budget desktop pc??

oil_can · Post by **oil_can** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 10:10 am

thanks for the info CurtZHP, will certainly keep that in mind. i thought building my own pc was what was implied, but i hate making assumptions (and thought it good chance to interject some mindless humor).
thanks to all of you!

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:41 pm

oil_can wrote:thanks RefD, appreciate the advice. i'm guessing any windows machine i buy is going to come loaded with vista, what's your advice on my best course of action to remedy that?? legally of course, i don't want to run any pirated/cracked software. thanks again

some manufacturers still offer XP as an OS option...most notably, Dell still offers XP.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/fe ... l=en&s=dhs

When you buy a Dell PC system configured with the Windows Vista? BONUS, your PC will come loaded with Windows XP? Professional pre-installed.

Vista is, for the most part, a resource hog and a complete cockup and even MS will grudgingly admit that when cornered.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:34 am

RefD wrote:
oil_can wrote: some manufacturers still offer XP as an OS option...most notably, Dell still offers XP.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/fe ... l=en&s=dhs
We just paid those fuckers at Dell an extra hundred dollars or so to get XP pro on a work laptop. Vista was cheaper than XP. Yet they have the nerve to stop selling XP.

I hope things are better with Windows 7.

EDIT: BTW the public beta for Window 7 is available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/window ... nload.aspx until the end of today, apparently. The license is good until August 1st. That might interest somebody here. The early reviews, which I have only skimmed, seem to indicate that it is much less of a CPU hog than Vista. Anyhow, prolly not relevant here but just sayin'.

desdinova · Post by **desdinova** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:41 am

Watch slickdeals.net for a dell. You can get great machines on the cheap.

Don't build a machine if you've never done it before. Putting computers together is as easy as legos now. However, if you were savvy enough to source components, you wouldn't have made this thread.
Dell, slickdeals, seriously. There were quad cores well within your price range these past few weeks.

oil_can · Post by **oil_can** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 7:09 am

slickdeal.com...thanks!

ever purchased from them??

darjama · Post by **darjama** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 9:44 am

An Aardvark 24/96? That's a pretty old card. Are there Vista drivers available? Or XP even?

I'd be sure that your card is going to work with any new system you order, or that you can return the computer without too much hassle or additional cost. My guess is though that you're going to need a new soundcard to go with any new computer you get.

If you did need a new interface, I'd select that first. Then I'd look at the manufacturer's forums and see which models of computers work well and which experience conflicts.

jakeao · Post by **jakeao** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:12 pm

I just bought a new computer a few months a go after my old one finally took a shit after 6 years of heavy use, and abuse

, Anyway I always buy my computers from this place. www.nanosys1.com I've maybe bought a dozen computers from them over the years, and they are all rock solid. I bought my current one for around $300 dollars. The nice things is that you can get them exactly how you want them. In my case, no OS, no CD drives (I just keep my old ones ) It's a small little hole in the wall place run by some great guys.

oil_can · Post by **oil_can** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:58 pm

i hear ya darjama, it's been around the block once or twice. it's functioned find in XP for me, both in Live 7 and Sonar 8. surely i'll upgrade soon after the new pc purchase, thinking of either a echo layla3g of motu ultralite, leaning towards the echo at this point as i'd like to stay pci based.

and thanks jakeao, i'll check that site out for sure.

space_ryerson · Post by **space_ryerson** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:51 pm

My day job is in IT, and over the years, the only brand that has consistently given me trouble is Dell. I'm not saying that there aren't any good Dells out there, because there definitely have been some good models; but they have made some major turds of computers.

I have had far better luck with HP's, but that's just my $.02. I also agree with the sentiment to always wipe the HD of a new machine, and install the OS yourself, without all the trial software and crapware that comes on many stock builds.

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 11:11 pm

Item A - Funny story: I just installed AVG on my main non-music laptop after reading about this new superultravirus that's making the rounds. Point 1: I was virus free by AVG standards even after several months of clicking on all sorts of crud from del.ic.ous and so forth. Point 2: This particular post-wipe install of XP had NEVER CRASHED but after AVG was installed I was getting screen freezes every half hour or so. Nadgers!

Item B: I like those people at the general nanosystems. I've been through there a few times with questions. Next time I need a rig I'll go there for sure.

Barely related but music-relevant side note: I used to bring stereo equipment to either general nanosystems or another business that was in the same building. Namely, tape decks. This was back when 'vintage' stuff wasn't vintage yet, but before we started throwing away consumer electronics after they stopped working. it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

mixedupsteve · Post by **mixedupsteve** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 4:58 pm

space_ryerson wrote:My day job is in IT, and over the years, the only brand that has consistently given me trouble is Dell. I

Me too!
I bought a new Dell laptop for remote recording and never got it to play nice with audio stuff. Tried for weeks.
Finaly I just bought a Macbook. I still have my homebrew XP desktop though.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 6:09 pm

mixedupsteve wrote:
space_ryerson wrote:My day job is in IT, and over the years, the only brand that has consistently given me trouble is Dell. I
Me too!
I bought a new Dell laptop for remote recording and never got it to play nice with audio stuff. Tried for weeks.
Finaly I just bought a Macbook. I still have my homebrew XP desktop though.

when i worked for FDXK doing server back end, all our desktop machines were Dells and they were generally pretty solid.

OTOH, before that, when i worked as an analyst for Academic Press, my Dell laptop was taking a huge shit a couple of times a month.

*realises he has had quite a few day jobs over the past 15 years*

;ivlunsdystf · Post by **;ivlunsdystf** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:02 pm

That fits with my long history of personal experiences: Dell laptops bad. Dell desktops good.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:12 pm

ysyrtypy wrote:That fits with my long history of personal experiences: Dell laptops bad. Dell desktops good.

aye, reimaging the same laptop via a 10baseT connection over and over gets old fast.

kingmetal · Post by **kingmetal** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 3:12 pm

In my experience, most new OEM manufactureres are about equally as bad. Failure rates are really high in consumer electronics. I work in IT for a really big name VFX house (among other things!) and our high-end HP Workstations, which apparently cost upwards of $10k each show up DOA all the time. Job security for me!

We also service Dells, Apples and an occasional Lenovo / IBM and it's all pretty much the same. I rate companies of their provided service more than their actual product these days. In this arena, I find Dell and HP about equal - neither are particularly good and you will hear about equal numbers of horror and success stories.

If you know the specs you're looking for, just go out and buy one at the lowest price point.

This big issue for me with OEM boxes has always been software. They come pre-loaded with lots of terrible software that I find is usually a waste of resources.

That software is usually easy to remove - just go to ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and start going down the list. My strategy is if I haven't heard of it, I probably don't need it. I also remove any kind of Mcafee or Norton product immediately (especially things like Norton Internet Security). There are much better free alternatives (like Avast!).

Don't fear Vista necessarily, especially if you're looking to get a MOTU interface. I run Vista at home and I've had no problems. It was rocky at first, but after Service Pack 1 things are much improved. Apparently, if your machine / software runs of Vista it will run on Windows 7 as well - and people really seem to like Windows 7 so far so it's not a bad time to make the switch and be prepared.

Don't worry too much about it, just get yourself a system and start enjoying it! It's not as scary as other people make it out to be.

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budget desktop pc??

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