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General discussion

Soon to be college student looking for a powerful PC!

Apr 4, 2005 8:06AM PDT

Hey all! I'm new to these forums and have noticed how active they seem to be, so I decided to go ahead and post my questions!

I'm a senior in high school, getting ready to buy a new computer for college! Now I know to look to see what the school has to offer, and I'll be sure to do that once I decide which school I'll be attending. I know that what I would like to have will exceed their requirements, so that's not a problem either.

Sadly, making my own computer isn?t an option (believe me; I?ve tried hard to convince my parents otherwise). I?m stuck with handing out the ?big? bucks to try to get a computer that will hopefully fit my needs/wants!

The companies I?ve been looking at consistently have been (and I?d love to know your take on these!)? also, if any of the companies make better laptops over desktops, let me know! Whether I get a laptop or desktop depends on which college I choose, and I?m less knowledgeable of who is the top dog in the laptop industry than the desktop.
Falcon-NW
Alienware - Which I?ve separated from, I?ve heard many bad things about them from a lot of people that I trust; your thoughts?
Velocity Micro
VoodooPC
eMachines
Dell ? along with all the other well known companies such as HP and Gateway..
Along with some random ones that I?ve just recently learned of (ibuypower, monarch, and some others I can?t remember).

As you can tell, I?m looking for a higher end pc, I?m big into the gaming (CS:S, WoW, and the likes). I?d love to be able to play WoW on the highest settings and have it run without any problems or lag. I would think if I managed to do that, I would be pretty good even for the next NEXT gen. games (eep! I hope).

Nonetheless, the computer would need to be able to handle the basics for school (oh noooes).

One thing I?m concerned about is if anything is coming out in the next couple months that I should wait/look for? If something good is arriving in august, I could just wait to buy a computer until then.

Price range? Well, as much as I would like to say unlimited, if there is any possibility of a system with my interests at heart that wouldn?t run me over 3,500 ? that would probably be nice. But I?d rather just get the basics of what?s out there and what?s coming soon!

Discussion is locked

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Get a laptop
Apr 4, 2005 8:46AM PDT

I spent a year in college, though i'm currently in the USAF.

I would heavily heavily suggest you look into getting a laptop w/ a built-in wireless card. Almost all colleges nowadays have some sort of wireless internet on parts of the campus, plus you will be able to take the computer with you out of the loud dorm to the library, commons, bench outside, denny's resteraunt to do your studying. You will sacrifice a little on the games unless you spend the big bucks, but the portability is priceless as a college student.

Since you like playing games, I would look into the Dell XPS 2 series. Using a student discount, you can get the following for under $2,500:

Intel Pentium M 760 Processor (2.0 GHz) (performs as well as 3.0+ghz desktop processors)

XP Home Edition

17" Widescreen UXGA screen

1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

256mb nVidea GeForce Go 6800 video card (best nvidea card on the market)

CD Burner/DVD drive

60GB 7,200 RPM HDD

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I agree with other poster
Apr 4, 2005 10:44AM PDT

but you set the priorities. If gaming comes first, you will want a desktop with a full sized monitor and performance laptops can't match for the price. If using a PC for schoolwork to assist in getting an education comes first, I'd say get a laptop...a good and sturdy business class. IBMs are really decent laptops. More sturdy and reliable as mobile devices than find in mass merchandising establishments.

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Err
Apr 4, 2005 11:27AM PDT

Well I would think that any high end laptop would be able to perform the same tasks a normal "business" laptop would be able to.

Of course school will be important, but I wouldn't think I would have to specify certain specs to make sure I could write word documents! >_<

After what terrysalmi said, I'm leaning more towards laptops. That Dell XPS looks really nice for the price, but I'm wondering what this "student discount" that your reffering to is?

The thing with wireless is, that one of colleges I'm looking at does not have a wireless campus (despite the fact it seems to be putting tons of money everywhere else).

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here...
Apr 4, 2005 12:56PM PDT

On the Dell.com site; instead of entering the home & home office store, go to the third column and under government, education & healthcare select higher education.

Through that site you can recieve 6-12% off your purchase depending on the service plan you purchase. Shop around though as there might still be a better deal in the home store, dell changes every week.

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Dell Laptops > More $$ Co.'s Laptops?
Apr 4, 2005 1:14PM PDT

I've heard good and bad about Dell, but the same goes for most other companies. As good as the XPS looks, I've noticed laptops don't range in prices as much as desktops do.

Would I be better off spending money on a Fragbook or Envy?

I have money which is set aside simply for my computer. I'm not looking to cut corners to make the computer cost 500 bucks. I want something that I know will work, and will work well, and I'm willing to shell out some money to make sure it does. Are these other higher end companies worth it?

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Warranty
Apr 4, 2005 9:18PM PDT

If you go with a laptop, I would suggest going with a Dell as I have always heard good reviews for the machines plus their laptop warranties are some of the better ones out there.

While I wouldn't buy a desktop from Dell (I just purchased a Velocity Micro desktop in january), I would heavily consider them for laptops. I also work with Dells a lot in my military job, the laptops seem to work pretty well.

