new compaq computer

[Planning]

well! i had another computer that messed up on me. second one in 3 months. lucky it was almost 5 years old. the other one was almost 7 years old so i guess it was about time for a new one in the computer world.

walmart had one a compaq for $589 with a 17" flat screen monitor, 2 gb, 240gb hard drive, etc.. i checked around and that was as cheap as i could find one in stock. ( every where else was over $700) so i went over there to get it and got to looking around and they had them on sale for $398. i have had good luck with compaq so i started to get it when my wife saw one with a 19" monitor, ( same everything else as the 17" one). i asked the clerk and she said, same price, i said "ring it up":icon_biggrin:. i figure if i can get 2 or 3 years out of it that will be fine.:thumbup:

i am setting it up now. it is sure quite, it hardly makes any noise at all, not use to that.

there sure were some other bargins, but i am still down with the crud so i got it and left. maybe another day. :airtight:

[Arkane]

Compaq used to be my favorite brand back in the day but I got down on them a bit after the HP merger/buyout thing. But I did get my college student of a son the same one for Christmas. Slapped a couple of gigs of ram in it and the thing runs like a scalded dog. Video wise it's kind of weak (he is an architecture student and they deal with some heavy CAD work), so we'll fix that with a decent video card. Overall I think it's probably one of the best values on a new computer out there nowadays.

Cheapest place to get good hardware on the net is Newegg.

[LorDiego]

I'd like to second Newegg.com or Tigerdirect.com

when it comes to people who don't like to tinker with computers and build their own, I always recommend DELL with an accidental care package. Sure, you'll pay a little more, but I've used their warranties numerous times, and Dell has always had top-notch customer care.

[brewskzilla]

#1 on Dell. I used to have a Compaq, and it was good, too. Ten years ago, they were ahead of their time. I haven't used one in a while, but I would assume they are still top shelf.

[jakeb2008]

+1 for dell...i have a 1520 laptop with good ole XP (i hate vista) maxed out...and i do mean maxed out...4gb ram, 320gb hd, complete 3 yr dell care package, 3 yr antivirus, the works...$1800 package and i only paid a little over $1k for it...i play 360 with someone who works for dell in TN and he gave me some online coupons that had 20 and 30% off...very happy

[Patria Povo]

I've become a convert to Mac since using them at my work, but I sure wish they had sales like the PC guys do.

[jakeb2008]

+10 for mac lol...my next desktop will be an I-Mac

[Optimus Prime]

I hate Wal-mart... found a Fujifilm Finepix S700 there yesterday for about $120... so now I have a new camera...

[CrossFire]

Check the Newegg.com and Tigerdirect sites, also check ibuypower.com.
I don't like off the shelf units because of all the crap software loaded.
Also, you can be saddled with Vista. Switch to a Linus distri.
I have Ubunto on my laptop and have been happy with it.

[metrotps]

Were the failures related to a hardware failure or software? I have been repairing a lot of computers lately because of malware problems. I would recommend an upgrade to 3 or 4 gigs of ram as you most likely got Vista as an operating system. However if your new Compaq has a separate video card, with it's own ram, 2GB's of ram will be adequate.

[CrossFire]

If you are running Vista then you want 4gig of RAM anyway.
Spyware, trojans and other malware are a real problem. Run something like spybot S&D or adaware every week.

[RandyCOG3]

Check the Newegg.com and Tigerdirect sites, also check ibuypower.com.
I don't like off the shelf units because of all the crap software loaded.
Also, you can be saddled with Vista. Switch to a Linus distri.
I have Ubunto on my laptop and have been happy with it.

I think I've mentioned it before, but if anybody wants to try a Linux distribution w/o wiping out the hard-drive or any of the partitioning tricks, see if you can find a "LiveCD" version of the distro you want to download and burn to CD; you can boot from that disk without affecting your hard-drive in any way, and if you like the feel of it, you can also install the system from the same CD.
"So far", XP has been very reliable on this 5 year old eMachine, even ran a DFLW game server 24/7 on it for a while. I did buy a USB hard-drive that I backup the whole thing to, since it's getting old. ALSO: you can bug out with an external HDD a whole lot easier than your whole computer when hurricanes etc are threatening...get a new computer and restore your vital stuff from the external drive..

RandyCOG3