Episode #2 – Criteria for purchasing a “home/personal” computer
In the past month or two I have had to purchase 3 personal computers for me and my family. Ok HAD to is a bit strong in one case, but my wife and my mom’s computers both died horrible deaths so they HAD to be replaced and well I kinda wanted a netbook and fell into some “found” money to do it with, so there… Also in my “real” job I am a “computer guy” so everyone in the office comes to me to ask what they should get for home. A co-worker and myself have come up with the following criteria…
- NOT A CELERON OR SEMPRON processor!
- Windows 7 64 bit edition (unless a netbook, then Windows 7 starter edition)
- $500 or less (perhaps $600 in select cases)
- Plan on it lasting 3 years then replacing… (this is why we don’t buy all the extra upgrades)
Listen to Episode #2 of “Moment to Ponder” to get all my insights and reasoning behind these choices.
[display_podcast]
EDIT:
I’m adding some product links to give you ideas, if you buy them through these links I’ll get a couple bucks, don’t feel obligated to feed my family.
- See a decent laptop for less than $500 Acer Aspire AS5251-1805 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
- Ok a laptop just a bit more than $500 Gateway NV53A11u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black)
- Desktop Gateway SX2300-01u Desktop – Black
- Really cheap yet decent desktop eMachines EL1352-03 Desktop (Black)
- The same netbook I bought… so sweet HP Mini 110-3130nr 10.1-Inch Netbook – Up to 9.5 Hours of Battery Life (Black)
- Dropbox online backup 2GB free www.dropbox.com
Good show Brian. Do you have a recommendation on a back-up program for my external HDD that didn’t come with software. It is the external HDD that was sent to me with the recovered files from my laptop explosion last October. I drag and drop now, but would love a sync program like on my old 30 gig WD external.
Added a link for Dropbox – 2GB free, nice sync program. I am now using it for files I want to save and share between my netbook and laptop.
Check it out http://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTEyNTY3NDM5OQ
Try http://www.fbackup.com/
I have never used this software but it gets good reviews.
Also try a online backup solution, like Mozy.com . They give you 2GB for free and “unlimited” for ~$60 per year, $110 for 2 years. If your information is that important having 2 solutions, one readily available (USB) and one offsite (mozy or similar) is a good idea.
Added product links
Be careful if you get a netbook. Some of them are coming with Windows 7 Starter Edition which does not support changing the wallpaper (meh) or dvd playback (wtf?). I’m sure there’s hacks for both of these but might be something to think about if you’re not the adventurous type.
Wow, I never noticed the wallpaper thing! Apparently there are hacks around this but I guess I just never tried to change it.
I did know about DVD playback but since none of the netbooks have DVD players I guess it just wasn’t a priority to me. Most of the time I would either play streaming content or downloaded content.
Great heads up though on the limitations, as I just thought it was the Aero interface that was disabled.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by WendyNC, WendyNC, WendyNC, WendyNC, WendyNC and others. WendyNC said: @senorbarrigas Helpful information for buying a new computer: http://bit.ly/bSwYIt #momenttoponder […]