Desktops: Do I realy need a New Computer?
Get the external HDD and a USB 2.0 card
by psytropic - 11/4/05 5:42 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonIf all you do is surf the net and store pictures, I see no need to upgrade.
BUT!
Your older PC will most likely NOT use USB 2.0 that is ALOT faster than USB 1.1. Most external hard drives use USB 2.0 but are backwards compatible to 1.1 - but are very slow using 1.1.
I would say get the HDD and possibly a USB 2.0 expansion card to install into the computer case. The card should not be more than 20 bucks.
Buy used for now
by Brianstech - 11/4/05 6:38 AM In reply to: Get the external HDD and a USB 2.0 card by psytropicIf you want to go cheap, look for a used HD. Ebay, Amazon, Overstock Auctions, even possibly a refurbished one. I've bought a few to put in older PC's to sell. There are always (of course) risks, to buying used.
I would probably just look for a deal on a new 40+gb. That way you can always re-use it when you get a newer PC.
I have no idea why people are bringing up more memory. Your guestion was about your lack of storage, and had nothing to do with memory. 368mb is more than adequate for what you are doing, and is probably all you can use in a Pentium 3, (some P3's won't allow more than 256mb).
From your question, it sounds like the simple solution is to increase your storage, and worry about a new computer later.
Oops! Wrong processor, same concept.
by Brianstech - 11/4/05 9:11 AM In reply to: Buy used for now by BrianstechI reread your post and realized you have an AMD Duron, not a P4.
I still say you don't need more memory, and your mobo probably doesn't support it.
hp a1100e
by nathanpsz2 - 12/6/05 3:02 PM In reply to: Get the external HDD and a USB 2.0 card by psytropicRather than upgrading your obsolete pc, you should consider a computer like the hp a1100e. This is their base system, and it costs $250. Spend another $70 on the 160 gig hd (from hp), and buy another 256 MB of RAM from newegg.com. This computer will blow away what you have right now, and you will not need to upgrade for a couple of years. If you are happy with your periphrals, you should not buy any new ones. Perhaps consider an 80 gig hd, rather than 160. It will save you $$$, and it's still 4 times bigger than what you have. It would take a true music/ photo junkie to fill a 160 gig hd. But if you have the $$$, go for the 160. Just a thought.
New Computer
by itskier - 11/4/05 6:55 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonMy idea for your situation is pretty close to the others. Buy a USB 2.0 expansion card very inexpensive and easy to install with XP, just carefully plug it into an open PCI slot. Then get an external hard drive 120 Gig should do and this is the low end of the price spectrum right now and you will not have to worry about Possible BIOS limitations. Move as many user created files as you can to this to free up more space on your C: drive give it some more breathing room. Then you have a great external backup drive for a new system down the road a few years and a very easy way to transfer files to a new machine later on too.
IS IT WORTH IT?
by barma81 - 11/4/05 7:45 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonYour computer does what you want, so a new PCI card with USB 2.0 and a new external hard drive will solve your problem. Although you may also need some tech service to install the PCI card if you're not sure that you can do it... I would say that the whole upgrade would cost you around $105 - $150, including a decent size external hard drive.
Now, your computer does what you want but everything can be done much faster, and it's not going to live forever!
Withing the next couple of years, if you try to install a new program, you may have troubles and disappointment. Within the next couple of years, certain parts of your computer may die... Etc.
I would rather invest on a new computer than on upgrades for an old one, specially after 3 years have passed since I bought the computer. But that's just me and you just have to think if it's worth it now, to spend the money on upgrades rather than on a new computer. Because the upgrades cost you 1/4 or 1/5 of the new computer and you won't get as many advantages as with a new computer!
Good luck with whatever you decide!
And try to get an AMD Athlon or Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 if you actually buy a new computer (Athlon 64 is the best right now). No Celeron, Duron or Sempron... Their processors are not as efficient and your computer will become old faster.
