Any Video Card recomendations?

[jacobdrj]

It's a better system for those not wanting to tweak it through their own file manipulation. I have heard from two people now who are great with computers that it's not a system for more advanced users.

I don't really understand why they said that to you.

Windows 7 generally has the same 'advanced tweaks', so long as you have the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise. The Starter, Home and Home Premium are less configurable, but so is XP Home.

Where a year ago I would still recommend people stick with XP (Vista was SOOOOO bad) I can't recommend it any longer. It is too prone to viruses, and is just not as functional as Windows 7. XP is slower, less responsive, more prone to glitches and viruses. Unless you have a printer or something that is XP only, I would HIGHLY recommend before you get too comfortable with your rig that you upgrade.

I even put W7 on netbooks.

But either way, congrats on the new system.

Don't forget to put MSE on and take of McAfee/Norton...

[Wild Cobra]

Windows 7 generally has the same 'advanced tweaks', so long as you have the Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise. The Starter, Home and Home Premium are less configurable, but so is XP Home.

I have been using XP for some time at both home and work. I have had very few stability issues. I'm not ready to give up a known good.

Actually, I'll consider your words. The disks that came with this computer are Windows 7 Professional. I do like the XP Professional though. I'll just have to play with my younger daughter's new laptop sometime and see if it limits what I want to do, talk to mu father about his system, and a coworker first.

Where a year ago I would still recommend people stick with XP (Vista was SOOOOO bad) I can't recommend it any longer. It is too prone to viruses, and is just not as functional as Windows 7. XP is slower, less responsive, more prone to glitches and viruses. Unless you have a printer or something that is XP only, I would HIGHLY recommend before you get too comfortable with your rig that you upgrade.

I may have a printer that doesn't work with it. I am getting a Epson Stylus CX7800 we bought for my daughters system years ago. The reason I want to continue to use this is it has true 2400 x 2400 scanning, and a bracket and backlight for scanning 35 mm negatives. the scanned files in bmp format are around 20 megabytes. Nice resolution. I have not seen negative scanning equipment for some time now. Window's 7 Compatability Center says it's compatible, but could there be issues?

Don't forget to put MSE on and take of McAfee/Norton...

Well, Norton is a resource hog, but I get it free with my Comcast cable internet. It has operated flawlessly on the other two systems in the house. Again, I'll stick with what I know works.

[xellos88330]

I have 7 Ultimate and it is rocking at the moment. No problems and ease of use so far. I wasn't looking forward to it because of the Vista debacle. It has proven to be quite good for me.

[DMX7]

It's a better system for those not wanting to tweak it through their own file manipulation. I have heard from two people now who are great with computers that it's not a system for more advanced users.

I tweaked my Windows XP massively (including turning off most of the services to save ram and clock cycles). Windows 7 doesn't need tweaking because it's fundamentally more efficient. It just does so much more, I can't imagine anyone who has used it thinking that XP tweaked or untweaked would be better. That's just doesn't make any sense.

[MannyIsGod]

Dude I paid 50 bucks more for a laptop with better specs than what you got and you got a desktop?

[Wild Cobra]

Dude I paid 50 bucks more for a laptop with better specs than what you got and you got a desktop?

Must be stolen then.

Your laptops video card will go 2560 x 1600?

Came with Windows 7 professional?

better than Dual core 2.8 GHZ and 3 Gbytes

Just $50 more?

I say bull , unless you bought stolen goods.

[MannyIsGod]

LOL I bought it online at staples so I'm pretty sure its not stolen. You just said it came with XP, not windows 7 Pro but mine did come with Windows 7 64 home. I have an I5 processor so I'm going to give myself the edge over your core duo there.

Your Passmark CPU benchmark score is 1100 - my I5 has a 2389 score. Its not even close, really.

I have more a gig more RAM and we both have the same hard drive specs.

We both have integrated graphics so quite frankly I think they both suck ass but considering my display's native is 1366x768 I'm fine with that.

For the amount you spent I personally think you could have done much better than that.

