mondschain Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hi everyone, I have a compaq and not very happy with it(details should be below). ... so I want to give the compaq to my husband and buy a new one. So i would like one with a quad core processor.... now I have looked into Hp computers and Dell.... I would like to know if anyone has any experience with those dell xps computers? not the very high end once but just basic onces ( due to price ).... I have had a dell in the past and what I liked about it was that there was room to upgrade and it didnt give me any problems for about 5 years.... so i am planning to buy a computer for another couple of years and the hps dont have much room for upgrades.... but are not as expensive... i mostly do home videos of the kids and am tired of waiting so long for every action I take in video wave, every move just takes forever ( version 9 ).....I know building my own would be best but with 2 toddlers, I dont find the time. lol .....so any experience with those xps mashines anyone? or may be the hp preconfigured mashines ? thanx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerman Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hi everyone, I have a compaq and not very happy with it(details should be below). ... so I want to give the compaq to my husband and buy a new one. So i would like one with a quad core processor.... now I have looked into Hp computers and Dell.... I would like to know if anyone has any experience with those dell xps computers? not the very high end once but just basic onces ( due to price ).... I have had a dell in the past and what I liked about it was that there was room to upgrade and it didnt give me any problems for about 5 years.... so i am planning to buy a computer for another couple of years and the hps dont have much room for upgrades.... but are not as expensive... i mostly do home videos of the kids and am tired of waiting so long for every action I take in video wave, every move just takes forever ( version 9 ).....I know building my own would be best but with 2 toddlers, I dont find the time. lol .....so any experience with those xps mashines anyone? or may be the hp preconfigured mashines ? thanx I have a Dell XPS 400 (more than a year old) that MS loaned me to test for them that I still use. I have had EMC 9 on it since it came out with no problems (I seem to be in the majority with that). I have had no problems with it but do not use it as much as my main system and don't have much other software installed on it. I believe one of the gurus just purchased an XPS system recently are is planning to so maybe he'll post his experiences here. I feel I should add that it was sent to me with XP Media Center Edition and then as part of the beta testing, we were to reformat and install beta Vista. I'm not sure if it's available in anything other than Vista now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggrussell Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 the hps dont have much room for upgrades....Why do you say that? I have always purchased HPs and have no problem doing upgrades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondschain Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Why do you say that? I have always purchased HPs and have no problem doing upgrades. The preconfigured onces dont have much room .... if I take the modem out I get one pci slot ... and i might be able to install another hd but thats it.... when i meant upgrading I usally add stuff. Like in my old Dell I didnt have usb2 so I added a card no firewire another card ( well later i found a card which had both ) but just for an example. I know these days there are many external things available too, but just want to make sure before I go out and buy a new PC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marlinsinger Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 The preconfigured onces dont have much room .... if I take the modem out I get one pci slot ... and i might be able to install another hd but thats it.... when i meant upgrading I usally add stuff. Like in my old Dell I didnt have usb2 so I added a card no firewire another card ( well later i found a card which had both ) but just for an example. I know these days there are many external things available too, but just want to make sure before I go out and buy a new PC That's why you buy one that uses an ATX board rather than a MicroATX board. More slots for expansion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi7omy Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Personally, I'd recommend you go get a number 2 posidriv screwdriver and then read this series of articles and build your own That way you get exactly the type of computer YOU want without having any limitations beyond the depth of your pocket Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerman Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Personally, I'd recommend you go get a number 2 posidriv screwdriver and then read this series of articles and build your own That way you get exactly the type of computer YOU want without having any limitations beyond the depth of your pocket I agree. Did my first one and will never go back. But, if you would like some sites with video how to's, this one is ok. Not very detailed but gives you an idea. And, if you decide you like the idea, youtube.com is full of