Buying a Computer

[vjy chin]

Hi,
I am planning to buy a desktop. I saw many listings and found the one below to my liking.

Dell Dimension,
Intel� Pentium� 4 Processor 640 w/HT Technology (3.2GHz,800FSB) ,
1GB RAM,
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz -2DIMMs,
48x CD-RW / DVD-ROM Combo Drive,
17" Flat Panel (LCD)

with XP Professional for $762.

Any suggestions if I could go ahead with this.

Thanks

[Shaun Williams]

Im guessing that would depend on what your planning on using your computer for. I'm not american, so i'm not sure about the price but guessing that its roughly half (converting to GBP) that sounds like a pretty good deal.

[vjy chin]

Thanks for the reply. I would be using that computer for all the usual stuffs as well as work related things(j2ee development).

Thanks again.

[Shaun Williams]

What IDE do you use? I understand most modern IDEs are heavy, but NetBeans 5.0 runs noticably slowly on my 6 month old laptop, with 1GB RAM. I understand that laptops are build diffrent to desktops but its something to consider.

[vjy chin]

IDE's we use are eclipse and Oracle JDeveloper. Also thats the reason I prefer desktops more than laptops, though laptops are more convinent.

Thanks.
[ March 22, 2006: Message edited by: vjy chin ]

[Shaun Williams]

I can't speak for either of thoose IDEs but i'm guessing they wont be too much diffrence. In that case, I would say go for it, but you might like to wait for a second opinon if it means something to you.

Shaun

[Guy Allard]

Add more RAM if you can do it at a reasonable price. You can never have too much of that stuff!

Guy

[Svend Rost]

Im not much of a hardware guy, but if I were to buy a laptop I would
try to find one that was low-noise.

/Svend Rost

[Bert Bates]

Well, apart from always recommending Macs, I would say that for any computer you buy, THE MORE PIXELS THE BETTER

Seriously, recent studies have indicated that extra pixels do more than any other feature to enhance productivity...in my case, if I had a fixed budget, I'd gladly trade a little processor speed for more pixels.

hth,

Bert

[Shaun Williams]

Bert,

Intresting suggestion; by more pixels, do you mean screen Resolution, or just plain graphics power (video card etc).

I would also like to hear your view on why having 'more pixels' would offer a productivity boost.

Cheers, Shaun

[vjy chin]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Bert,

Even I would like to know why having more pixels will be helpful.

Thanks

[Ganpi Srinivasan]

Originally posted by vjy chin:
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Bert,

Even I would like to know why having more pixels will be helpful.

Thanks

DONT BUY DELL !!!
Their customer service sucks!!!

[Bert Bates]

First off, more pixels any way you can get them - so if that's one big monitor, or two monitors doing extended desktop (which might be cheaper) it doesn't matter that much.

Think of it as having a bigger desk - you can see more of your 'papers' (windows) at once. I'll have to go look up the study, but it really works. It took me a long time to talk Kathy into it, but now she's totally hooked too.

back later with more info!

Bert

[Shaun Williams]

Thanks for the update bert!

Yes, I can see how that works; I would love to have NetBeans window open with a FireFox window with the API refrence in. Ill have to consider investing in a second mointer (but not just yet, ive just been on a spending spee )

Cheers, Shaun

[Scott Selikoff]

I'd strongly recommend 2 gigs of ram for any development machine and (if you have the extra cash) a dual core processor. I run an AMD X2 and I love it.

If you don't play much games then get a budget video card, else there's a slew of expensive ones these days. Heck, even the budget ones are impressive these days. Also I strongly recommend a SATA harddrive since they are the more modern technology. And if you *really* have extra money to spend, get a WD Raptor 10k rpm drive!

Stuff like a CD/DVD drive and monitor can be purchased a later date so only get them from Dell if the combination price is a good deal.
[ March 23, 2006: Message edited by: Scott Selikoff ]

[vjy chin]

Thanks for all the help.

I have decided to get this machine now since this is the one which suits my budget and also I can get some work done.

I am also not a games person, so may be later I would go for additional RAM and Pixels.

Thanks once again guys for all your help.