Is this any good? (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Beckmen]

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=4532527

My freind wants to buy it, and to me it seems too good to be true...

 

[Mike LS]

I'm sure it's legit, but remember, you get what you pay for.

If your friend is simply looking for a machine for internet access and basic programs, it'll work just fine, but I have a feeling it would choke on any intensive programs or games.

Remember that it's got a 1.8gz equivalent processor, which is quite a ways behind the "standard" right now, plus it's a Sempron. I don't know a ton about it, but to my knowledge it's AMD's Celeron, and I don't have much good to say about the Celeron machines that I've had, and they're 2.8gz. They just choke on seemingly simple tasks.

This machine has 256mb of memory and looks like half of that is shared with the video card, so you're nearing the minimum for WinXP...might make it run slow in some cases.

Not knocking the machine, but for a little more $$ you could get a better processor and more memory and probably be much happier in the long run.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

care to explain this? it's got a 3.2 GHz equivalent processor, not 1.8. 1.8 is the actual clock speed.

there are probably better deals on computers like that at best buy or circuit city. it's far from being too good to be true. regarding the computer, like mike said, it will be fine for simple tasks. actually, my parents have a similar processor, and it runs a lot of of the latest games just fine. the video card and ram are the only things holding that back. if he buys that computer or one similar, make sure to upgrade the memory and video card. or he could just spend a little more money buy a better computer.

CJ

 

[DougR]

Looks like it might be close to this one?

(( CLICK ))

 

[Ken Chan]

That should be configurable, up to 128MB. It might go as low as 16MB or 32MB. I wonder what the setting is, out-of-the-box.

As long as the video memory is configurable, and especially if you add another 256 stick (or three) of RAM, the computer should be fine for any mainstream task. To run the latest 3D games, you should buy a separate video card, and turn off the on-board video.

 

[Andrew Beckmen]

I have this CPU, which seems to be the same ghz as the one in the link I provided...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103537

Yet the CPU I have cost 160 dollars on it's own. Can anybody explain?

As you can tell, I am pretty useless when it comes to this stuff.

 

[Ken Chan]

That's the retail version of the Athlon, not an OEM version of the Sempron. A better match would be this Sempron, which is again the same GHz, but only $99. The Athlon has a few advantages, but no way is it 60% better than the Sempron. The high-end chips cost $1000 -- they're not ten times faster.

But even that Sempron is a single retail box. OEMs like HP/Compaq pay even less because they buy bare chips in bulk, and probably direct from the manufacturer (even Newegg has to make some profit on their sales).

 

[Rommel_L]

Andrew,

The computer is decent enough (remember this DOESN'T come with a monitor) as it is but may I suggest to add extra memory and a dvd burner and this will become a great value for a desktop.

 

[Scott Smolder]

Andrew,

My friend bought a similar prefab machine (eMachine) and later regretted it. With these low dollar deals you typically find subgrade parts, particularly the motherboard. If your friend plans on playing any high end games I say pass. If it's for internet/word processing/etc. it's fine. One way to look at it is that some video cards by themselves sell for more than that whole computer. Maybe that puts some pespective on it. It's all in what you want it for. Hope that helps.