Is this a decent computer?

[cassanova]

My campus is selling some computers. On paper this one looks pretty decent and is definitely better than what I have now. But the next computer I buy has to be able to record music, play games, and do all the other things I need it to do, MS Office, watch movies, etc etc.

It's a Dell.

DBOT #15244 (dunno what a dbot # is.)
OS: Windows XP
80 gig hard drive
2.8 ghz processor
1 gig memory.

I'm not sure if it has a dvd burner or just a regular cd burner in the drive, I'll find that out tomorrow. But is this capable of doing many things, especially handling the music recording? I'm also thinking its a pretty damn good deal at $120.

I'm not a computer guru so if you all can also inform me of other things I need to ask about it, then I will ask them tomorrow when I go up to the campus.

[vindy500]

nah its crap, if americas computer prices are like there bass prices, (ridiculously low) you should be able to do better than that

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Any way of getting the model number?

Things like the Bus speed and what type (generation) of processor may determine how old the system is and if it's worth it.

For games, you may want to find out if it has a video card, or if the graphics are built into the motherboard. If it's the later, don't bother.

The model number will let you know the complete specs.

[hbarcat]

Originally Posted by cassanova

Is this a decent computer?

1) If you have to ask this, then the answer is NO.

2) Even if the answer is YES, by the time you post this question and receive a reply, the answer will be NO.

[ThatGermanDude]

It'll run fine. I don't think you'd be able to run the newest games on it though, or even last years games. For the price I think it is a decent deal. Office will be no problem, recording should be okay for the occasional idea too.

It looks pretty similar to our home pc from the stats you posted, so that's what I'm basing all this on.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by cassanova

My campus is selling some computers. On paper this one looks pretty decent and is definitely better than what I have now. But the next computer I buy has to be able to record music, play games, and do all the other things I need it to do, MS Office, watch movies, etc etc.

It's a Dell.

DBOT #15244 (dunno what a dbot # is.)
OS: Windows XP
80 gig hard drive
2.8 ghz processor
1 gig memory.

I'm not sure if it has a dvd burner or just a regular cd burner in the drive, I'll find that out tomorrow. But is this capable of doing many things, especially handling the music recording? I'm also thinking its a pretty damn good deal at $120.

I'm not a computer guru so if you all can also inform me of other things I need to ask about it, then I will ask them tomorrow when I go up to the campus.

Add a gig of Ram (or more if it'll take it) and up size the hard drive (if you want to store much music on it). Both |RAM and Hard Drives are cheap. Most likely being a Dell it has video sharing system RAM, so for any serious gaming, you'll want to eventually go to an add on video card and disable the on board. Definitly worth $120.00

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by rcarraher

Add a gig of Ram (or more if it'll take it) and up size the hard drive (if you want to store much music on it). Both |RAM and Hard Drives are cheap. Most likely being a Dell it has video sharing system RAM, so for any serious gaming, you'll want to eventually go to an add on video card and disable the on board. Definitly worth $120.00

+1

Keep in mind that the older GX270 series have a capacitor problem on the motherboard. Two capacitors fail on older machines causing the computer not to start up. The caps are cheap (about $1:00 ea). Its a problem with that series only though. Earlier GX260 and later GX280 series don't seem to have that problem.

$120 is not a bad price and Dells are easy to upgrade.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

While it's a bit old, and the specs aren't all that great, it's still better than any of my many computers . The HDD is tiny though, but externals are the way to go anyway.

Two important things though, I don't play any games and exept for the hard drives, I don't pay anything for my computers. They are sort of hand downs from people who are much more into PC stuff than I am.

The OS licence may not matter to most folks, but a legal OS is a nice thing to have.
OTOH, an educational OS licence may not be valid in domestic use.

Regards
Sam

[vindy500]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

$120 is not a bad price and Dells are easy to upgrade.

since when? half of them dont even come with graphic cards slots

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

1) If you have to ask this, then the answer is NO.

