m3rajk — Fri, 24 Oct 2003 19:54:42 +0000

just an fyi on components, unless something changes with the p5s and the next generation of amd chips (both will be 64 bit) amd costs lets and works better... operating systems use a greater percentage of the chip, unlike the p4, the athlons have an l3 (intel is copying that for the p5s) and since the heat issue was fixed, there's no reason to buy a 3.5 ghz p4 when you can get a 2.5 ghz athlon for $200 or more less, and all the tests i've seen by places like pcworld and pcmagazine prove the athlon systems still outperform the p4s, sometimes with inferior other components.

(fyi: i own more intel stock than amd stock, so...)

Suzanne — Thu, 23 Oct 2003 05:32:38 +0000

lol, can't stand people getting along, Renegade?

Renegade — Thu, 23 Oct 2003 04:34:35 +0000

ok, *close thread* this thread has been hijacked.

fiesty_01 — Thu, 23 Oct 2003 00:13:44 +0000

I hope that covers health care for you all, too. Here (in TN), we pay sales tax on things we buy . . . usually either 9.25% or 9.5%. BUT, I can cross the state line into Virginia and pay only 4.5%.

By the way, none of that (the sales taxes) covers health care. We either have to get health insurance through companies that offer group plans ($$$ deducted from each paycheck for that) or, if we're self-employed or work for a company that doesn't offer health insurance, we must get our own from an independent insurance agency, which can easily run as much as $350-$500 per month (or more). In other words, health insurance basically must be in the top 5 "priorities" . . . and can significantly interfere with those computer "wants" (not to mention the unexpected expenses that tend to come along, even when one allows for those).

Any good books on building a computer out there (I still think it might shoot through the roof when I'm finished with it, though)?

Busy — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 09:09:25 +0000

GST is tax we have down under (NZ & OZ) - general service tax - 12.5%
you needed worry about it

fiesty_01 — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 07:14:19 +0000

I have a little over $200 saved up so far (since paying off the one college loan), so I guess I might get there sometime. The truck has to come first, though (it's an early-90's Mazda).

I do understand that the computer I get doesn't have to be the very best, though. However, most of my computer knowledge/experience (aside from the internet) came from a few college classes (no programming, just word processing, spreadsheets, etc., and applications of those . . . such as payroll accounting).

Is GST something having to do with games (like "Game System Transfer," or something similar)? I'm not familiar with that term. Actually, I'm not really too familiar with the concepts of GHz, etc., either, other than it has to do with speed (possibly speed per second or minute?).

There's always hope at Wal-Mart, too, I guess, but I don't know if those computers would do everything I want either. Guess I'll have to find out. I have seen new computers (with warranties) for as little as $499, but I don't think they came with a printer (just a monitor, keyboard, and drive/CPU . . . whatever it's called).

You know, it's almost as if, by the time I find out everything that can be done on these things (and maybe even how to do them), there's a whole bunch of new things that can be done. It's very difficult to keep up with technology (especially for those of us facing other financial challenges on a weekly/daily basis). So, I guess one can do only that which one can do.

Thanks for the tips, btw.

Renegade — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 05:19:51 +0000

Quote: Originally posted by fiesty_01
I thought you (Renegade) were a moderator (?)...

Haha, yeah, I wish

Quote: Originally posted by fiesty_01
Actually, I've been "thinking" about a computer for a long time (as Abhishek knows ), but that won't make it happen, unfortunately. Plus, if/when I do get one, I want it to be the best possible (for my needs, including designing sites/pages) and at or near the price I'm willing to spend, otherwise I can just use the ones at the library a couple of minutes away from here.

As already mentioned, you don't need to get the state of the art computer to do web designing and other stuff. But if you want one, to really get your moneys worth, you would have to build it yourself. Next year, I'm planning on building my own computer (don't know where I'm gonna get the money from though...) which as of posting is "really good". Fast for what I need it for - Web Designing. In terms of CPU speed its only just about average (~2GHz) but I can almost guarantee it'll run faster than a ~3GHz All this for how much? An arm and a leg? Nope, for around about $1000 (excluding GST)

fiesty_01 — Wed, 22 Oct 2003 00:38:07 +0000

Yeah, at the beginning, I didn't consider that the sizing option would affect anyone's default settings, I just thought it would make the post easier to read if it were larger. Btw, MSNtv has 3 default settings for viewing text . . . small, medium, and large (ours is set to "large").

Me, build a computer (I just barely passed electricity in high school)?
I'm seeing me turning the thing on and it blasting off through the roof or something, LoL!

Anyway, I do see your points. I'm sure even half of that $2,000 could have bought a decent computer, but it's gone now.

At least one of my goals is to one day have a computer that will allow me to be able to upload songs I've written and recorded to a website and offer albums (well, CD's and cassettes) for sell. Of course, I still want the Mozilla-Opera-IE-Netscape viewers (assuming one can have all that) along with that. My wife wants a swimming pool, too (one deep enough and wide enough to actually swim in).

JeevesBond — Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:19:27 +0000

Suzanne has got a point, you can get what you need for much less than you think...And if you don't go down the used road have a look at building one yourself, you can cut back on a lot of things that way - and it really is very easy.

Suzanne — Tue, 21 Oct 2003 22:08:45 +0000

For the record, you can get much more powerful fantastic machines -- like new -- if you buy refurbished pieces. Unless you're doing 3D graphics rendering or editing music on your computer, you do not need a top-of-the-line-so-fast-it-melts-silicone machine.

Talk to someone who knows, spend the money on things you really need. And do consider used, if for nothing else but testing.