HD or New
by Kampeska42 - 11/4/05 9:51 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonJust watch the weekend flyer's and you can get a 80GB internal HD for $30 to $40 after rebate.
The rest seems ok for your stated use.
If you want a new computer--the day after thanksgiving the stores will have a adequate new box for $200-$300 complete.
Make and model of your computer will help us.
by oklahomadanny - 11/4/05 11:02 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonThe make and model number of your computer will help us make a better decision on how to help you.
A simple internal hard drive is all you seem to require for now. A 120 GB drive can be bought for $100 and with rebates bring the cost down to $30! Just watch your weekly ads like Best Buy, Circut City, ect.. Internal hard drives are cheaper than external and not that difficult to install. If you need help just ask this forum, we love to help. 
Since you are running WinXP a memory upgrade can be both cheap (depending on if it is PC133/100 or the newer DDR ram) and VERY easy to install. XP is a lot happier with at least 512MB of ram. Again, watch the weekly ads.
As I noted, info on your computer is helpfull so we can steer you in the right direction.
new pc
by ddbpack - 11/4/05 11:12 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordoni would say sice all you do is search internet and pics is try a bigger drive. dont got any bigger than 40 gig as youre pc may not recognise anything biiger! go get one of real fast 36 gig drives i believe made by seagate
Watch Out for Hidden Costs
by pmchefalo - 11/4/05 12:18 PM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonRoss,
I too am a consultant who tries to put my customer's needs ahead of my profit.
Your machine is midlle-of-the road. The Duron is not a great performer and USB 1.1 connectors are a limitation. 368M of RAM is a little light, but I'll bet you already upgraded that once. Having said that, unless you are going to radically increase your use, I would stick where you are, and buy a new machine only when you have hardware failures in the future.
Here's a few things to consider:
1) I don't see where you mention that you tried Windows disk cleanup to recover space on your hard drive. In Windows XP, there is a easy utility in the Performance and Maintenance area of Control Panel to do the cleanup.
17G of space used is a WHOLE LOT. Most users with your situation have a lot of unneeded data on their hard disk instead of data they want. I have been able to delete gigabytes of data when I show people what is presently on disk, wthout affecting their everyday use.
An often forgotten space hog in System Recovery. This a nice feature if you make a change that breaks the system, but often too much space is allocated for PCs where little changes on a day-to-day basis. If you are running stably now, with no virus/spyware concerns, you can turn off system recovery, which erases the older restore points, then you can IMMEDIATELY turn it back on a create a new one to return to. (Note that this technique is often recommended to clean up virus and spyware infestations by the major AV vendors.) This will free up space that is essentially useless: you would never go back to those points anyway.
2) Your Windows XP license is probably not transferable to a new PC. When you try to activate it, Microsoft may tell you that you have to buy a new retail license. That is a big cost factor in an upgrade, so you're generally better off buying a new PC.
3) If you decide to buy an external drive, you can also get a USB 2.0 or FireWire add-in card for your present PC, that will overcome some of the data transfer limitation. $29 is a fairly common cost.
4) NEVER forget that a hard drive, internal or external, is a VERY fragile storage place for things you really want to keep, like family pictures or tax info for instance. They do fail, and fail catastrophically, without an affordable means of recovery. These should be burned to a CD for safe keeping, copied onto a second CD, and one copy should be stored away from your home. If you lose or misplace a copy don't forget to make another.
Thanks!
External Hard Drive
by pmchefalo - 11/4/05 12:20 PM In reply to: Watch Out for Hidden Costs by pmchefaloWanted to mention, using an external hard drive should make transferring to a new PC in the future much easier ...
agrees with USB2 and extra HD
by ackmondual - 11/4/05 2:04 PM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonIf you're REALLY happy with what you have now, then just get another internal hardrive. Check up with your motherboard (mobo) on what's supported.
-Find out the largest capacity supported. If it's not as much, you could still get a larger one than that and just partition it to utilize the full space.