[xellos88330]

LOL I bought it online at staples so I'm pretty sure its not stolen. You just said it came with XP, not windows 7 Pro but mine did come with Windows 7 64 home. I have an I5 processor so I'm going to give myself the edge over your core duo there.

Your Passmark CPU benchmark score is 1100 - my I5 has a 2389 score. Its not even close, really.

I have more a gig more RAM and we both have the same hard drive specs.

We both have integrated graphics so quite frankly I think they both suck ass but considering my display's native is 1366x768 I'm fine with that.

For the amount you spent I personally think you could have done much better than that.

Does your manufacturer for the laptop allow for upgrading of processor/video card?

If it doesn't, desktop will win because he won't have to buy a whole new computer to upgrade later.

If it does. What brand is it?

[Wild Cobra]

LOL I bought it online at staples so I'm pretty sure its not stolen. You just said it came with XP, not windows 7 Pro but mine did come with Windows 7 64 home.

If you followed the thread, I said it came with Windows XP Professional on the machine, and the Windows 7 Professional operating system on two DVD's.

I have an I5 processor so I'm going to give myself the edge over your core duo there.

I agree there.

Your Passmark CPU benchmark score is 1100 - my I5 has a 2389 score. Its not even close, really.

Where do you get 1100 from? I see mine at 1918. If your I5 is 2389, then it is the Intel Core i5 M 430 @ 2.27GHz. It's 24.6% faster. So what? Is the memory fast enough to use the extra benchmark speed? Mine is built as a business computer. I'll bet the memory bandwith is better on mine. Is your memory better than DDR2-800?

I have more a gig more RAM and we both have the same hard drive specs.

I can go larger but i figured 3 gigs was adaquate.

We both have integrated graphics so quite frankly I think they both suck ass but considering my display's native is 1366x768 I'm fine with that.

Yuck...
A 1440 x 900 display isn't adequate for me. I'll bet you cannot go past 1280 x 1024 or 1440 x 900 with an external monitor.

For the amount you spent I personally think you could have done much better than that.

Sure, if I didn't get one with as good of memory, or one had Windows 7 on it. A system is no better than it's weakest link. I think I'll stick with the 6400 MB/s bandwidth. What's yours?

Besides, bottom line...

I bought this system for the XP Professional. Hard to find these days.

I doubt yours is anywhere close to better. Can you put memory as fast as PC6400 in a laptop? can you drive a 2560 x 1600 monitor? Can you drive my 1920 x 1200 24" monitor?

[Wild Cobra]

Manny, mine came with the Seagate Barracuda 500 GB. SATA 3 Gb/sec. What does yours have?

Like I said, this is built as a business workstation.

Oh...

ST33500418AS benchmark

I do have a video slot if I need better than what my on-board video gives me.

[DMX7]

Yuck...
A 1440 x 900 display isn't adequate for me. I'll bet you cannot go past 1280 x 1024 or 1440 x 900 with an external monitor.

He probably has the exact same integrated graphics model as you do, so of course it can go higher than that.

[Wild Cobra]

He probably has the exact same integrated graphics model as you do, so of course it can go higher than that.

Sure, it's possible.

A laptop with only 768 display height... Ouch. I don't care what else the system can do.

Thing is, he is claiming for $50 more, he got a better system. I've seen some decent $600 laptops, but my standards make my minimum laptop around $1400.

What about the memory? Can a laptop do DDR2-800 memory speeds, and have a battery that lasts more than 30 minutes?

How about drive speed? can a laptop drive compare to the Barracuda I have?

His CPU benchmarks a little faster. It doesn't matter if you don't have the memory and drive bandwidth to keep up.

Do you think he has a better system?

[DazedAndConfused]

Eh, for nearly $550 I don't think you got much computer.

[MannyIsGod]

I sadly don't have DDR2 memory expandable to 4gb.....

I have 4gb of DDR3 memory expandable to 8gb with a 4 hour battery life.

Your hard drive is a bit faster but thats about it. That is the only component that you have that is better than what I have and I could easily upgrade that.

http://us.acer.com/acer/productv.do?...CRC=1719571399

[MannyIsGod]

Anyway - my point was not to try to go toe to toe with you on systems. You have some desktop advantages that my laptop will never have such as being able to upgrade the video card should you want to.