DIY videos on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondschain Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Thank you I will look into building my own. Its just that for every part I would have to look around what motherboard and which processor casing... and in the end there is always something that wont work.... its just so much time effort.... ( I would love to but the kids drive me nuts )... and secondly my husband has so much fun blaming me for any thing not working on the pc. what I basically want is an Intel® Core2 Q6600 Quad-Core or Q6700 , 4 GB of Ram, a nice sound card and a good graphic card ( one I wont have to upgrade for a few years ). Now if I build my own the parts should be the best ones, right? So I know what processor I want then my endless question begin... like which is the best and fastest board for it and I dont know much about sound cards... and graphic cards there are so many out there its just so confusing.... what kind of case should i chose? how much power would I need and how many fans should I install... sometimes some hardware arent compatible with each other....and so on I do have some experience in building computers... my dad was computer crazy about 10 years ago he used to make his own just for fun those really old onces. Nothing but problems. Maybe that was a long time ago.... but I remember sometimes being stuck wasnt much fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerman Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 I used just 2 companies though I could have used just one. Newegg.com has some of the best prices. I bought my memory from mwave.com as they were very competitive. You can also get kits for everything but you won't be able to be as particular. I can say that I saved money too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi7omy Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 If you just look at the specs on my sig at the bottom, you'll see what bits went in - the case - well, just get one with enough bays for expansion: PSU - get a 500 Watt one (plenty of oomph to spare if you add more drives). As far as motherboards are concerned - ask 10 people here and you'll get 10 different answers You can use the old monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc (they'll still work and there's no point in dumping them unless you want something fancy) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondschain Posted September 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 I used just 2 companies though I could have used just one. Newegg.com has some of the best prices. I bought my memory from mwave.com as they were very competitive. You can also get kits for everything but you won't be able to be as particular. I can say that I saved money too! I am looking at these sites I like the prices but now I will have to find out if they ship to canada... that is mostly a problem. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ml Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 If you've got 2 toddlers running around the house, I wouldn't recommend building your own computer. Unless, of course, you have a very cooperative husband and lots of extra time on your hands to iron out the 'bugs'. You're going to need a computer that exceeds the specifications on the EMC 9 box. So that's a good place to start. Also, if you're buying a computer with Vista, 2GB of RAM is probably a good idea. Make certain that the video card exceeds the specifications for video editing. ( That's different than the minimum for other applications in the package.) AVOID on-board sound. You'll need a good sound card. You definitely need room for a second large hard drive, but how much expansion room you'll need depends on how long you plan on keeping the computer. Most newer computers come with lots of USB ports, IEEE 1394 ports, ethernet connections, etc. Personally, I make a list of what I need, then shop local computer stores and get advice from the sales people. Websites usually have online sales chat advisors and they can steer you toward the right computer if you tell them how you're going to use the computer. Just spend some time online in researching the computers available from different companies and it usually pays off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi7omy Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Told you there'd be differences of opinion - I've onboard Realtek HD audio here and it doesn't cause any problems at all (well except for the fact that the Linux kernel hasn't caught up yet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karri Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hi everyone, I have a compaq and not very happy with it(details should be below). ... so I want to give the compaq to my husband and buy a new one. So i would like one with a quad core processor.... now I have looked into Hp computers and Dell.... I would like to know if anyone has any experience with those dell xps computers? not the very high end once but just basic onces ( due to price ).... I have had a dell in the past and what I liked about it was that there was room to upgrade and it didnt give me any problems for about 5 years.... so i am planning to buy a computer for another couple of years and the hps dont have much room for upgrades.... but are not as expensive... i mostly do home videos of the kids and am tired of waiting