Is the HP 504 tower a good budget PC? (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

Friends,

Trying to find a nice budget machine (around $500) for my mother in law...we found the HP504N at Circuit City and wondered if any of you have experience with this machine.

It has a 2GHZ Celeron processor, 256 RAM, 40G hard drive, and a 32/10/40 CD burner.

Any comments about performance or reliability would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Ted Lee]

hey lee -

what will she be using it for? i'm assuming typical stuff like word processing, email, surfing, etc.

if so, i think this machine will be more then adequate.

now as far as reliability goes....

i am of the opinion that it is "luck of the draw" as to whether a rig fails or not.

i've heard both positive and negative stories about all brands. i've always thought dells were good...my cousin's hard drive went out twice. then other people tell me their hp has worked perfectly since day one.

so, i don't think you can reliably rely on any particular brand.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

Just basic surfing and email.

Should I add enough RAM to go to 512?

Thanks for your comments...

 

[Scott L]

For WinXP 512mb would be "future-proofing" it for more memory intensive internet based apps while running Office at the same time. It's a tough choice but for an OS with the NT kernel I can't help but recommend it.

HPs and Dells are definitely the best for budget pre-made systems, just make sure you don't buy anything Compaq (are they still around?).

 

[Ted Lee]

more ram is always better. but, 256 will definitely be adequate for surfing and email.
it can't hurt to upgrade the ram, but how much more will that add to the cost? my guess is about 75-100 bucks. that's almost 1/5th of the entire system cost. check www.pricewatch.com for current memory prices.
i seriously doubt if she'll notice the difference anyway.
you could always save the money and buy her a new sacd title instead!