I ask because I don't know much about computers. I know the one I'm on at here at home is definitely obsolete. Pentium III 863 mhz, 256 memory, 20 gig hard drive. So to me, the one I'm asking about looks like it can do anything I want it to. I'm trying to make sure it can before I waste money.

Originally Posted by ThatGermanDude

It'll run fine. I don't think you'd be able to run the newest games on it though, or even last years games. For the price I think it is a decent deal. Office will be no problem, recording should be okay for the occasional idea too.

The computer's going to be used for more than recording the occasional idea. It's going to record, mix, etc, and entire project, and I do want the project to have professional sounding recording. My brother's hooking me up with all the top notch software that he uses for his recordings, so this computers ability to hold all the software and record the music without lagging is my primary concern.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by vindy500

since when? half of them dont even come with graphic cards slots

What models are you talking about?

I own a Dimension 5100. My nephew has a slightly newer version 510.

My university has GX260, 270, 280 and over 130 of the newest versions. I've rebuilt several Dells and they all had graghics card slots (not all had seperate graphics cards). Many used the on board graphics. Upgrading ram, hard drive, adding graphics and sound cards are not that difficult. I also added microscope imaging hardware and software without much fuss.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by cassanova

I ask because I don't know much about computers. I know the one I'm on at here at home is definitely obsolete. Pentium III 863 mhz, 256 memory, 20 gig hard drive. So to me the other one looks like it'd be much better.

Yours is definitely a bit on the ancient side. I'm surprised you can get all your software to work properly. Do you use any new software?

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

Yours is definitely a bit on the ancient side. I'm surprised you can get all your software to work properly. Do you use any new software?

What I have in this dinosaur now as per the control panel's add/remove programs are:

Adobe Flash Player Active X
Adobe Flash Player Plug In
CA Anti Virus & Spyware
Easy CD Creator 5
Gimp 2.66
Java 6 (Update 14)
Limewire 5.1.3
Logitech Quick Cam
Logitech Camera Driver
MS Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP
MS Office Enterprise 2007 (which is corrupt and the comps not reading the disk for me to repair, reinstall, or uninstall. I continually get a message midway through the installation saying "MS Office has encountered a problem during the installation and needs to shut down)
MS Rise of Nations (which I uninstalled, but is still showing in my control panel.)
MS User-mode driver framework feature pack 1.0
MS C++ 2005 redistributable
Firefox
MSMXL 4.0 SP2 (KB954430)
MSMXL 4 Parser
Winamp
IE 8
Windows media player format 11 runtime
Windows media player 11
Yahoo Messenger.

I also have a lot of the Automatic updates that MS does.

I tried to roll windows media player 11 back to version 9 but it wont let me do that either. here is also one major issue with this comp too. Last time I reformatted I had to create a partition. So there is one functional XP on it and one that is corrupt and will not boot at all. I'm sure this has something to do with some of the glitches and what not.

Im not sure what some of these programs do either like:

MS User-mode driver framework feature pack 1.0
MS C++ 2005 redistributable
Firefox
MSMXL 4.0 SP2 (KB954430)
MSMXL 4 Parser
MS Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP

So if you guys can also help me get rid of things I don't need in this I'd also appreciate that too.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

+1

Keep in mind that the older GX270 series have a capacitor problem on the motherboard. Two capacitors fail on older machines causing the computer not to start up. The caps are cheap (about $1:00 ea). Its a problem with that series only though. Earlier GX260 and later GX280 series don't seem to have that problem.

$120 is not a bad price and Dells are easy to upgrade.

Hey, Hawaii was that the model with the 10V caps? Should have been 12V or higher?

