Need used modem purchase advice.

by peonyrv Jun 12, 2009 4:10AM PDT

I need a used modem that is not ancient. I have a borrowed HP Pavilion x1848 AMD anthlon 850 MHz processor/128mb sdram mom/40gbDMA hard drive and it is a real pain. Everything is sooooooo slow. I have done the defrag and scans, etc. with no improvement.
I need something that works quickly, but do not have over $100 to spend. I was going to go to deals and bargains/ebay/amazon/craigs list, but I need to know what to look for. Any advice?
I just need one that does not take so long to open webpages, documents, etc.

Discussion is locked

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Modem?

by Kees Bakker Jun 12, 2009 4:19AM PDT

It seems to me you need another PC or laptop. Look for a faster CPU AND more memory. But that will be difficult with only USD 100.
Modem is only for dialup connections to Internet. And using dial-up Internet is SLOW, even with the fastest computer you can imagine.

By the way, google doesn't know "HP Pavilion x1848" at all. So I assume you don't have that.

Kees

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Everything is sooooooo slow

by Bob__B Jun 12, 2009 7:10AM PDT

That's a big area.

Some guesses.
Keep your running progs to a minimum.
Be malware free.
That 128MB of ram is a little light even for the w9x series.

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What Type Of Modem? Dial-up? Cable? DSL?

by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jun 15, 2009 2:37AM PDT

If you're referring to a dial-up modem, you can buy a new one for well under $50 but it won't really increase your internet speed simply because dial-up is slow... If you're using a dial-up connection, in order to speed things up, you'll need a faster internet connection using broadband speed.. There's no way around it.

If you're using a broadband service already, try checking with your ISP.. They generally have new modems for under $100..

In my opinion, the easiest and probably cheapest thing to improve overall performance on your computer, is to purchase more RAM.. 128 MB is a little short for the older Windows 98 computers and is a whole lot short if you're using windows XP.. Unfortunately, you didn't tell us which operating system is on the computer but if you're using Windows XP, you'll want to move up to 'at least' 512 MB, preferably more.

Hope this helps and let us know more.

Grif

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RE: RAM

by peonyrv Jun 15, 2009 5:26AM PDT

Whoa, that helped alot!! That is just what I needed to know. We are on DSL, they call it "lightning speed" and with my laptop it is that fast. but the PC is ancient slow. I believe is is XP, but it is a borrowed one and I need to purchase my own pretty soon. And that brings me to the RAM you are talking about. See, I don't know a lot about performance on computers and if I am going to purchase a used one with XP installed what do I need for it to perform well, rather than so slow. I have closed as many programs as possible on this one, and I think it just does not have enough ??
Thank you!

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Tell Us About What You Have Now

by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jun 15, 2009 5:59AM PDT

Is it running Windows XP or not? RIGHT click on "My Computer" on the desktop, choose "Properties". The operating system will be shown there.) If you in fact are running XP, 128 MB won't work well at all.. More is necessary. Then again, if it's only "borrowed", then you may not want to spend your money to increase the RAM.

Then again, if you're going to purchase a used XP machine, ideally, about 1 GB of RAM is about right for most utility users of that operating system.. If you like gaming, then you'll want more. Of course, the processor speed is important as to performance.. Basically though.. the more processing speed and RAM, the faster the computer accomplishes task.. But those items also correspond with money.. The more money you spend, the more processor and RAM you can include in your machine..

It's up to you and your budget.

Hope this helps.

Grif

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RE: Used PC purchase.

by peonyrv Jul 11, 2009 3:36PM PDT

Hello;
you mentioned that 1 GB Ram is a good amount for a system with XP, but you also mentioned more processor speed is needed along with that. How much processor speed should I look for?

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With Only $100 To Spend....

by Grif Thomas Forum moderator Jul 12, 2009 2:04AM PDT

...it's not really worth discussing a new processor.. Kicking the RAM up to 1 GB from 128 MB will make your machine seem like new and will probably use most of the money.

Then again, if you've got unlimited funds, get the best processor you can get.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Need used modem purchase advice.

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