On Mon, Mar 14, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Tom Gardner
<thomas.gardner at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Date: Sun, 13
Mar 2011 18:03:00 -0500
From: Tom <a50mhzham at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: OT: Can someone help me pick out a desktop machine?
To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts"
? ? ? <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Message-ID: <4d7d4ef1.65c2ec0a.6613.4ce3 at mx.google.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; format=flowed
If price is your issue, as it seems to be:
1) You probably want an AMD chip
2) You should be looking at refurbished systems; I have had a lot of good
luck with refurbished IBM/Lenovo systems purchased at
http://outlet.lenovo.com/. ?You might also check Costco if u have one
locally; they seem to have good deals on HP systems.
Unless u are into serious video editing, large compilations, or any other
CPU intensive activity, any current CPU should be sufficient for your needs.
May I further suggest that what u really care about is the graphics card
(not built in so you can upgrade if and when necessary), the monitor (large,
LED backlit, fast) and the keyboard (feels good). ?If you are in this group
u should have enuf talent to upgrade the memory and HDD to whatever u need.
Tom
Do you plan to do much in the way of emulation? As someone on a
retrocomputing mailing list, you may well... If so, getting as much
CPU power as possible is a good idea. Also, unless you're either a
hardcore gamer or a 3D animation hobbyist you can probably skip out on
a dedicated graphics card as the latest integrated chipsets are more
than sufficient for 2D tasks (including fairly heavy duty photo
editing and the like) and even for playing games (as long as you don't
insist on high resolutions or high detail levels)
Mike