I am ready for a new PC

Rene` · August 26, 2008

and monitor. I have a camera that shoots 14.6MP so I need something a bit faster than I have. SM is my primary printer so I was thinking if anyone has a monitor that gives them great color from SM that I 'd like to hear about it. I have a Huey Pantone Monitor Calibrator and I have been pleased with it.

Suggestions on what to get?? I don't want to have to mortgage the kids.

Pupator · August 26, 2008

For the PC itself I'd recommend a Dell refurb. It'll look like new, smell like new, and come with the full warranty. You'll be amazed what you can get.

For example:
Inspiron 530
Intel Core 2 Quad 2400
500GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
3GB of RAM
Vista Home Premium
DVD/RW (Dual Layer) burner
$439.

That leaves you with a fair amount of change for a good monitor. I'll let someone else give you advice there because I'm happy with my Dell and Viewsonic flat panels and supposedly I shouldn't be!

I've bought lots of the Dell refurbs for friends and family and had good experiences. YMMV

Art Scott · August 26, 2008

I have seen some r4eally good deals on Tiger Direct.....HP Quad cores for under $500....yeah they were refurbs......but i have run on a refurb machine for over 4yrs and it is still purring along......could use more ummmphf to be ble to run CS3 but for now I'll stick with CS

Rene` · August 26, 2008

Great!
Thanks for the advise. I wondered about buying refurbished--- thanks!

Pupator wrote:

For the PC itself I'd recommend a Dell refurb. It'll look like new, smell like new, and come with the full warranty. You'll be amazed what you can get.

For example:
Inspiron 530
Intel Core 2 Quad 2400
500GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
3GB of RAM
Vista Home Premium
DVD/RW (Dual Layer) burner
$439.

That leaves you with a fair amount of change for a good monitor. I'll let someone else give you advice there because I'm happy with my Dell and Viewsonic flat panels and supposedly I shouldn't be!

I've bought lots of the Dell refurbs for friends and family and had good experiences. YMMV

cmason · August 26, 2008

OK here goes, let the debate begin.

Was in your shoes 6 mons ago. I wanted a really nice monitor (IPS) and wanted it bigger than 20". Trouble is, those are $500+. I also needed a new PC. I could get a nicely spec'd Dell refurb for around $600-800, as I wanted a really high spec machine (Dell XPS). So, to get what I was looking for was $1100+.

So I included Apple in my view. The Apple store was offering a 24" iMac, with the specs of the Dell XPS (not the quad core unfortunately), and the include 24" IPS monitor, for less than the cheapest Dell/Monitor combo. (Mine was $1100, a newer model is $1299 now) So I went with the iMac, and have enjoyed it. It is more stable than XP was, and seems to be able to make more of the 3GB of memory I added. Lightroom and Photoshop can run at sametime with multiple other apps, browsers etc and you don't notice. Oh and I run Windows XP in a VMWare Fusion image, so I get Windows + Mac OS X.

Anyway, check out the Apple Refurb Macs

Pupator · August 26, 2008

Here's the specs for the $1300 iMac.
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
24-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera

So you drop from 3GB of RAM to 1.
You drop from a Quad Core to a Dual Core
You drop from 500GB to 320GB (SATA 1, not 2)

You add a nice 24" monitor

And you pay $861 more. What exactly is comparable about that? Can you really not get a nice monitor for less than $861?

Don't get me wrong - iMacs are lovely. But there's nothing comparable here. If you want to pay several hundred extra dollars for the Apple "experience," that's fine too - but admit what you're paying for.

Oh, and I run CS3 and Outlook and lots of other apps on Windows just fine without instability or sluggishness and my computer is running Vista ultimate on a much slower processor than the refurb Dell.

cmason · August 26, 2008

Pupator wrote:

Here's the specs for the $1300 iMac.
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
24-inch glossy widescreen display
1GB memory
320GB hard drive
8x SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB memory
Built-in iSight Camera

So you drop from 3GB of RAM to 1.
You drop from a Quad Core to a Dual Core
You drop from 500GB to 320GB (SATA 1, not 2)

You add a nice 24" monitor

And you pay $861 more. What exactly is comparable about that? Can you really not get a nice monitor for less than $861?

Don't get me wrong - iMacs are lovely. But there's nothing comparable here. If you want to pay several hundred extra dollars for the Apple "experience," that's fine too - but admit what you're paying for.

Oh, and I run CS3 and Outlook and lots of other apps on Windows just fine without instability or sluggishness and my computer is running Vista ultimate on a much slower processor than the refurb Dell.

Yeah, well I debated a long time. In the end, I got a good PC, that can run Mac OS X as a free bonus. Don't get that with the Dell, but then, you may not want it..up to you.

Also, I didn't want an Inspiron, I wanted an XPS, they are typically faster and quieter. I have had both, so that is my experience. So it wasnt an $800 difference. YMMV.

