Computer Help

[fflcdndctx 0]

My computer is 5 years old and it is time for an upgrade. My current comp has 20gb hard drive and 128 mg ram at 100 mhz. I looking to uprdae it to something that is good for surfering and playing poker. If you could give me some advice on what the essentails are(as far as ram/harddrive #s) and any other advice about buying that would be great.Thanks Marc

[anselm 0]

If you're looking to buy one outright and not build it yourself, go with Dell. They're not perfect, but they're better than the rest. Shop around because they always have different deals - sometimes they'll throw in a flat panel for free if you're lucky. Just keep checking back. When all else fails, they're guaranteed to give you a printer for free. Get at least a gig of memory. Hard drive space is cheap these days, might as well go 100+. I just bought a 300 gig hd for $100+tax so gigs are cheap. And assuming you can afford it, forget CRT forever and go with a flat panel monitor 17 inches on up.

[Wandigo 1]

Check out Tiger Direct and see if you see anything you like.I recommend AMD-based machines because it's what I've always used and built and have never encountered problems with them.. You'll be good with a 30-40+gb hard drive, especially if you're just playing poker and whatnot... But if you plan on downloading some things, you can always get a pretty cheap 100gig and you'll be safe. Get at least 500mb of ram. I'm running about a gig and it's plenty enough.Check out some of the packages they offer on that site and see if there's anything you like.. They usually have some of the best prices around.

[mx957 0]

I'll second the Tiger Direct! That's the place I get my flat panel monitors from pretty cheap. Also as the previous poster stated check out Dell. If you look at their REFURBISHED items they have some great deals there as well. For surfing the Net, RAM is your friend. More better than less. Same goes for hard drive space.

[Sysvr4 0]

As a bona-fide computer geek, I'd tell you it depends on what you want, but here are some suggestions:1) Load up on both RAM and hard drive space. You cannot have too much of either, and on a price/performance ratio you generally get the most bang for the buck here. Btw, Serial ATA hard drives are considerably better than their IDE counterparts. Get those.2) CPU speed is important, but not nearly as much as you might think. I typically find that you pay 30-40% more for the newest procs for only a 10% increase in effective computing speed (unless you're doing highly complex mathematical routines on your computer all day). Get a middle of the price range proc and you'll be fine.3) You don't need a monster 3D graphics card if you're not going to be using lots of graphics intensive applications or playing first-person shooter type games. Poker does not require a top of the line ATI or nVidia card. Find something that has enough video ram to support 1600x1200 resolution and get that. 4) Get the Dell 24" / 30" LCD monitor. You will love it, and you can afford it now that you've saved yourself some cash on the CPU and video card.5) www.newegg.com has always treated me right and they have very reasonable pricingHope this helps.Jeff

[chrozzo 19]

get a SONY VAIO, great machines

[sportsfntc 0]

I wouldn't get one w/an AMD processor. I've got one in my Compaq and adding a second memory chip blocked the cooling fan and cause random shutdowns in my machine.Having said that, I also have a Dell laptop and it works quite well. You can't go wrong with Dell...My two cents...

[ROGUE06 0]

get a SONY VAIO, great machines

They are really nice but a little expensive.

[mb5322 0]

www.alienware.com, if you can afford them, they're the best going.

[anselm 0]

Alienware is way overkill for poker imho. I'll second the Newegg recommendation - great prices and speedy delivery. I'm convinced their little elves put your order in the mail less than 30 seconds after you click Submit Order.