The point was to tell you that you paid to much for what you got and if you can take it back do so and get something better.

[Wild Cobra]

Eh, for nearly $550 I don't think you got much computer.

Please show me one for less that comes with two "professional" versions of operating systems, the 16x writer, high spec 500 GB drive, video card that goes to 2560 x 1600, and the memory bandwidth, etc.

Then remember. I specifically bought this one because I could stay with XP.

Can you show me a better choice?

[Wild Cobra]

Anyway - my point was not to try to go toe to toe with you on systems. You have some desktop advantages that my laptop will never have such as being able to upgrade the video card should you want to.

The point was to tell you that you paid to much for what you got and if you can take it back do so and get something better.

You started by saying you got a better computer for $50 more. Your opinion.

I'm curious. What is the model of your HD so i can look it up?

What is your max screen resoultion to an external monitor?

Do you have a full keyboard? (NO!)

I'm not going to take it back. What other new system can I get that has such a fast hard drive, a DVD writer twice as fast as yours, resolution to 2560 x 1600, and running on XP out of the box?

[ElNono]

WC, I thought you did ok. Basically, you got what you wanted, and even if you paid a little more, it does what you need it to do.
As far as a better deal, a cursory look finds this Acer box is probably it. Quad core, 6 gigs of RAM, 1TB HD... at $589.99, it's a pretty decent deal.
It doesn't come with XP though, and you couldn't pick it up after a short drive from home. You probably have to add shipping too.

Ultimately, the best deal is to build it yourself, once you know what you want. But then you have to also factor in how valuable is your time, and the fact that each piece has a guarantee as opposed to the entire system.

I though you got what you wanted and paid a fair price. Might not be the best deal, but I don't think it's a horrible deal either.

[Wild Cobra]

Ultimately, the best deal is to build it yourself, once you know what you want. But then you have to also factor in how valuable is your time, and the fact that each piece has a guarantee as opposed to the entire system.

I consider my time rather valuable. It was a painfully long process the last time I dealt with just the operating system aspect from scratch, and hardware drivers. I have no problem putting components together, but I don't need the software headache. I don't have the patience required.

I though you got what you wanted and paid a fair price. Might not be the best deal, but I don't think it's a horrible deal either.

I did. As for the best deal, I cannot imagine getting a better deal that meets my specifications without going mail order. If I add anything to this, it might be a BluRay burner and larger 2nd drive. For now and the foreseeable future, this does everything I need. Who knows. I may want dual monitor capability at some point, and I will buy a 2560 x 1600 or better monitor when they get cheaper.

Really though...

How many drives have the performance and price of the Seagates Barracuda? I can see getting a 1TB version, or larger when they come out. With as much as operating systems and program load, I don't have the patience for slowness. This is a sweet hard drive. The large pdf files I have load surprisingly fast. Did you open this link:

Barracuda ST3500418AS benchmark

I doubt I will ever need to upgrade the CPU. If I recall, it's a socket 775.

[DMX7]

resolution to 2560 x 1600

He has Intel HD Graphics as his integrated chip which supports that resolution and is actually slightly faster than yours.
http://software.intel.com/en-us/arti...ated-graphics/

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-G...D.23065.0.html

[Wild Cobra]

He has Intel HD Graphics as his integrated chip which supports that resolution and is actually slightly faster than yours.
http://software.intel.com/en-us/arti...ated-graphics/

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-G...D.23065.0.html

Yes, I already looked it up. Still, I'm not doing anything that requires fast video. Just high resolution. My needs:

Fast loading.

High resolution.

Reliability... lack of lock-ups.

Now I have looked at some "On Demand" programs through my cable provider, and it gives me higher quality than the HD programming to the 1080P flat screen. Doesn't miss a beat. That's probably as fast as I need the video to be.

I have...

A faster HD.

A faster DVD writer.

Proven OS.

Very nice resolution on my 24" monitor.

That Acer is weaker in my requirements.

[phyzik]

Wild Cobra, check your PM's.