so long for every action I take in video wave, every move just takes forever ( version 9 ).....I know building my own would be best but with 2 toddlers, I dont find the time. lol .....so any experience with those xps mashines anyone? or may be the hp preconfigured mashines ? thanx Hi mondschain, I have an HP Pavilion that was preconfigured. I just added some things to their recommended configuration before checkout. I bought it with XP MCE, so I'm not sure how Vista might change what I have experienced, but for what it's worth ... It's about a year old and has worked really well so far. It also has the on-board Realtek sound mentioned by gi7omy, but it also works fine. There is a 15-card reader incorporated into the tower, which makes it easy if your video camera has a memory card. Just put the card in and your video is in your computer ready to go. It has the Firewire connection, too, if you use that for your camera. It also has the connections so that you can capture video from your vcr, if you have old home movies like I did. It seems very fast, compiling (rendering?) my video from Videowave a little faster than the video takes to play. It seems to burn to dvd fast, too, and then if you want, just flip over the dvd and lightscribe your label onto it. I'm not technically oriented but this computer seems to handle everything pretty easily (which is good otherwise I would be lost trying to figure things out). So, HP may be a consideration if you have little kids vying for your attention karri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggrussell Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 The preconfigured onces dont have much room .... if I take the modem out I get one pci slot ... and i might be able to install another hd but thats it.... when i meant upgrading I usally add stuff.Most of the computers in that price range (quad core) would most likely have everything you would need on the motherboard. I bought an HP Media Center last year and it had one open slot. And it's still not used. I did upgrade the video and added a second hard drive. I have 6 USB2 ports and 2 firewire. I have yet to use them all. The only new technology on the rise I would look for is eSATA port. Would be nice to have one of those. Much faster than using USB 2 or Firewire for external backup hard drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malatekid Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 I believe one of the gurus just purchased an XPS system recently are is planning to so maybe he'll post his experiences here. Hint, hint, hint. I think the key in buying is determing what you want ahead of time. My experience with Dell was a good one even though I didn't really asked them a lot since I already made up my mind as to the system and options I want. Starting with my requirement to have XP Prof/SP2 as the OS, should be able to accomodate Vista in a dual boot config in separate hard drives down the line, and to support my multimedia hobby, I eventually settled for Dell XPS 410 with Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066) Sound Blaster X-FiTM XtremeMusic with Dolby 5.1 256MB nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS IEEE 1394 13 in 1 Media Reader 500gb SATA II drive The system has: Externally Accessible Video: 1 DVI, VGA and 1 S-Video (with add-in PCI-Express video card) USB: 9 Ports (2 Front, 6 Back, 1 internal)Audio: Audio – six back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, rear surround, side surround, SPDIF interface in rear, two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone. integrated HDA 7.1 ch soundNetwork Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Integrated 10/100/1000 network interface Expansion Slots PCI: 3 SlotsPCIe x1 1 SlotPCIe x16 (Graphics) 1 SlotsPCIe x4/x8: 1 Slot My work has a Dell program that provides discount to emloyees so I was able to get a reasonable price for the system. Of course I haggled some more with the sales advisor. Dell doesn't give further cut to the price but instead ask for extras (I chose 3 yr warranty and accident protection, and he threw in 4 yr for both witout extra cost. As well he upgraded my McAfee security from a5 months to 3 years. And gave next day deleivery. Just extras with no additional cost). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdanteek Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Hint, hint, hint. Starting with my requirement to have XP Prof/SP2 as the OS, should be able to accomodate Vista in a dual boot config in separate hard drives down the line, and to support my multimedia hobby, I eventually settled for Dell XPS 410 with Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache,2.66GHz,1066) Sound Blaster X-FiTM XtremeMusic with Dolby 5.1 256MB nVidia GeForce 8600 GTS IEEE 1394 13 in 1 Media Reader 500gb SATA II drive The system has: Externally Accessible Video: 1 DVI, VGA and 1 S-Video (with add-in PCI-Express video card) USB: 9 Ports (2 Front, 6 Back, 1 internal)Audio: Audio – six back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, rear surround, side surround, SPDIF interface in rear, two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone. integrated HDA 7.1 ch soundNetwork Integrated Gigabit Ethernet Integrated 10/100/1000 network interface Expansion Slots PCI: 3 SlotsPCIe x1 1 SlotPCIe x16 (Graphics) 1 SlotsPCIe x4/x8: 1 Slot My work has a Dell program that