Buying a PC - just need little bits of advice

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potatopete

New Member
Hi folks,

I'm new here, just really looking for answers to a few questions.

I am about to buy a desktop PC unit, but am unsure which out of several options is going to be the best for me.

1st option - HP Pavilion with AMD Athlon XP 2800 2.08Ghz, 1GB RAM and ATI Radeon 9200 128MB graphics.

2nd option - Compaq DX6100MT Pentium 4 HT, 2.8 Ghz, 512MB RAM, on-board graphics.

3rd option - Compaq DX2000 MT Pentium 4 HT, 2.8Ghz, 1GB Ram, on-board graphics.

All these units are 2nd hand, all refurbished, all running XP Pro.

Will the Pavilion be noticably slower then the other 2, being 2.08 compared to 2.8?

Will the ATI Radeon graphics make a big difference?

I'm thinking the P4 HT processor will be the better processor. I am right?

And I'm also thinking the 512MB Ram in the DX6100 is inferior to the other 2...

So, by process of elimination, I am heading to the 3rd option, the Compaq DX2000. But will I miss having the ATI Radeon ??

I will be using this PC mainly for browsing, photo editing, and mainly streaming from sites such as BBC iPlayer, ITV player and YouTube,as well as record keeping and some business accounts work.

Any advice or suggestions very much welcomed. (Sorry for the lengthy post!)

Pete.
 
Those are all old machines and technologically outdated. I have no idea what you would be paying for them but you would be much better off with a new low end machine with current technology. What is your budget?

Intergrated graphics, while not ideal, should be serviceable for the applications you list. Maybe you could add a graphics card later - and would need one if you decide to do any game play. The key issue is that many low end machines don't have a large enough power supply to accommodate a decent graphics card.

If the budget is tight, I suggest considering a system from eMachines or Compaq.

Just as an example, here are the eMachine systems at newegg in the $300-$400 price range:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...19&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

These are at the level where an extra $100 would buy a lot more system

Where are you looking for the three you listed? You can sometimes find good deals on new machines on eBay - just make sure you get a reputable seller with a high rating - or good deals on used, later model systems on Craigslist.

That being said, the Pentium HT 2.8 GHz would still be quite serviceable for the task you list; I still occassionally use my old Dell with a Pentium 4 HT at 3.0 GHz. Yes the 2.08 would be noticeable slower - approximately 25%. If you are doing photo editing, it would be good to have 2 GB of memory with XP. Another advantage of a new system would also be getting a more recent operating system than XP.
 
Last edited:
Dear potatopete,

Hi, saw your posting. I work for HP. Do you still need assistance?

Regards,

SoMeAm
at HP
 
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