I'am looking to upgrade my old L550 Dimension Dell with a newer Dell this old puter is 5 years old so its time for a newer one. My current puter has a Pentium III processor and I think it has 550mhz and 254megs or ram I think the hard drive is 10gig. How much faster will a Dell 4700 which I'am looking at be compared to what I have now.

What I use the computer for is general use and internet etc I'am not into gaming but I do like to listen to music and if the computer is able to play DVD vidoes would be great. I don't need anything high power but I think anything will be better than what I have now.

As for screens what will work the best my current screen is a old style it measures 13.5"s diagonally from the corner of the screen. The newer puters come with a 17" monotor is that large enough. I read the digital screens are not good for video. I don't really need the high contrast that the digital screens are supposed to have. My computer desk has lots of room for a standard monotor.

As for a CD burner I'am I better off with one that burns DVDs and CDs or one that just plays DVDs and burns CDs at a higher speed. I was told writable DVDs are very expensive. I use CDs for data and music I thought the DVD burner may come in handy but I don't know if it would be worth having. I don't have a video camera I don't even have a digital camera yet

I have had good success with the Dell so I think I will buy another one I never needed to phone for help with this one.

So is the Dell 4700 a good unit for a basic user like me my neighbours have just bought a 8400 but I don't want to spend 2 grand plus. I do know I need to upgrade soon my current puter is starting to crap out on me after 5 years the life span is up.

I don't think many programs run on win 98 anymore this current puter isn't strong enough to run XP. I will keep this old computer and clean everything out of it and keep it for a word processor for business use and won't do nothing but company billing. If I take all the extra programs out of it the thing should work good for word processing and regain some of its memory space back.

Any ideas

Thanks

 

I'd actually look into a vaio, I hate sony but they make good pcs. The Dell is nice, but they are only intel. I refuse to buy a product the supports machine tagging, and machine licensed software. The intel chips are optimized for windows XP, (so are some of the AMD chips, but the AMD chips run equally well under linux.) I had also had some issues with the intel chips I didn't have with comporable amd chips. I'm willing to bet your current system is a lot more able than you think. It's at least an 800mhz system, and at most you need a new hdd and video card. Not really any big deal. Both of those items combined should be less than $300. Install the new HDD first (use the CD that is supplied in the box to transfer all the exsisting stuff from the old one to the new one.) and the upgrade to XP after everything is installed. You can then install your new video card as well.. You have plenty of RAM to run XP (although I recomend at least 512mb.), and chances are plenty of processor too. My 533mhz celeron plays DVDs flawlessly so there is no reason your older computer shouldn't

 

i have a 1.5 yr old dimension 4600, 2.6GhZ P4 HT 800MhZ front side bus. its a great machine and still runs just as well as the day i got it...

I will never buy another dell.... here is why:

on christmas day my power supply fried. I had to call dell to order a new one, they wanted to charge me $50 for a refurbished 250w power supply and wait almost a month for it. I bought a brand new 350w from staples for $10 less and had it the next day.

but the thing that got me was the tech support. they used to have the best tech support in the world. But they oursourced ALL of their tech support to india. I think I was talking to Apu's wife.

when i got my first Dell the farthest out of the US i was trasfered was Canada. I hate when companies do that cus its cheapper... these people dont know crap about computers and they are obviously readding everyhting from a script.

I was told by someone I know that if you are looking for a really good computer look at the HP media PCs with the AMD 64bit chips in them.

My next computer will probably be an HP.

 

If you are not into any kind of games, i would opt for an LCD monitor, as you can get some of them for a good price now and they sure do take up less room then a CRT screen. I have a "home" built PC with an AMD 2.6 gig processor, 80 gig HD, 512 megs of ram that my oldest son built. If I have a tech problem, I go to him.
As for your older pc, buy a router and network the two. Routers are cheap plus they have a firewall capability. I networked my two for less than 70 dollars.
My older PC is a Gateway and I had really good luck out of it after I got rid of ME and put XP on it. Gateway has great tech support also, or they did when I used them. I did reformat the Gateway before I networked the two and that machine runs great now.
Just my 5 cents worth.

 

Thanks for the replies

The one thing I like about the Dell is I can order it online and its sent to me this area is pretty rural no big chain stores I can go look at computers. I will have to think about this some more because all said and done a new puter will probably cost 1700 dollars CND.

The reason why I want to get a new one is this old one is so full of old stuff etc you know how they get corrupted etc from things added and removed. Plus I want something new to work with I don't know if I will see blazing fast speed with a newer computer but it must be like going from a push along reel mower to a 18 horse riding mower

 

If you have an option for a dual layer DVD burner get it, then you will be on top of the technology. They are cheap. Dual layer, internal drives are going for less than $100.00 here in canada and I bought a 100 pack of DVD-R discs (single layer) for $34.00. so they are definitely not expensive. A dual layer drive will burn single layer discs.

