What monitor are you using?

Ummm. me. I think mine at home is only a 15". My computer sucks, okay. You don't have to rub it in

Megan, sorry to hear that. Going to upgrade soon?

Yeah... I really should just go for it. Right now I'm trying to decide who to buy from - Dell or a local shop. I'm sort of leaning towards the latter. I just keep waiting thinking, oh yeah, in a comple of months the 1 ghz's will be more affordable, and now that they're getting there, I'm thinking, well, if I wait until fall I could probably get a 1.5 etc. etc. People keep telling me just to upgrade whatever I need (monitor in this case, but I've complained about pretty much everything). There's really no point in upgrading when literally everything needs to be.

You are right. I have built quite a few computers in my life. It reaches a point where upgrading is more costly than buying new. A lot of people still choose this route because it is cheaper in the short term.

My advice is never to buy top of the line processors. Look at what offers the most bang for the buck right now. Here is an example. AMD processors are priced as follows:

• 900Mhz Duron- $69 or $76/Ghz
• 1 Ghz T-bird - $124 or $124/Ghz
• 1.1Ghz T-bird - $139 or $126/Ghz
• 1.2Ghz T-bird - $149 or $124/Ghz
• 1.33Ghz T-bird - $199 or $150/Ghz

So you can see the biggest bang for the buck is the 900mhz. The 1.2Ghz is also a good deal. The top of the line is overpriced.

Here are the kind of specs that I would look for:

• .9-1.2 Ghz Processor
• 60GB 7200rpm Hard Drive
• 32MB Video Card
• Sound Blaster Live Value
• 512MB RAM
• NIC or modem
• 12X CDRW (burner)
• Windows 2000 Pro
• 19" Monitor

You should be able to get something like that for about $1000/US. It is also good to know that Dell is trying to lowball their computers to grab more market share. So their prices are low.

Are you serious??? I priced out something at dell and wasn't getting nearly that much (ie. only 128 RAM, 20 GB hard drive, 17" monitor) for roughly $2000 Canadian.... what's up with that ?!?

Holy Cow - I'm just looking at the US site and even when you factor in the exchange rate the US prices are still cheaper than the Canadian prices. Man, you guys can get stuff so cheap over there!

>>My advice is never to buy top of the line processors. Look at what offers the most bang for the buck right now.<<

And then you can overclock it! Slap on some heat sinks and peltiers and go to town. My husband is seriously into this stuff. He built a closed loop watercooling system and has a radiator installed in his case. Of course, he also has modded the case to have a clear lexan side so you can see the cool colored flourescent lights he's got inside the case. There's a whole geek subculture that's into overclocking. http://mota.mota.com/ if you want to see pics.

As for monitors, I'm using a 17" NEC MultiSync XV that's over five years old. Of course, so is my computer. I've gone through several processor upgrades, though. I was on the verge of buying a new Mac G4 dual processor tower when I became unemployed. So I'm limping along on the old one for now.

Megan, I know how you feel!

*bump*

I currently have a dual-monitor setup. The main monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 941BW (1440x900). The other one is a NEC LCD1530V (1024x768). I rarely use two monitors at once, but I use the 1024x768 to test websites and webpages I've worked on.

hp pavilion v70s

one that came with the computer (an old 2002 windows xp)

LOL, that's hilarious! The computer I was talking about getting then is now our server machine that sits down in the basement and handles our internet connection and stuff (ask Liam, he set it up). It can't even run a GUI anymore

Now I'm back to a 15" screen, but this time in the form of an acer laptop (1.66ghz, 1g ram, 120G hard drive).

I have dual 19" monitors at work ... unfortunately, when I move to my new job in a few weeks I'll only have 2 17". Maybe I can upgrade that ...