Advice? Reviews? Opinions?

[averygoodun42]

Geoff and I are figuring that our next major purchase, assuming nothing breaks in the house, will be a computer. One that doesn't take two to five minutes to think about opening any program, let alone completing a request/order.

We are not gamers (except for crosswords and the like), so we're not looking at high-end stuff. My main requirements are that the computer can run firefox, open office/Word and gimp, preferably all at the same time, though I'm willing to do two out of three. I'd also like a faster internet connection (maybe 100Mbps? Geoff's laptop has that...) and a decent video/graphics card so that I can watch youtube videos as I listen to them and such.

And it has to cost less than $500.

This looks good to me. We don't need a new monitor but for an extra $30, I'm willing to splurge on a flatscreen! (If that deal still exists when we have saved up the money.)


So my question: Do you, oh knowledgeable flist, know good or bad things about this computer, company or its components? I've looked through the reviews, and it seems like the good outweighs the bad, especially as we are NOT gamers (or working on insane mathematical models) and don't need a spiffy spaz of a machine. But if you know of a better computer for about the same price, I am all ears.

Thank you!

Comments

[averygoodun.livejournal.com]

The upgrade to Professional means that you can use the old things through WIndows XP-mode. Or something. I'm not very clear on this, nor am I very computer literate.

And yeah, I know about the difficulty of replacing or adding stuff. The machine we're currently using is so old that even the adapters to replace things are few and far between. Granted, this is a dinosaur at about 10 years of age. The reason we aren't getting new parts for our newer computer shell (it's only four or five years old)is because it's cheaper to get a whole new computer. :-P

All part and parcel of our disposable lifestyle we Americans coveted for so long.

[kribu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the upgrade should help with any general software issues. Not with drivers though, as that's a bit more to do with hardware, and the difference between 32 and 64 bit platforms is quite on another level than the difference between Windows XP and 7.

It's why I wouldn't look at a 64 bit system if it should turn out that I will, in fact, need to get mum a new computer - our printer's a few years old and will need to work through her computer (I've got no place where to put it), and I really doubt it would work with a 64 bit system.

All part and parcel of our disposable lifestyle we Americans coveted for so long.

Indeed. :-/ And what with the computer industry being what it is, the rest of the world doesn't exactly have any choice but to be just as disposable with this particular issue.

(It's also why I'm not really considering seeing if mum's can get fixed - if I can't figure it out on my own, it would be (a) far too much hassle to get it to the repair place, as it's in the other end of town, and dragging a computer by bus, there and back again, is rather hard if one isn't a strong man, and (b) it's a good three years old if not more and would really need a bit more power anyway, which, once again, would mean replacing pretty much everything inside. Hence, easier to get a new computer. :-S)