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I did not mention student discount
Apr 5, 2005 5:35AM PDT

but they do exist. My own laptop is an IBM but mine is for work. I have also had a couple Dells that weren't too bad but these were "business class" models with heavier duty construction an not the flimsy keyboards of what you will find at CompUSA and such. My son goes to college and the school he goes to has discount program with IBM and perhaps other manufacturers. You might want to investigate this possibility with the school you select. I'd have to say much depends on where you plan to live. If you live in a dorm, space will be very limited. An apartment could provide enough space for a desktop. I'm well aware that some students want their PCs for heavy recreational use. My gut tells me that PCs used for heavy gaming are more likely to have problems or fail. If you have critical schoolwork on one of these, it could fall victim to system and software failures of all kinds. Stock car drivers don't take their racing vehicles on vacation with the family.Happy My intention was to offer more to think about when you mentioned gaming. Of course, in the ideal world, you could afford one of each. If you can't (and most students are probably in this boat), you need to decide what's most important. Both my college students have laptops for school which see very limited recreational use. I think this is wise. Sorry if it sounds like I'm preaching and not answering you directly. Good luck wherever you go.

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eMachines T6212
Apr 4, 2005 1:15PM PDT

Socket 939 and PCI-Express. Can upgrade and it'll cost less than getting a really expensive computer.
Roger

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It's nice..
Apr 4, 2005 8:49PM PDT

But, the price tag is tricky because it's only the cpu, add a monitor, speakers, all that extra stuff, plus some more memory and an upgraded graphics card and it will run me the normal price I would think?

Would someone be able to explain to me if the card that the T6212 comes with is any good? What would I be upgraded to if it isn't? I'm trying to learn more about all this SLI and pci/16 jibberjabber that I can't understand.

I've had pci slots in my computer all the time, and have always heard that agp is better.. they are switching back? Argh.

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Time's a changing...
Apr 4, 2005 9:15PM PDT

For a desktop computer, PCI-E (not plain PCI) is the new standard, and is better than AGP.

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Re: Tricky......
Apr 5, 2005 4:27AM PDT

Hi Guzik,

The Emachine T6212 is new and was available last week at Circuit City and CompUSA with no monitor or printer. It is so new that the Emachine site doesn't list anything...apparently they want their older models to sell.

This past Sunday there was a flyer in the newspaper, which is available at Best Buy showing on the back page the new emachine T6212 in a package to include a 17" Flat-Screen Monitor (CRT) and color Printer for $549.97 after rebates (mostly mail in rebates).

The T6212 does not come with a video card, but like many inexpensive computers has Integrated (On board)graphics. What is good about this particular inexpensive machine is that it has a PCI-Express x16 slot that you can add a Video Card, disabling the Integrated (On board) graphics, for better gaming.

On many inexpensive machines with Integrated (On board) graphics, they do not have an AGP or PCI-E slot to add a Video Card. To answer some of your questions/concerns:

SLI is a motherboard that has a capability to have two video cards. It is expensive and is for high end gamers that can afford two $500 video cards, although only one can be used on it if desired. It improves gaming only slightly and is not worth the money at this time IMO, but could maybe be of some slight benefit to a pro competition gamer.

The AGP slots in newer computers are slowly being replaced with the new PCI-E technology. Currently PCI-E computers usually have one PCI-Express x-16 slot for the video card (however on some inexpensive PC's with PCI-Express bus'es there is none), one or two (depending on motherboard) PCI-Express x1 slots) and 2-3 of the regular PCI slots.

The regular PCI slots you have in your present computer are not used for a Video card if your motherboard (chipset) has an AGP slot. For increased gaming a regular PCI card made for gaming can be installed, but it is not as powerful as a card made for a AGP slot and is limited on how high of a card that can be purchased. At the present I believe it is at the Nvidia GeForce 5700se level.

Yes, your PCI slots in your computer are slowly being replaced in new computers with the PCI-Express technology. They are doing this slowly 1-3 slots at a time. The only thing that may be confusing is that instead of calling the new video cards AGP-1-2-3 (really the slot you put an AGP card in looks from the outside just like a PCI slot) they are calling the replacement PCI-Express x-16, and assigning numbers to the other PCI-Express slots like x1. The AGP replacement is not really switching back to the old PCI bus.

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3,500
Apr 5, 2005 1:17AM PDT

For that amount of money you can get a realy good laptop
and a good desktop. John

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if your getting a desktop
Apr 7, 2005 1:45PM PDT

ignore w/e has been said here about desktops (since this seems older, so it probably doesn't include the 840 in the advice)

IF YOU ARE GETTING A DESKTOP
while I am anti-Intel I would suggest the following:

Intel Pentium EE 840
Dual 6800GT's in SLI (as the 955 supports SLI...)

and then all the other good fixins

Alienware has a system identical to this ready to ship afaik, Dell has a single GPU solution

if you want next gen gaming
DO NOT BUY RADEON!

no current ATI Radeon X series card will support next gen games, period, end of discussion, it's the end of it, THEY WILL NOT!

GeForce 6800 on the otherhand, will (but, Radeon X850 is faster than GeForce 6800 Ultra...so ATI wins in current gen, but next year with U3, ATI's Radeon X is going to be hurting (but by then R520 will be out, which is ATI's new GPU...and things will be MUCH different)


i'm suggest the 840 for a few reasons
and yeah, i realize it's a $1000 CPU

it will do office applications amazingly well
AND
it will kick butt in video encoding/photo work
so you have that going for you


if you just want a gaming PC
get an Athlon64 FX-55 or wait for the FX-57 (which is supposedly dual cored also)