look.
> I've even found 1 year old systems in dumpters, in perfect working
> order.
> Just gotta troll the back of office buildings and computer repair
> shops.
> Lately everyone's dumping 17 inch monitors in favor of larger flat
> screen displays. You can find perfectly good monitors on the curbs.

As I already said, his first choice if cost was a major factor was buying
used. Buying new and assembling is NOT the way to go if cost is your number
one priority.