Can I get some comments on this computer choice?

tracyballard

tracyballard

Member
Hello - I'm about to have to get a computer for my daughter to use for online school. It will be a desktop since I already have a monitor and other stuff, and I want to go pretty cheap, but she needs to be able to surf the web and watch videos. I'm looking at this unit from Amazon in the $125-130 range:

Dell refurbished Optiplex 760 DT Core 2 Duo 3 GHz system unit, 4GB DDR2, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit.

Will this do the job, or do I need to spend more?
 
More info: this computer needs to be pretty cheap due to low finances and not much advance warning of needing this now, but if it lasts a year, that's really all we need. I want at least like a 160GB HD, but 500-1000 would be good too.

Question - what part of the specs is going to be more important for web use - for instance, is the type of memory more important than clock speed on the processor? Example: is a 2.4 GHz box with 4 GB DDR3 memory better than a 3.0 GHz unit with 4GB DDR2 memory?

Also, since I'm only looking for 4GB ram, is there an advantage to 64-bit windows 7 over the 32 bit version?
 
Clock speed doesn't translate to performance. For your use 32/64 bit only comes into play with programs to run. Is highly recommend the Chromebook/box as you can also use Google Drive to store and edit files + access them anywhere (school, library, friends house).
 
Chromebox sounds like a solid option. The main thing is your limited to pretty much the functionality of Chrome. You can do pretty much everything with it though that you'd need unless a class requires a specific program to be used. As far as specs go, pretty much anything you buy now will be sufficient for basic web use.

What type of storage do you anticipate needing? An externall HDD could be hooked up to a Chromebook I'd imagine, if the Cloud storage wasn't enough.
 
The computer will only be in one place and will have a constant wi-fi connection from my home network, and if I need any extra storage space I've got a hard drive enclosure and lots of old hard drives laying around. Really my only concern is, will this be able to load web pages as fast as, say, the Dell 790 Core i5 I have at work?


Now, if I were looking for a laptop, a Chromebook would be just fine, but since I'm using this with all the regular PC junk I already have, it's probably better to stick with systems I'm more familiar with. Same reason I don't use Linux even though I find it interesting and worth exploring.
 
Well, in terms of familiarity the Chromebox is essentially just the web broswer Chrome built in and functions as the OS. It doesn't have Windows, correct, but they're by design very simple and clutter free. As a result they're also pretty fast and in terms of web snappiness, would be every bit as good or better compared to a similarly spec'd desktop. They also make use of flash memory like an SSD does, so bootup and load times would be quicker than a similarly priced desktop as they'll almost guaranteed to have a regular HDD.

Also, for the record, I've never actually used a Chromebox, just speaking from what I know about them. A desktop would probably serve you fine, but for the budget you have, they seem like the best choice in my opinion. They have both an HDMI port and a DisplayPort as well as Ethernet and USB. Should make connecting to the rest of your PC gear relatively painless.
 
if cheap and temporary is what your looking for, walmart has plenty of refurbished PC's under $100. most look like they have C2D processors and about 4 gigs of memory
 
I was looking at walmart, new egg and amazon. I ended up going with amazon so I could put it on my amazon card, I got a 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo Optiplex 760 with 4GB ram, 32 bit windows 7 and 160GB hard drive for $83 plus $16 shippping, total of $99. Also comes with keyboard and mouse, new win 7 installation with product key, from microsoft certified reseller. Hopefully it will do the job. thanks for the input!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top