Well
I just put together a dell for 729$ and i think its really good. It has a dual processor, 2 gigs of ram, an 80 gig hard drive and it has windows vista premium. Vista is the newest windows out so i would say go with that and be ahead of the game, but if they are running xp and would like that then either look at a different computer or buy a copy of xp. Here are the specs on mine.
Dell Dimension E520
Pentium® D Processor 915 with Dual Core Technology (2.8GHz, 800FSB), FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/1GB memory $849.00 1 $849.00
Dimension E520 Pentium® D Processor 915 with Dual Core Technology (2.8GHz, 800FSB)
[222-4987]
Memory 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
[311-6719]
Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard and Dell 2-button Scroll Mouse
[310-7965]
[310-8164]
Monitor 17 inch E177FP Analog Flat Panel
[320-5141]
Video Cards Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3000
[320-4270]
Hard Drives 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
[341-4209]
Floppy Drive and Media Reader No Floppy Drive Included
[341-4028]
Operating System FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/1GB memory
[313-4911]
[420-5769]
[420-5924]
[420-6436]
[420-6481]
[463-2282]
[466-2386]
Mouse Mouse included in Wireless, Laser or Bluetooth Package
[310-1966]
Network Interface Integrated 10/100 Ethernet
[430-0441]
Modem 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
[313-4427]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
[412-0914]
CD or DVD Drive 48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
[313-4577]
[420-6464]
Sound Cards Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
[313-2758]
Speakers No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
[313-2198]
Bundle Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD
[412-0912]
Security Software McAfee Security Center 30-day trial
[420-6594]
Warranty and Service 1Yr Ltd Warranty and At-Home Service
I didnt get Microsoft office or any virus software. I also got the 1 year warranty. Cutting down on the warranty, leaving out the mentioned software (make sure you do get some, i have norton and MS office here so i didnt need it) and whatever else you do not need helps. I also left out the speakers and the network card, the card was 40$ when you can go to radioshack and get the same thing for 20$! But i run wireless internet too. I got an 80 gig hard drive because i do no image or video editing, i only have about 200 songs on my computer and i dont plan on putting office back on my new computer. Im giving my laptop :-( to my brother for school. Its a downgrade but an upgrade at the same time. Make sure you get at least 1 gig of memory, and i would go with vista basic if they arent that computer savvy. Just go into dell, follow the list and it should come out to 849.00 but then they give you a 120$ rebate and take it off of the price automatically so it comes out to 729.00. Shipping is free and tax makes it out to 772.75. That computer should keep them set for many years. Remember, you always get more value for your buck in a desktop, but laptops are portable. Its a compromise.