Frankly, for me, it was the 24" IPS monitor, that was why I did it. An extra 2GB of memory cost me $40, so that wasn't an issue. It came down to about the same money, not $800 more. Check out 24" IPS monitors (Apple Cinema, Dell (30" only) and others..they are not cheap. (only the 24" iMac has this monitor)

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides/s-ips-lcd-list.php

If you don't want IPS, then you won't pay as much. But....I LOVE that monitor!

Ric Grupe · August 26, 2008

The iMac is tempting...but it has a Glossy screen. :puke

cmason · August 26, 2008

Ric Grupe wrote:

The iMac is tempting...but it has a Glossy screen. :puke

Yep, that is why I bought the older model, it isnt glossy, but sadly, they are not available from the apple refurb store now. Although, to be honest, my Dad has the glossy model, and I don't really notice it.

Rene` · August 26, 2008

Thank you all
For all of your input. I am still feeling insecure. Mostly about a monitor choice.
I just want to get something that is going to give me reliable results with color management.

I have an Inspiron 6400 laptop now and I am extremely pleased with my processing from SmugMug.

I want to really know what I need in a Monitor. I have a 15.4 incch monitor now. I really don't need a 24" but I'd like a bit better.

Pupator · August 27, 2008

I love my Dell 20" flat panel. I don't know if it's IPS or not (doubtful), but I find the colors to be very good and the lighting to be quite even. I think I paid $220 for it?

My Viewsonic 20" is good, but not as good as the Dell. It tends towards a blue tint and gives a little bit more rich (though less accurate) colors. I just do my corrections on the Dell and leave the pallets on the ViewSonic.

I think the least expensive IPS monitor (if that matters to you) that's easy to find is an Apple Refurb 20" for $499. I suspect most monitor purists around here will recommend you go that route (not because it's Apple but because it's IPS).

kini62 · August 28, 2008

Either the Gateway or Dell 24" would be fine and are really nice for the money. Check out the reviews. Especially good for the Gateway.

If Apple made a single chip, mid-tower I would likely go that route when I upgrade, but alas they do not and are not likely to in the future.

So......

Currently $750 gets you a Gateway with a quadcore AMD Phenom with 6Gbs RAM, 640Gb HD, DL DVD drive, AMD 3450 256mb video card with Vista 64 bit, to take advantage of the ram.

Add the Gateway 24" for $470 and you come to $1220.

Way more RAM, 2X the HD space (room for additional drives in the case, better video card that you can upgrade, DVD drive that can be ugraded when BluRay comes down in price, quadcore processor that PS and video editing programs can take advantage of, you can change the monitor at any time, etc.....

All for the same price as the base 24" iMac.

But if you really want to pay a LOT more for the OSX experience then get an iMac.

Gene

Pupator · August 28, 2008

Personally, I would avoid AMD chips for the current generation. Intel seems to be smoking them right now.

dangin · August 29, 2008

i almost pulled the trigger on a new computer but ended up buying some new strobes instead. however, this is what i was eyeing:

Dell XPS 420
Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Processor Q9300 (6MB Cache,2.50GHz,1333FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz
500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
16X CD/DVD burner (DVD+/-RW) w/double layer write capability
ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 128MB
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy
Hauppauge HVR1250 Hybrid TV Tuner and Remote
Media Reader

The video card was going to be replaced with an 8800GT w/ dual DVI (newegg) and I was going to pair my current Samsung 22" LCD w/ a second one. It came to right around $1700 for everything if I remember right. Unfortunately one of my strobes kicked the bucket so I ended up upgrading my lighting this year rather than next year. Oh well...

Blackwood · September 1, 2008

Last month I built a new PC. Main components: Quad Core 2.5GHz, 8GB of DDR-2 (hey, at 100 bucks for 4GB, why not max the thing out?), 750GB SATA-II 16MB hard drive, ATi Radeon HD4800. Total cost was about $1000.

It runs pretty well minus a few... inconsistencies with Windows XP-x64.

Grumpy_one · September 1, 2008

Blackwood wrote:

Last month I built a new PC. Main components: Quad Core 2.5GHz, 8GB of DDR-2 (hey, at 100 bucks for 4GB, why not max the thing out?), 750GB SATA-II 16MB hard drive, ATi Radeon HD4800. Total cost was about $1000.

It runs pretty well minus a few... inconsistencies with Windows XP-x64.

I've been thinking about a new system with 64bit XP just for the added ram. What kind of problems are you having?

Blackwood · September 1, 2008

Mostly drivers. It loses my video drivers every once in a while, for example (I'll boot fresh and it comes up in 8-bit color with low resolution).

Pupator · September 1, 2008

Grumpy_one wrote:

I've been thinking about a new system with 64bit XP just for the added ram. What kind of problems are you having?

I'm sure no one wants to hear it, but Vista 64-bit screams on my machines. There was no driver for an older document scanner I have, but other than that everything's great.

Ric Grupe · September 1, 2008

dangin wrote:

Media Reader

Dell's built-in media reader is garbage...build one without it and get an external reader...my SanDisk reader is 6 times faster than the one on my XPS 420. Otherwise a very nice box.:D

I am ready for a new PC

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