Ruslan124

Check out the Dell.ca website, they may be a bit more expensive than most but they are good PC's.

In general, mail order will be cheaper than buying from a store.

jonthelad

Whatever you do, don't buy from MDG. Flashy ads, good-ish prices but terrible after-sales service, nigh-on abusive manager at the one in Newmarket, ON.
I will never buy from them again and am determined that no-one else will suffer my fate of crappy hardware and a company that does not give a sh*t once they have their money.

babyblue

Thanks for the advice as i was thinking they had good deals.
I was also warned about Dell as they are supposed to put on there on programs that are a nightmare to get off. Not sure if that is true.
This is so mind boggling and i am taking in all advice in order to summerize.

Maybe i will end up with an awesome computer with all this input.

thanks guys

Ruslan124

My company buys Dells by the truck load and I have no hesitation in recommending them. There is no (legal) program that should be too difficult to remove from a machine. There are many illegal programs (spyware and malware) that can be impossible for even an expert to remove, but Dell would not install them. dell also has reasonably good customer support.

Just to confuse you even further, if you do buy mail order, make sure you ask if the machine comes with a copy of Windows XP on a CD. Many manufacturers do not provide the CD, only a recovery disk . This can be a real pain in the butt down the line. Whomever you buy from make sure they include the XP CD.

babyblue

Get windows XP with service pack 2 installed

Get a spyware program such as Microsoft AntSpyware or Spybot search and destroy.

If you have a router attached, you do not require a software firewall as the router will have a built in firewall.

Hope this helps[/QUOTE]


OK I HOPE I DID THE RIGHT THING!

I took your advice and i purchased a package last night.
I bought an EMACHINE AMD ATHLON 3200+



8-In-1 Digital Media Manager

Graphic Card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200 IGP (PCI-Express), 128MB DDR Shared Video Memory

I/O Ports: 7 x USB 2.0, 1 x VGA, 1 x Serial, 1 x Parallel, 2 x PS2



Product Details


Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
RAM 512MB DDR 400MHz (Exp. To 4GB)
Hard Drive 160GB 7200RPM (2MB Cache)
Optical Drives 16X Multi-Format DVD+/-RW, CD-ROM
Graphics Card See The Features Section
Available Expansion Bays 2 x 3.5"
Available Expansion Slots 2 x PCI, 1 x PCI-Ex16
Cache 512KB L2
Disk Drive No
Fax/Modem 56K V.92
I/O Ports See The Features Section
Included Software See The Features Section
Monitor Included? Monitor Not Included
Network Card 10/100 Ethernet
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Home Edition With SP2
Sound Card Intel AC 97, Dolby 5.1 6-Channel
Speakers Amplified Stereo Speakers
System Bus 2.0GHz
Warranty 1 Year Limited


This came with 17" flat led monitor, speakers,Lexmark all in one printer.

What do you think of it?
was this a good deal?
STORE PRICE $ 999 plus taxes

Ruslan124

OK I HOPE I DID THE RIGHT THING!

I took your advice and i purchased a package last night.
I bought an EMACHINE AMD ATHLON 3200+



8-In-1 Digital Media Manager

Graphic Card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200 IGP (PCI-Express), 128MB DDR Shared Video Memory

I/O Ports: 7 x USB 2.0, 1 x VGA, 1 x Serial, 1 x Parallel, 2 x PS2



Product Details


Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Processor Speed 2.0GHz
RAM 512MB DDR 400MHz (Exp. To 4GB)
Hard Drive 160GB 7200RPM (2MB Cache)
Optical Drives 16X Multi-Format DVD+/-RW, CD-ROM
Graphics Card See The Features Section
Available Expansion Bays 2 x 3.5"
Available Expansion Slots 2 x PCI, 1 x PCI-Ex16
Cache 512KB L2
Disk Drive No
Fax/Modem 56K V.92
I/O Ports See The Features Section
Included Software See The Features Section
Monitor Included? Monitor Not Included
Network Card 10/100 Ethernet
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Home Edition With SP2
Sound Card Intel AC 97, Dolby 5.1 6-Channel
Speakers Amplified Stereo Speakers
System Bus 2.0GHz
Warranty 1 Year Limited


This came with 17" flat led monitor, speakers,Lexmark all in one printer.

What do you think of it?
was this a good deal?
STORE PRICE $ 999 plus taxes[/QUOTE]


Well I think right of the bat, you will not have any problems with the speed of the machine for what you want to do. Athalon 64 Bit processors are a significant step up from the 2.0Ghz Intel I suggested and they are very good processors. You have built in some future proofing as you will be able to run Win XP 64 bit (not now please, it is way to early to even consider it). The graphics card is also very powerful and uses PCI Express rather than AGP, PCI Exp is becoming the standard so once again if you decide to upgrade in the future you are in a good position. A huge hard drive and a combined DVD/CD burner, excellent.

Well I think you have a machine that is considerably more powerful and flexible than the original suggestions but I think it should keep you very happy for some time. It will do all you want it to do and then some.

