My mom needs a new computer for her business...

[909]

My mom is ready to pull the trigger on a new desktop computer for her business. A few machines have already been recommended to her by a computer support guy that she has worked with for many years. I wish I could offer her more help, but I am pretty clueless with respect to any of the new computers being offered these days beside Apple and she isn't interesting in getting an Apple for her business. I think she would like to keep the price in line with what has been recommended, so the $500 to $1000 range. Typically, she uses such a new machine for about six to seven years. My two primary concerns are, first and foremost, reliability and then good to great value for her dollar (i.e, price to performance ratio).

Here are the three that have been recommended to her:

fast i3

Gateway DX4831-01U PT.GAJ02.037 Desktop PC - Intel Core i3-530 2.93GHz, 6GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, Media Reader, 300 Watt PSU, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit at TigerDirect.com

faster I5

Gateway DX4840-07 PT.GAU02.020 Desktop PC - Intel Core i5 650 3.2GHz, 6GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 300 Watt PSU, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit at TigerDirect.com

insanely fast i7

Gateway FX Series FX6840-23 PT.GAT02.019 Desktop PC - Intel Core i7-860 2.8GHz, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit at TigerDirect.com

I would greatly appreciate some helpful input...

[Deadneddz]

I would definitely consider purchasing from Dell outlet for cheaper. They come with the same warranty and support as their new machines, but you get more for your money. It seems they actually have some XPS 8100 computers in stock right now which is rare: Dell Factory Outlet Instead of that Gateway w/i5, you could get that Dell XPS 8100 thats $749.00 on the link I gave you and it comes with the better i5-750 processor and a blu-ray drive. And it still has 6GB of DDR3 like the Gateway. I'd definitely take that Dell XPS 8100 over the Gateway you listed.

The Intel core i5-750 is a nice processor and performs better than the core i7-920 in some benchmarks. If you can find the newer i5-760 then that would probably be even better, as it has excellent price to performance ratio, beating out the AMD X6-1055T(hexcore processor) and besting some of the core I7 line. Although pretty much all those computers leave some to be desired in the graphics department...

[Augsburger]

David,

You might try asking your mom what the primary purpose will be for the computer. My guess would be scheduling classes and instructors, billing and payments, that is all I ever see the staff using computers for at my daughter's studio. So since the number crunching tasks are minimal would she need the i5 or i7 chip?

[HDen]

I'd go with the i5, it's a fast computer might seem a bit overkill for business use(especially the 6GB RAM) but she mentioned six to seven years of life.

One thing I can recommend when buying these brand name computers is to format it, and reinstall windows. The reason I say this is because they usually load them with all sorts of useless applications that just slow down the computer and make the whole experience very frustrating.

[909]

David,

You might try asking your mom what the primary purpose will be for the computer. My guess would be scheduling classes and instructors, billing and payments, that is all I ever see the staff using computers for at my daughter's studio. So since the number crunching tasks are minimal would she need the i5 or i7 chip?

That's really it besides Microsoft Office, Quicken, a dancing studio manager program, burning CDs, and surfing the web. Right now and in the next year or so she might not need those faster chips, but possibly down the road in say five years it might offer some benefit -- though, I don't really know...

[Nebby]

I think the i7 would be a bit much for the usage, either i3 or i5 would fit the bill.

[manaox2]

i7 is too much for the average user regardless. i5 would last a while. Focus more on the amount and speed of RAM and speed of hard drive. I don't think 6GB is overkill, its what I use and it does well. That 300W PS sure is pitiful I think though, might lead to noise and unstability.

[Dusty Chalk]

Really, processors aren't getting that much faster -- the bottlenecks are becoming the hard drive (and associated -- e.g., sata controller, etc.) and the memory. They're evolving both sideways (I.E. quad cores and hex cores), and with the whole rearchitecturing thing (i3, i5, i7, etc. vs. previous pentium-based architectures).

In other words -- any of those should be fine, even the i3. For things like email, web, desktop production (especially what I would call "consumer level" desktop production -- graphic artists are a whole different thing), your problem won't be the machine, it'll be other things (I add "network" to my above list of examples -- especially for web-browsing).

The only time you need a more powerful machine if you're doing something moar hardcoar -- gaming, number crunching, video processing, image processing (which would mostly be memory), music processing...and someone like me, who really doesn't do anything, but just craves power. Don't feel obliged to do what I do.

If you do a lot of multi-tasking, then I would concentrate on boosting memory (including making sure she gets a 64-bit operating system), and getting moar coars.

Sorry, mah cat is helping me tahp.

[Mister X]

I would go with an HP p6570t series.

[url=http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/series/category/desktops/p6570t_series/3/computer_store]HP Pavilion p6570 and p6570t series | HP

[909]

thanks guys -- the input has been very helpful as it narrowed the field and focused our search. we should make a decision by tomorrow night.