oldcutlass

There are some really good deals for an HP, I've seen then from $3-400 for 500g memory/1t harddrive.

citcapp

I've had good luck with used computers bought on line. Just purchased 3-Lenovo thinkpad refurbished laptops as Christmas gifts from family all three cam with 2007 Windows and work great. Just have to be sure you are working with a ligament company. For home use these work fine. My wife is using one of them and it works great. Did have to add 2 gigs of Ram to each computer at $45. each + $240.00 each for the computer.

Better then anything I could find in a store.

oldsguybry

Building your own computer is the way to go , get a motherboard package deal with a vid card , CPU , and some package deals have memory sticks installed to , so all you need is the cd tray and a power supply etc..etc.. the only thing you need to know is what internal components play nice together and which ones dont .... other then that most everything else is common sense just make sure you get good fans and plenty of them along with a good video card especially if you are going to build a computer for gaming or anything else that draw alot of resources ... and dont make the mistake of not checking on your power supply from time to time , if the fan quits working then bad things can happen ... BUY A GOOD ONE !..... if you have another computer that came with cd copy of the windows installation I think you could use it on your new computer as long as you dont go online with the old computer anymore

MDchanic

I don't think this guy: is playing a lot of games or using a lot of system resources .

- Eric

oldsguybry

Touche lol

Highwayman

My IT friend said MS keeps a record of the OS registration with a signature of the CPU and motherboard. If you reuse the OS on another PC you'll find it wiped out some day.

oldsguybry

well that sucks , cause there was no disk with the reconditioned pc I bought but there was one with the computer I bought back in 2004 , so if the motherboard goes out on the one I have now , I have to fork out another $3 or $4 hundred for another copy that dont seem right ... I could understand if your making copies of it and giving them to all your friends and then all going online

MDchanic

That's another thing that you never have to worry about with a Mac - they want your computer to work.
It looks bad for them if it doesn't.

If you're stuck with a PC, though, might I recommend Linux?
Beats spending that $300-400.

- Eric

Highwayman

Isn't that what burning a backup disk is for?


Three or four hundred dollars for Winders? How about 7 Pro OEM for $140 and Home OEM for $100.


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...22-196980878-2

chrisneu68olds

That is a true statement for the most part. Microshaft has been doing that since XP. I have never see wiping it out, but I have seen not being able to update with service packs. Considering how unstable initial releases of Windows are, might as well say that it will get wiped out.

The only ways around it is:

• Purchase a legitimate copy of Windows <-Not cheap, but legal
• Find a friend who has a Volume License Key for Windows <-Not legal, but cheap

This practice will only get worse, so be prepared to fork over money as time goes on.

chrisneu68olds

If you have a PC that has a legitimate copy of Windows (I am not sure if OEM counts), you can call MS and they will allow a couple of reinstalls if you explain to them that the original crashed and is now dead. There is a limit on how many times this can be done, but they will force you to register on the phone so that kills the prospect of loaning out copies of Windows. I think that this is at least a 'fair' business practice, but I miss the old days when there used to be VLE and cracked copies of Windows and Office everywhere.

chrisneu68olds

I agree, but is it really cost effective anymore to build your own? I have not done this in quite a while so I really don't know. It certainly used to be that way.

PC's are almost at the level of a washer or dryer to me, an appliance. You buy when you need it, you use it, and when it breaks you fix it or replace it.

Highwayman

Maybe “wiped out” isn't the best term, but somehow rendered inoperable. I have no desire to find out personally and chose not to go that route.



I've been using an OEM version for about a year now. The only difference is there is no support provided from MS because it's for a manufacturer. You become the manufacturer and do your own support.


For the most part it isn't cost effective. It depends what you want. Most folks are fine with an OTC machine. But if you want something different and have to start adding memory or extra drives or if you want 7 Pro instead of 7 Home, that's a different story. You can end up with an OTC that has far more stuff than you wanted just to get the stuff you did want at a major price. Dell will build one for you with your options but Dell isn't cost effective.


It is helpful if you have a PC to cannibalize for drives and video card to start with.

chrisneu68olds

Never had that happen to me, but I would not doubt it. I have always used VLE's.

Yeah I remember that now. Never used OEM's either.

You want to really freak out, try loading up a Mac Pro on apple.com. Fully loaded, all yours for a mere $20,000.00! Waaaayyyy more computing power than most people need...ever!

gearheads78

Just an update for everyone on this. The computer had been acting OK for about 2 months and the last week it got terrible. It would crash in less than 5min and sometimes take 30 min or longer to boot back up.

Tonight was the last straw. Took over an hour with crashed to get a simple 5 min Excell sheet made I needed to email to my work for Monday morning.

Remember my "PARTS" computer ......Well I dug it out of the garage to see if there was a hard drive in it. and there was. What could I loose? I swapped it out and I am happy to say it was already loaded up with software and I have been happily surfing the web for over an hour now.

Lady72nRob71

Cool! Hope you backed up all the important stuff from the old HD.
Did you install firefox as a browser to rid the annoying ads?

oldsguybry

I myself just got a new computer . The only threat I discovered so far is my kids and wife using it I ended up getting a Norton / Malware Bytes package deal installed on it . I gotta get rid of some of this extra computer stuff that's piling up now .

gearheads78

I saved everything a few months ago when I started this. As for firefox I didn't have to. That was already on this HD