>winXP will require SP1 or greater to read HDs greater than 137GB in capacity even if your mobo supports it.
>BIOS updates may be necessary as well.
-7200 rpm
-2MB buffer cache was standard on older HDs. 8MB is mainstream now, with 16MB already out.... mostly on newer/larger HDs. 2MB isn't "death" perse, but 8MB would help cut back on some bottlenecking that occurs in HDs.
-Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital are among some of the good brands out there in HDs
-how an internal HD connects to your PC. For yours, likely the older IDE interface (with the wide 'ribbon' cables). SATA is a thin cable that's on newer PCs
a USB 2.0 card (try to have at least 4 ports. Like with hardrive space, you don't need a super amt of it, but some more than you need is always handy to have) for fast transfers if you decide to also utilize external HDs.
Perhaps more system RAM. If you feel winXP has been running slower or sluggish, then shoot for more RAM. 512MB will up the performance dramatically for more resource intensive tasks and/or more simultaneous tasks w/o puttng a huge hit on your budget
Do I really need a new computer
by BalmoralBoy - 11/4/05 3:48 PM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonNO. Keep your existing drive & set it as slave.
Install a new, larger drive, set it as Master & backup your variable files (eg. Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, graphic & sound files) to the smaller one.
Take the time to move those to a CD every month or so, & you'll have an ongoing backup so that when, not if, either or both HDDs die you won't lose everything.
WELL JUST BUY THE NEW HARD DRIVE
by supercars - 11/5/05 12:47 AM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordonI AM THE PERSON WHO ALSO HAS THE SAME REQUIREMENTS TO STORE MOVIES,PICS,MUSIC & GAMES.SO I WOULD ADVISE YOU TO JUST BUY A HARD DRIVE THAT IS IF U R HAPPY WITH UR CURRENT PC IF U WANT TO UPGRADE THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO DO IT.THERE IS A PROBLEM WHEN U R BUYING A NEW PC THE PHERIPHERALS ALWAYS DO NOT WORK RELIABLY.
advise to get an external drive...
by the_malulu - 11/5/05 3:59 PM In reply to: Do I realy need a New Computer? by Ross.gordon- if your regular task is doing internet surfing stuffs... there is no need to spend $$$ to get a new machine, in these days, external HD is cheap, you can get a named brand HD for under $100. see below URL links.
- you can save your files in the new drive, then take the drive to your friend's place to swap/exchange files, or when later on, you decided to get a new PC, you still can use this external drive.
- one advise is, you should save all your personal files in this new drive, it will be easier to do backup the whole drive any time, and when windows crash (or running too slow), re-install (or restore) the whole system on the old drive as a new system. and you still have your data on the side (the new drive)
- as long as you get a hard drive less than 128GB, you most likely will NOT have any issue with the partition being too big issue (if you do not know what this mean, don't worry about it... just get one under 120GB, you should be fine.) [if this doesn’t work… return it… just make sure you can do so before you purchase the drive.]
- check your CPU's manual, if your CPU not support USB2, then may be go get an internal card for about $20. you don't really need to get it right away, just stick the new drive in, and follow the instructions to set it up (may need to partition/format), and start to use it... if you "feel" it is too slow, then you can go and get the internal card. inserting the internal USB card is very easy, if you don't think you are comfortable to do so... ask for help... or just save the headache and continue enjoy the "slow" ride...
good luck.
-------
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 PCI Card - 5 Port USB 2.0 PCI Card (four external and one internal) ($19)
http://www.onsale.com/onsale/shop/detail~dpno~267660.asp
Maxtor - Personal Storage 3100 100 GB External USB Hard Drive ($96)
http://www.onsale.com/onsale/shop/detail.asp?dpno=601222
Iomega - Silver Series 80GB USB External Hard Drive ($89)
http://www.onsale.com/onsale/shop/detail.asp?dpno=758345
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
