New PC & OS recommendations

I am hoping the Tech Guru's out there could provide some input...

What are your thoughts on Vista? (so far I'm not sold on it and it seems like you need more DRAM >3GB vs. using NT)

What OS do your like for simple MS office use...NT or Vista? and why?

Any buy a PC from Costco? ... We have the EC membership so we can extend the warranty by two years

For a budget of $12-1400 - what would you recommend for a desk/mini tower PC (no need for monitor - we have a 37"lcd that I will use)?

below are my mini requirements...am I in la-la land for expectations based on our budget?
Processor Core Quad or greater (if possible)
L2 Cache 8Mdgor more
Beefy/Fast Graphics & Media Card
CD/DVD/ RW comp w/Lightscripe
Lots and LOTS of front inputs -USB firewire etc
HD Greater than 500GB

any thoughts of recs would be awesome - trying to do my homework before we make an impluse buy. Thanks

 

Geez Pea! 500 GB drive? How many baby pictures are you taking??

BTW $12 won't get you much of a machine, I'd lean towards the $1,400.

(I think I am feeling sarcastic today)

 

Flynn - Thanks for the input.

I am open to both building and of the shelf, hubby has built our PC's for the past 8 years. We dont have as much free time as we use to -(with the addition of lil pea) I am looking into an "of the shelf product' vs having him build one - mainly b/c our current PC is on life support and my laptop is nearly 5 years old.

Since this will be my own PC - hubby will have his own for gaming etc...I know that I am really only using it for MS Office applications w/ a little bit of graphics Quark etc.

Is it true if I plan to do video/media rich applications than the Vista OS maybe a bit easier than the XP/NT? Call me old fashion but I like the NT OS.

Thanks again for your help.

 

www.apple.com

 

LOL - too rich for my blood - trust me that was on the top of my list

 

Chez Kaos is completely converted to AlienWare laptops. The M9750 starts at $1300, but you'll need to beef it up to really get Vista running. Their customer support is good & they will finance you "on the spot."

At least check them out.

 

Only desktop...I need a work horse for MS office applications and maybe a bit for pictures.

 

my other half has found some steals on dell recently. especially in the outlet section of their website.

 

Personally I'm a big fan of Vista. I do web design (photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc) and have had no problems with it (unlike XP Pro). I use Vista at home and XP Pro at work and the problems I get with XP often make me want to pull my hair out. Vista can be annoying at times with security warnings, but the stability far far outweighs XP. I've also had no problems running any of my applications, I can't think of any offhand that I ran in XP that doesn't run in Vista. Even my 3gp video convert program to xfer video to my cell phone works, but you have to put it in XP SP2 compatibility mode.

I can't imagine why anyone would want XP over Vista at this point.

 

Another thing... a 37" monitor won't be a great choice unless it's full 1080p. If it's 1366x768, the resolution will look bad at that size. You really only need a beefy computer if you play games or process a lot of media. Normal office apps and stuff like that you can get by with a $5-800 Dell IMHO.

 

boomer - thanks for the heads up on the PC - going to check out the dell "store".
The monitor(TV) - it is 1080i (I know that p is better) but at the res it should be ok?

We moved it out of our son's nursery so I could use it. Seriously what 1 year old needs a flat screen in their room (ours of course LOL)?

thanks

 

Part of the idea I got stuck on as well was Vista 64 bit versus 32 bit. One big factor in my decision was the RAM issue. Vista 32 bit will only recognized around 3 gig of RAM, and that is all it ever can do given the limitations in 32 bit computing. Vista 64 bit I believe has a ceiling of around 16GB but motherboards are not set up for that.

Anyway, I just built a desktop and went with Vista 64 bit Home Premium and have 4 gig of RAM. I did this mostly for future capability in video editing and mastering. I want to get a HD camera soon and and I also with with a Quad core but not the most expensive.

The only concern I would have going with mainstream like Dell, HP etc. is that you are really stuck with their configurations. Now the Dell XPS line is a good choice for what you described but may be over your budget. Also, I think if you want to look a little, I would browse Best Buy - they sell Alienware I believe.

But there are quite a few good internet CA firms that sell great PCs like you want I think. Check out a few for information etc. CyberpowerPC, and ibuypower. But I would go with Vista for sure... at the end of the day, this will be around longer and is working very well now. I have had only some minor issues.

 

How old is the TV? Unless it's fairly new, more than likely a TV that size is going to be natively around 720 lines of resolution although it can accept 1080i signals. This being said you probably won't be able to display more than a 1366x768 computer display. Your manual should spell out exactly what resolution it's capable of. While that may be enough to do what you want I suspect you will find it's an awkwardly low resolution for that size of display. My 20" LCD is running at 1680x1050 for example and feels about right.

 

Yup the TV is about 6 months old - Panasonic 37" 1080p (I was wrong when I said it was an I in an earlier post)...do you think am I wrong to assume it will be much better than our Viewsonic 20" monitor?

 

In that case it won't be as bad. You should be able to get a 1920x1080 resolution out of it. If your Viewsonic is widescreen it likely has a 1680x1050 resolution so the TV will be more capable overall. I am not sure how the logistics of it would play out since a 37" is just too large to have as close to your face as you would have a 20" so it could be awkward in a typical desk environment but I really can't say for sure. Since you already have the TV, I'd recommend trying it first before considering buying anything. It could work just fine for you.

 

Geaux - good call on viewing placement - I've had it up and running for a few days...
After working upto 14+ hours daily on huge word SOP's (for my job) it does make it easier on my eyes, but I also have a HUGE desk (5+ ft long 4 feet wide).

 

pea, have you ever tried a dual-monitor setup? I have long been a fan of having two displays for added productivity. If you are going to use the 37" TV as your primary display, you might benefit from a smaller display as a secondary that you can keep closer to you. Your PC may be capable of dual output already, and you could have the doc you are editing on one display, with a reference doc on the other display, for example. Might also make it easier on your eyes to be able to switch focus from a closer monitor to one further away.

Personally I am fan of BenQ LCD's.. you can get a 20" 1680x1050 with DVI connector for $189 at Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824014168).