provides discount to emloyees so I was able to get a reasonable price for the system. Of course I haggled a lot with the sales advisor. That's a nice PC, what mother board is it built on and the make and speed of the ram. The specs don't show that. So i would like one with a quad core processor.... Just so we all stay on the same page. The OP said Quad Core Processor. You list a Core 2 Duo Processor in your Dell, your aware they're not the same. cd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malatekid Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 That's a nice PC, what mother board is it built on and the make and speed of the ram. The specs don't show that. Just so we all stay on the same page. The OP said Quad Core Processor. You list a Core 2 Duo Processor in your Dell, your aware they're not the same. cd The manual says Intel P965 Express Chipset DMA channels 8 Interrupt levels 24 BIOS chip (NVRAM) 4 MB NIC Integrated Intel 82566DC Gigabit Network connection I am aware of the difference. I was responding to Beerman's post about sharing my experience (I shared my experience in purchasing. Haven't set up the PC yet) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerman Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 As well he upgraded my McAfee security from a5 months to 3 years. And gave next day deleivery. Just extras with no additional cost). Give McAfee back and ask for a 5th year. Don't know if you're already a McAfee user already but it's been causing so much trouble with computers, the company my brother works for (can't give name) is about to make a change away from that vendor. To whom, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malatekid Posted September 21, 2007 Report Share Posted September 21, 2007 Give McAfee back and ask for a 5th year. Don't know if you're already a McAfee user already but it's been causing so much trouble with computers, the company my brother works for (can't give name) is about to make a change away from that vendor. To whom, I don't know. That's actually what we use at work as well as in my home PC for at least the last 2/3 years. We're now using version 8.0i and so far no problem with it (mine and nothing heard from any office mates either). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondschain Posted September 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Thank you for all the responses.... There are a lot of good computers out there both hp and dell... in the past with my current compaq which is hp owned I had very bad technical support experience. Mostly I got transfered to India or so... which wasnt to bad... after hours on the phone and several different people all I got where mostly rude or some reading off the manual kind of people.. some even just put me on hold and hung up... or if someone is rude they will even tell you that they dont have a supervisor.... very very very bad customer support. The problem I had never got fixed at the end... well dont want to go into details... but the online support isnt to bad, they are actually nice or maybe that is because your not hearing the other person. I got a good idea of what i would like now. My main goal is to have a computer which is good for the next 5 years... by good i mean being able to edit in video wave without waiting for the program to respond after every move.... just click for a preview and be able to see it after a few seconds or after cutting a scene or putting in some transaction etc actually not having to wait so long would be nice....cut maybe the rendering time. Or upgrading to a newer version of roxio and now the computer wont work cuz the graphic card or whatever is no good anymore... Those kind of things My husband used to work for intel so the last dell I had was for a good discount too. I didnt know that you could bargain with some stuff... so thats good to know too. I will shop around and lets see with what I will go. Thanx again for all the suggestion.... I really like the opinions I get here from other users. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malatekid Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Good luck! I hope you get a very good deal in your purchase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdanteek Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Personally, I'd recommend you go get a number 2 posidriv screwdriver and then read this series of articles and build your own I agree. Did my first one and will never go back. I would have to agree with gi7omy and Beerman. cd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malatekid Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 I know building my own would be best but with 2 toddlers, I dont find the time. lol Let us know how it goes on acquiring a new machine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bds1958 Posted September 24, 2007 Report Share Posted September 24, 2007 Personally, I'd recommend you go get a number 2 posidriv screwdriver and then read this series of articles and build your own That way you get exactly the type of computer YOU want without having any limitations beyond the depth of your pocket A good, informative, article. I'm tempted myself to "have a go". (Just replaced both my internal RW and ROM drives and was amazed at how easy it was). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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