Commenting on the price is irrelevent as I am sure there are combinations that could be cheaper and those which could be way more expensive. I would just say that you should not feel ripped off as it appears to be good value for money. Feel happy with your purchase.

Finally and once again repeating myself, if you have Broadband internet (Cable or DSL) go out and buy a Router. Anything by Lynksys or Dlink would be great. A wireless router will give you more flexibility for the future but it is not necessary that it be wireless. A router is an absolute must to help protect you from many internet nasties.

Gary

babyblue

Finally and once again repeating myself, if you have Broadband internet (Cable or DSL) go out and buy a Router. Anything by Lynksys or Dlink would be great. A wireless router will give you more flexibility for the future but it is not necessary that it be wireless. A router is an absolute must to help protect you from many internet nasties.

Gary[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that is some reasurring news.
I did buy a power protector. Not a surge bar but a power bar to even the flow of electricity. I also bought the router.
i think i will be set for a while.
just annoyed at the expense on the old machine. I new dual layer DVD W/R that i could never use. I don't know where to begin fixing that one up. I have a virus on it and i need to try and rescue my data to be transfered to new one.
anyway thanks for the support

Ruslan124

[/QUOTE]

Thanks, that is some reasurring news.
I did buy a power protector. Not a surge bar but a power bar to even the flow of electricity. I also bought the router.
i think i will be set for a while.
just annoyed at the expense on the old machine. I new dual layer DVD W/R that i could never use. I don't know where to begin fixing that one up. I have a virus on it and i need to try and rescue my data to be transfered to new one.
anyway thanks for the support[/QUOTE]

Do you know what the virus was? Install a couple of free antivirus programs on the old machine and run them to see if they can remove the viruses. If they cannot, but you know the name of teh virus, in most cases instructions for removing it can be found on the web through a Google search. Do the same with antispyware programs, there are three free ones available, Adaware, Microsoft Antispyware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Once you have run these checks it should be safe to copy the data.

You may also be able to copy some of the data without removing teh virus. It depends on what the virus was and what it does, e.g., your word documents may be unaffected. Let me know what virus it is and I will provide some more advice.

You may also want to keep your old PC and usse it for file storage and internet access. With the router attached to either machine this will be easy to do. Internet browsing does not need a high power machine so this will allow you and someone else to use the internet at the same time.

Why did your DVD burner not work, what were the symptoms?

babyblue

You may also want to keep your old PC and usse it for file storage and internet access. With the router attached to either machine this will be easy to do. Internet browsing does not need a high power machine so this will allow you and someone else to use the internet at the same time.

Why did your DVD burner not work, what were the symptoms?[/QUOTE]


The problem i have right now is that i can't even get the desktop up. It attempts to boot up and then an error message appears. Error: operating system not found. I have tried entering the set up but there is no option to start in safe mode there is only 2 pages there and i have tried several things to no avail. I am no expert at all but i am able to work things out when challenged. This has got me!
I need a pro to look at it. I just don't want to loose all my data. Photo's etc. I did place the photo's on disc but i wanted to use graphics etc for video work. So i left them on my PC for future work. also resume and covering docs that i recently did . I could not print a copy off at the time as the ink had run out of my printer and it was cheaper to buy a new printer.
I do want to keep the computer for my son in his room for data storage of school work. I also have been writting a book and i think i am up to date with the saving, if not then there is more to be sorted.

It is a nightmare.
any advice would be great
You really are a great help.
thank you so much

Bob

Nice setup, 64 bit cpu...fast, very tasty

Only thing to think of is the printer, lemark, good quality, but they use ink like it was a Hummer H2 in a road race...and the replacement ink isn't that cheap...better to get a laser if your mostly printing text, or for graphics, canon ain't bad, and epson are really good, good after service care I've found, and a lot easier to get cheap ink/refils.

Oh, and your puter might be toast, but can always take the hard drive out, stick it in the new puter and read the data off of it...that is if you can't fix the puter, as hard drive recovery services are bloomin' expensive...

babyblue

Thanks for the advice. I was also informed that Lexmark are more expensive for ink becuase you actually are changing the heads each time. The ink and head is in the same package. Most printers these days seem to be disposable.

worht a thought though! thanks

Bob

That's true, and they sued a company to buggery for reverse engineering the chips used on the ink cartridges....but anyway, as it's coming free, can't complain, and it'll keep you going for a while, but it might just be worth looking at getting another printer down the road, as it'll be cheaper in the long run

Ruslan124

Excellent advice on both counts.

BabyBlue, check your warranty to see if it is OK to open your PC and install teh hard drive. It should be OK. If mnot and you do not want to do this, let us know and further advice will follow. Make sure that if you do install teh second hard drive teh first thing you do is virus check it.

babyblue

Ok many thanks

I will check the old PC tonight and i will write down the exact message and maybe one of you guys may know what it stands for.

i will check the warranty and i will also flatter my eyelids to the guy at the store! who knows maybe if i play the true dumb blonde then he may feel sorry for me.
Ps. i am blonde but the elite kind!
thanks again guys