Hey Windows-savvy people

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That was spectacularly unhelpful.

I am operating with no knowledge of how much you know about computers.  Thus, I posted specific ranges of memory that might be good for your usage scenario (Photoshop, internet, not much else), corroborated Trip's hearsay about newegg, and, just in case the specific information was too technical to make sense of, included the general recommendation that anything new you will buy, no matter how cheap, will work for what you need.  Used, however, is another story.

Exactly what kind of help are you looking for that I seem to have missed?

I think she may have been looking for a brand & model for less than $400.

But it's hard to tell.  Nigel is mercurial, and prone to mayhem.  She once beat the fuck out of a fat guy, because he stuck his finger in her ear at a bar.

And that's kind of hot.

That guy. OMG.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

If you already have a spare monitor, something like this would be excellent, and the hardware isn't going to be outdated any time soon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103369

some other stuff to look out for if you spend some time browsing newegg or other manufacturer sites (HP, Dell, Acer, blahblah)

processor - for $400 you could get an Intel Core i3 - these are the lowest model of the current next gen Intel cores, and are relatively awesome - you get a big bump in performance vs. the older dual cores and so the hardware's gunna last you a while.
- otherwise, a fairly standard Core2Duo dual core (anything that runs over 2ghz ought to run fine)
- the AMD cores tend to come in a little cheaper than Intel stuff (but you do take a performance hit usually) - look out for Athlon 2s maybe

RAM - again, for $400 you can get 4gb ddr3, like in the link I posted above
- there's really not a lot of reason NOT to go with 4gb ddr3, unless you're getting a great deal on 2gb and plan on buying some more sticks, bumping 2gb to 4gb RAM just helps keep the system running quicker, especially if you're gunna be opening a few slightly hefty photoshop documents

everything else - i wouldn't worry about getting a video card, unless you're planning on editing video or gaming
- I wouldn't expect hard drive space to be an issue - you might be able to pick up 1tb like in the link above, but don't let that be the dealbreaker, anything above 250gb will be fine, and if you need to expand you can grab 1tb drives for about 50 bucks now anyway


hope that all helps!

THANK YEWWWW!!! That was very helpful.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

What version of Photoshop?

Do you have any interest in building it yourself?

I need to get a new version, actually. And no, less than zero interest in building it, not because I can't but because I don't have time.

[Doktor Howl]

That was spectacularly unhelpful.

I am operating with no knowledge of how much you know about computers.  Thus, I posted specific ranges of memory that might be good for your usage scenario (Photoshop, internet, not much else), corroborated Trip's hearsay about newegg, and, just in case the specific information was too technical to make sense of, included the general recommendation that anything new you will buy, no matter how cheap, will work for what you need.  Used, however, is another story.

Exactly what kind of help are you looking for that I seem to have missed?

I think she may have been looking for a brand & model for less than $400.

But it's hard to tell.  Nigel is mercurial, and prone to mayhem.  She once beat the fuck out of a fat guy, because he stuck his finger in her ear at a bar.

And that's kind of hot.

That guy. OMG.

That's a PD legend, just like TGRR getting his tongue stuck in the printer, and Enrico getting arrested by Interpol on obscenity charges.

[trix]

Get netbook for < $300.

Plug old monitor into it.

Plug old keyboard into it.

Wireless mouse ~ $16.

Boom.

At first I was like    but then after some thought, that's actually a pretty good idea.  Enough power to do what you need (depending on how complicated of things you do in Photoshop), and the added benefit of being able to pick it up and take off with it, if the need ever arises.

I do that with my Pandora, so I have basically a full computer at home with regular keyboard/mouse/monitor, and when I leave I just unplug the fucker, stick it in my pocket, and still have all my stuff with me.  With added benefit of great portable gaming controls.

I suspect pretty soon computing in general will be something like this.  Give technology enough time to miniaturize more and more, and pretty soon the computer itself will be in our wallet or pocket, and our computer desk will just hold the peripherals to dock with when we get home.  Especially with the promise offered by the ARM platform of processors.  If anyone is into that sort of thing, the coming SoC from TI is definitely boner-inspiring for the nerdier among us: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIC5DHHAfWA

- trix

[Cain]

I was hoping that might still be the case.

At this point, I am unaware of even the most basic things, like what kind of processors and how much RAM I should look for as a minimum. Kinda starting from scratch.

I'd say 2 gig ram, minimum, and 2.20 ghz processor.  That should be within your price range, though if you can get higher without breaking the budget, certainly go for it.

One of my laptops has one gig and 1.6 ghz and it's not enough.  Admittedly, it running on Vista doesn't help, but it occasionally suffers massive slowdowns when running more than a few key programs at the same time.