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by cassanova

What I have in this dinosaur now as per the control panel's add/remove programs are:

Adobe Flash Player Active X
Adobe Flash Player Plug In
CA Anti Virus & Spyware
Easy CD Creator 5
Gimp 2.66
Java 6 (Update 14)
Limewire 5.1.3
Logitech Quick Cam
Logitech Camera Driver
MS Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP
MS Office Enterprise 2007 (which is corrupt and the comps not reading the disk for me to repair, reinstall, or uninstall. I continually get a message midway through the installation saying "MS Office has encountered a problem during the installation and needs to shut down)
MS Rise of Nations (which I uninstalled, but is still showing in my control panel.)
MS User-mode driver framework feature pack 1.0
MS C++ 2005 redistributable
Firefox
MSMXL 4.0 SP2 (KB954430)
MSMXL 4 Parser
Winamp
IE 8
Windows media player format 11 runtime
Windows media player 11
Yahoo Messenger.

I also have a lot of the Automatic updates that MS does.

I tried to roll windows media player 11 back to version 9 but it wont let me do that either. here is also one major issue with this comp too. Last time I reformatted I had to create a partition. So there is one functional XP on it and one that is corrupt and will not boot at all. I'm sure this has something to do with some of the glitches and what not.

Im not sure what some of these programs do either like:

MS User-mode driver framework feature pack 1.0
MS C++ 2005 redistributable
Firefox
MSMXL 4.0 SP2 (KB954430)
MSMXL 4 Parser
MS Compression Client Pack 1.0 for Windows XP

So if you guys can also help me get rid of things I don't need in this I'd also appreciate that too.

Be careful removing any MS software. In fact I wouldn't remove any Microsoft programs as it may adversely effect your operating system.

MSMXL 4.0 SP2 refers to MS Service Packs for the OS which provides specific operational and security updates for the Operating System. I believe the lastest Service Pack is SP3

Firefox is a web browsing program.

C++ is a computer programming language that allows you to write code in that language on your computer. You may need to use it if you boot up in DOS mode.

Some older programs are no longer supported once you upgrade, that may be the case with Windows Media Player.

Both my brothers are IT specialists at the local university. I can run this by them tommorow.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by rcarraher

Hey, Hawaii was that the model with the 10V caps? Should have been 12V or higher?

Yep! Changed them to 1000uf 15V caps. Same happens with certain model flat panel monitors. Same value caps too.

[cassanova]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

Both my brothers are IT specialists at the local university. I can run this by them tommorow.

I appreciate that.

My brother is very good with computers also and he was advising me to buy a bare bones system and working from there. He told me something about Windows doesn't recognize anything over 3 gig of memory or something to that effect. I haven't gotten around to researching those as of yet, but plan to very soon.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by cassanova

I appreciate that.

My brother is very good with computers also and he was advising me to buy a bare bones system and working from there. He told me something about Windows doesn't recognize anything over 3 gig of memory or something to that effect. I haven't gotten around to researching those as of yet, but plan to very soon.

I did that to take the place of my Micron computer after the motherboard died for the 3rd time. Its actually fun to build a system from a bare bones. You can customize it the way you want.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

Yep! Changed them to 1000uf 15V caps. Same happens with certain model flat panel monitors. Same value caps too.

Its been happening for damn near 40 years that I have been working on this stuff, and my bets with much longer than that. The engineers put small voltage filter caps in a circuit cause they ar $.02 cent cheaper than the next voltage up. Since its a filter cap, voltage only matter as for what voltage you are trying to clamp the line to. They cut it too fine, and the cap dies. I've been upgrading/fixing this circuit forever in everything from dot matrix printers and dumb terminals to high end TV's and monitors and servers.

[Hawaii Islander]

Originally Posted by rcarraher

Its been happening for damn near 40 years that I have been working on this stuff, and my bets with much longer than that. The engineers put small voltage filter caps in a circuit cause they ar $.02 cent cheaper than the next voltage up. Since its a filter cap, voltage only matter as for what voltage you are trying to clamp the line to. They cut it too fine, and the cap dies. I've been upgrading/fixing this circuit forever in everything from dot matrix printers and dumb terminals to high end TV's and monitors and servers.

They're pretty easy to spot too. They either bulge at the top or leak electrolyte. Taking the monitors apart is a pain though. Same model has several different build configurations.