 

We've got two 3000's at home, one a P4 2.6Gz, the other with a Celeron 2.4Gz. both w/512 mb RAM, CD/DVD, 17" flat panel screens, etc. Paid somewhere around $700 USD for each (wife gets an education discount through Dell). I'm typing on a new 4700C at the office with a 3Gz processor, but I really can't tell the difference in performance/speed between the three machines, even though this one was over twice as expensive. It does have a 19" flat panel screen, which is a little easier on these middle-aged eyes of mine.

The biggest difference between the new machine and the old Dell upstairs is the operating system- XP seems to be pretty crash-proof. The kids notice their games are faster on the new machines compared to the old one, but there isn't a big difference for what I use them for (internet, email, etc)

My wife swears by her Apple, but that's a whole 'nuther story.

 

As for internet and email use...you won't see a difference in speed on the machines. I do know that my newer machine, which is outdated now, loads the stuff I play, like Flight Simulator 2004 and Train Simulator twice as fast as my older machine, which has a Pent III 1 gig processor. I do know that if Kenworth reformats his older machine and reinstalls Win 98, he will see a difference in the way it runs.

 

as far as your 500mhz p3 running slow, its not the computer its the software, wipe that crap away. if you have the dell disks put xp or windows 2k on it, it will handle it. format the hard drive clean and start fresh, it will be a whole new computer. i have a p3 400mhz with 256mb of ram running windows 2k and ill tell you what, my computer is faster than my dads 2.4ghz, he dont know how to keep it clean, dont install a bunch of crap on it and watch for spyware and viruses. as for what you are doing, a 2.5ghz would be more than enough. i would also advise on a lcd screen if your not gaming, they are a lot more clearer and you dont have to mess with sizing the screen and will fit on any desktop.

 

Okay I decided to spec out a 8400 here is what I chose

Pentium 4 540 3.2Ghz
Windows XP Home edit
512 Dual Channel Memory
17" Ultra sharp Digital display
128mb PCI express Video Card
160GB Hard drive
Dual drive 16xDVD-ROM 16x DVD +/-RW

Total price 1568 CND before taxes with tax its 1700 dollars which is expensive but I think it is worth it heck if it lasts me 5 years its 340 dollars a year.

I don't know if a 8400 is more than I need or not I wish I could try my neighbours computer when I house sat for them but they took their tower with them to get some stuff added to it.

Should I spec a 4700 or do you think the 8400 is good ?

 

Kenworth, I'm in BC too and don't have any big computer stores closeby so a couple years ago I ordered a Dell. It's an 8250 which would be about equivalent to an 8400 now. Shortly after I got it the video card died. I had it diagnosed before I called tech support which was in India. That didn't impress me much but the person I talked to was ok. In 2 days I had the new video card at the door. I installed it and haven't had any more problems. They would have sent someone to install the card but I figured it was just quicker and easier if I did it myself.
A year ago my wife got a 4700 and it's been very good. I don't remember why, but she called tech support once too and it was in India again. They solved her problem pretty quickly.
My wife got a 19" flat panel monitor and I like it way better than my 17" flat panel. If I was doing it again I'd spend the extra $100 and upgrade to the 19" E193FP.

 

Truthfully, the best thing to do is build one yourself, or tell a reputable shop what you intend to do with the computer, and let them build you one. Production computers are generally built with only one thing in mind: profit. They all use the cheapest components they can get at a given time in order to prop up the bottom line.

 

I ran up a 3000:
P4 3G, 800FSB
XP pro
1GB dual chan DDR SDRAM @400MHz
15 flat
80GB HD
3.5 floppy
dual cd dvd
basic speakers
business sw ($251!)
4 year all coverage

It came to 1390 yesterday, and today it came up to 1500 something.

I tried to do up an 8400 similarly and came to $2142 and a 4700 came to $1963.

It seems like an optioned up 3000 should be good, but Dell rates them lower than the others for everything.

I gotta sleep on it again.....

Better minds please help me, hellllllppppp meeeeeeeeeeee. And Kenworth too.

 

ok this is what i came up with based on what i would choose for a system:

dell dimension 3000
p4 3ghz 800fsb
xp home
3 year warranty - phone and in house(dont really need 4 years)
512mb DDR Ram
80gb harddrive
Dual Drives: 48x CD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
3.5in floppy
19in crt monitor(same price, better)
Dell A425 Speakers w/Subwoofer
Dell Quietkey Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
Microsoft Office Small Business - Includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint ($251!!)

$1130 - this system will be more than you need and is still cheap. i even opted for the subwoofer, optical mouse, etc. there were only like $8 more each and well worth it. without office, its a $800 system, thats awesome for what you get.

 

IMHO, dump the MS Office. I wouldn't pay $250.00 for it when I can use OpenOffice for free, and its compatible with M$ file formats.