[LMNO]

My suggestion:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Slimline+Desktop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+/+3GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive/2712048.p?id=1218346638857&skuId=2712048

Plus This:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+Expansion+1TB+External+USB+2.0+Desktop+Hard+Drive+-+Black/9238121.p?id=1218065495073&skuId=9238121

That should be just about $400, and will do what you need it to.

Plus, you can probably find these cheaper at some place other than Best Buy.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Thanks guys! Thread made a quick recovery; turned helpful.

[Telarus]

My suggestion:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Slimline+Desktop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+/+3GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive/2712048.p?id=1218346638857&skuId=2712048

Plus This:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+Expansion+1TB+External+USB+2.0+Desktop+Hard+Drive+-+Black/9238121.p?id=1218065495073&skuId=9238121

That should be just about $400, and will do what you need it to.

Plus, you can probably find these cheaper at some place other than Best Buy.

Y'know, that's one of the more decent, cheap Pavilions. It's 64-bit, which means it has the capacity to go all the way up to 16+Gb of Ram if you need it to. The problem with the slim-line cases is that everything is very cramped, so replacing parts is tricky (and sometimes you have to find parts that are 'slim' style to fit in such cases). But for the costs, it's pretty good.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

My suggestion:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+Slimline+Desktop+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Pentium%26%23174%3B+Processor+/+3GB+Memory+/+750GB+Hard+Drive/2712048.p?id=1218346638857&skuId=2712048

Plus This:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Seagate+-+Expansion+1TB+External+USB+2.0+Desktop+Hard+Drive+-+Black/9238121.p?id=1218065495073&skuId=9238121

That should be just about $400, and will do what you need it to.

Plus, you can probably find these cheaper at some place other than Best Buy.

Y'know, that's one of the more decent, cheap Pavilions. It's 64-bit, which means it has the capacity to go all the way up to 16+Gb of Ram if you need it to. The problem with the slim-line cases is that everything is very cramped, so replacing parts is tricky (and sometimes you have to find parts that are 'slim' style to fit in such cases). But for the costs, it's pretty good.

I found a refurbished Asus that I think I'm gonna get if sales continue being strong.

[Telarus]

Right on, a good refurbish will get you better hardware at a comparable price.

[Luna]

Right on, a good refurbish will get you better hardware at a comparable price.

Truth.  I have a refurbished Dell for my gaming machine.  The video card shat the bed, however, it's a common problem with that card, not the fact that it was a refurb, and, since I got it directly from Dell at their refurbish site, it was still under warrentee, so cost me zero to fix.

[Captain Swampass]

Asus is a wonderful, tragically unknown company. Their motherboards and other important components are all built by themselves, not that awful Foxconn. And the factory is named Pegatron! And that is just awesome. But yeah, a refurbished Asus would do you well provided the components weren't garbage, as photoshop can be slightly demanding at times. Also, building a computer (If everything works from the box) might take an hour at the most. That is generally always the best idea, as you can make sure you aren't getting ripped off. However, if you're hellbent on not building a computer you should look for something with these components.

CPU: Athlon 64 dual core, Phenom IIs, Athlon IIs, Core i3/i5s, second gen core i3/i5s, core2quad/core2duo. Any of these at any clock rate will work fine. Shit to avoid, single cores. Oh, regarding Intel vs AMD. AMD will always be cheaper and will always be sufficiently powerful. Intel dominates the high end, but for the average consumer AMD is generally the best bet. For well under 30% of the price you get a performance difference of 10%, you can get decent high clock quad cores from AMD for under 90 dollars now.

RAM: 2-4gb of DDR2/3 will be fine. Unless you're editing 6000x7000 pictures, 2-4gb is fine. Most people think that RAM directly correlates to the speed of the computer, but that is simply incorrect. If you're not using RAM, it is wasted. So having 16gb is just... silly.

Hard Drive/HDD: As big as you need. Seriously. HOWEVER, between the CPU and HDD, those are the biggest factors in the computers general speed. Do not get a piece of shit that whirls at 5400RPM, anything over that is fine.

GPU/Graphics: Staggeringly irrelevant for your needs, integrated GPUs will work fine.

So, if that refurbished Asus fits that nicely, buy the shit out of that thing!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The beads I'm making/selling right now earn me @ $200/hour and when I'm not torching I'm doing shipping/pics/listing/promotion, it makes absolutely zero sense for me to save $50 or whatever by spending an hour building my own computer. That shit is for people who aren't self-employed. After the last absolutely fucked year and a half I need to ride this wave as hard as I can and try to get caught up before September because I sure as fuck won't have time for it then. The Asus looks like a fantastic deal for me, I just hope they still have one when I'm caught up enough to buy it.

[East Coast Hustle]

how I initially read this post:

I found a refurbished Anus that I think I'm gonna get if sales continue being strong.