Anybody got a good link or the basic knowledge to be able to explain the difference in the different types of processors on computers. I may be looking for a second computer, but I don't need a bunch of bells and whistles on it. It seems the computers with Intel Celeron (there's another Intel as well, just can't remember the name) are much cheaper than the one's with the Pentium 3's and 4's. So what's the difference? BTW, all I need this computer for is Microsoft Office, Quicken, and internet. That's it. Thanks guys.
Normally the site How Stuff Works gives a pretty good explanation of things, but they fall a little short on this explanation, although it gives you the basics: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question268.htm Basically the Celeron processor is going to run at a slower speed and have a smaller amount of on-board cache memory than the full blown Pentium processor. If you are doing CAD work, heavy graphics or audio processing, or extreme gaming, then the full Pentium chip would be the way to go. However, for the tasks you outlined the Celeron chip will do just fine. I'd spend a little more on memory (512MB to 1GB) which will give you more performance gains for those types of programs than a hotter processor.
chuck, check out newegg.com and tigerdirect.com . i built a friend a new pc this weekend for less than 400 bux. p4 2.53 ghz, 512 mb corsair ram, gigabyte mobo, 80 gb hd..
I just checked out tigerdirect.com. What are you suggesting, buy a "barebone" system and add to it? Got one you would suggest? Also, none of the systems said anything about an operating system.
well, i had a nice long reply to your question chuck. but the board went down and i lost it. anyway, barebones are ok. thats a hell of a deal DL has too. where you getting that at DL?
Dell's prices are hard to beat as DL said on a preconfigured PC with the OS already loaded and delivered to your door. One thing to watch on Dell - they make up the low pricing on the "shipping and handling" side of things a lot of the time. They often charge $95 to ship a system UPS Ground. It really shouldn't cost more than about $25 - $30, even with a 17" CRT monitor. One way around this (which you can only do if you are calling in your order...no way to do it on the web order screen) is to use your own UPS or Fedex shipping account if you have one. When you order, tell them you want it shipped on your account and give them the number. Then, only the ACTUAL amount of shipping gets charged to you. I once had a Dell order in for 10 PC's (no monitors!). Was getting them for $268 each, which was a deal. But they tried to charge $95 per PC for shipping!!! Using our own shipping account I think it cost around $250 instead of an extra thousand that Dell would have charged.
Not a bad idea. Especially when, for some reason, I see XP PRO installs from the factory from Dell using FAT32 for the file system instead of NTFS! Never have been able to figure out their logic with that one!
So, for a non computer geek like me that would probably screw it up anyway, that Dell deal sounds pretty sweet. As I said, I'm not looking for bells and whistles and I don't care if I patronize "the Man", so it sounds like the best bet would be to get a bottom line retail computer like a Dell. I'll be honest, it's worth the extra bucks for me. And dlock, one of these days I'm going to hire you for a weekend crash course in Linux and take the plunge, I just need to find more time. As always, thanks for the offer.
