Buy a New Computer?

[BaBeeLaiLai]

Question!

Okie i've had my current computer for quite a while now...i bought it for only $500 in around the year 2002 or 2003...anywayz when i bought this computer it only came with 40 GB of Hard drive space and only 128 MB of Ram...so yeah very little...don't ask meeh why i bought it...i was young and i had to get something cheap...because i had to buy it with my own savings. Anywayz so now i am low of Hard drive space to even do anything...well i've upgraded some things on my computer though...I got a new flat screen monitor just recently and i also upgraded the MB on this computer with 516 more MB of Ram...so yeah...i don't know what to do..should i just buy a new computer or just get an external hard drive for my computer...or get an internal hard drive...< that i don't know how to put in though>

Please help....give some suggestions and advices as to what i should do and why and what is probably the best. Thanks

 

[Liberty]

Sounds like you had it a while, you're school doesn't offer discounts on computers?
I know here, the school electronic store sales computers and softwares for half the price you'll get at a regular store.

Anyway, well, since you upgraded the main stuff and if you're computer is working fine I'd say if you really don't need to buy a new computer just get an external hard drive, it's cheaper and portable, in case you decide to get a new computer later on.
Of course if you have the money and your job or hobby requires a lot of Gigs then it would be better to get a new computer.
What do you use it for?

 

[ChenrukNote]

You could just buy a new comp and use the new monitor with it. But purchasing an external drive rather than a whole new comp is cheaper.

LOL Liberty beat me. I said pretty much the same thing she did.

 

[BaBeeLaiLai]

I don't really use it for anything...well since i got dsl now...i download alot of movies and i like to burn movies and make titles and what not...and i have alot of pictures in my computer because i like to play around with them. Im also a student in college too so yeah...I also have alot of homework and just documents saved on my computer...but you know those don't take up alot of space...i just relized how little space i have on my hard drive when i tried to Install Nero 8 and it wouldnt let meeh because i didn't have enough space <thats also because i installed Photoshop on it too recently...lolz...man! Oh yeah my current computer didn't have a dvd player or burner so i went out and bought an external dvd player for it tooo....sooo yeah...

Items i bought for it so far ( Though it's not much...i still bought it...hehehe):

DVD Player + RW
Monitor
512 MB

All together i spent already on this computer about $250

Awww....i don't know....

Lets see...financial statues...I have no job...no money..no nothing...my only income now is the money i get from financial aid every three months and 20 dollars a month from my mom like i use to get when i was little..and my boyfriend supporting meeh whenever we go out or when i want something at the moment...lolz!

You could just buy a new comp and use the new monitor with it. But purchasing an external drive rather than a whole new comp is cheaper.

LOL Liberty beat me. I said pretty much the same thing she did.

Yeah computers nowadays with even more harddrive space and comes with everything is cheap nowadays too.
So i don't know...can't decide because i already spent money on my computer...and also it's a pretty good computer...it never really broke down on meeh before...well once...and my friend rebooted it for meeh..other than that i've never had a problem with it.

Anywayz for for the external hard drives...do you just plug it into a USB plug..and it works just like a regular hard drive in your computer? Anyone know?

 

[darvil]

Looking at your overall situation, you will just get an external. If you can't afford it then it is pointless to think about it.

Yes plugging in a USB external HD will appear as another drive on your computer. Its that simple.

 

[BaBeeLaiLai]

Im gonna afford it...lolz...imma make mah boifriend bye it for meeh or something...awww man christmas just ended...Valentines??? hahaha will a guy buy his girlfriend a computer or a computer item for valentines...? is that possible? hahaha...well my next financial aid check is coming soon...like next week..so yup yup...

 

[Liberty]

An external hard drive can be connected via USB or firewire port or both, so no need to install anything.
lol sounds like all those pictures and projects is what is taking up so much space.
I'm a neat freak so I don't like to save anything on my laptop unless I have to and I don't like to install or keep anything installed if I don't need to.
My first laptop crashed on me so yeah, I'm a little paranoid with my new one. hehe
I got my new laptop (actually my dad bought it for me) towards the end of 2005 so it's fairly new still and has a 67.6 GB hard drive, I currently have 50GB left because of my video editing software and the video capture card I just bought. All this video stuff relates to my field of study and hobby.

Videos take up a lot of space (I freaked out when I was editing some home movies and noticed that almost 5 gigs was used up, of course I saved it uploaded it and then deleted it. hehe)

I'm getting an external hard drive too, for my photoshop, graphic and video stuff.

I have a USB portable drive, you know the little itty bitty ones that come in 256 MB to a few GB that they give out at school (well, mine does, depending on my classes they give us more, all free). I use that to save my school files on, papers, documents, etc. I have three, I know a little excessive but it helps keep my computer space free and working happy.

Anyway, enough with the rambling, you should try it, it might help free up space on your computer so you won't have to worry about it crashing or something and have only the necessary stuff on your computer.

You can get it online for really cheap.
External hard drives run anywhere from $70 to a few hundred but like you, I'm also a jobless college student so I've been looking around on e-bay. There are quite a few you can get for less than $50 and it ranges from 120 GB to 1TB! It's going to take a lot to fill all that up.
You can save your money for other stuff, like you said you've already invested over $200 on it so just get an external drive.

I'm sure your boyfriend can get you computer stuff for Valentines day.
My boyfriend got me video editing software for my birthday. hehe

 

[BaBeeLaiLai]

Damn Liberty thanks for all your suggestions and opinions...and about the USB Flashdrives...i already bought two...lolz...a 2 gig and a 512Mb...i don't know but i just tend to save everything on my computer so yeah...oh yeah about a laptop....i was thinking about that too...lolz...man i just want everything

 

[Zero Gravity]

40gb and 128? Thats my old comp, well my old comp has 18gb and 128 but still running strong, its HP Pavilion. I bought another comp at walmart fullset $548 came with 21.6 widescreen LCD, DVD RW and 160GB Brand name Emachine Processor Pentium 4. My old comp I'm still going to tune it up upgrading more gb, memorys and ram. If your old comp is still working you can save alot money tuneing it up and it'll be twice as fast or triple fast. It depends buying a new comp is good but your budget instead of not buying a fullset you can just get the destop cpu by itselt not including Montior or flatscreen and with the desktop you can find 300 to 400 1ghz processor and 160gb harddrive and 1gb memory. The choice is yours but if you want my opinion getting which better brand? I prefer Hp pavilion, Dell, and Emachines don't get "Compaq" I bought one of those and it gets hot real fast burning the wires out.

 

[darvil]

Well if you can get it for free.. why not? lol. I plan to build myself a new PC (in a week or 2) so I ain't gonna come down on you for wanting a new one but if I were to give you an honest answer, I would ask you if you really need it. If harddrive space is all you need then just spend the money on a big ass external. For me (at least I manage to convince my mind) its a part of my life and I do plan to run alot of virtual machines. The current PC is still very good (6600 with 2 gigs of ram) but I don't feel like it is going to work for me in the near future. If you don't plan to do anything new at all and it is working fine for you now then whats the point?

If your man is going to hook you up, you should use that for something else!

Im gonna afford it...lolz...imma make mah boifriend bye it for meeh or something...awww man christmas just ended...Valentines??? hahaha will a guy buy his girlfriend a computer or a computer item for valentines...? is that possible? hahaha...well my next financial aid check is coming soon...like next week..so yup yup...

 

[noungning]

oh i think u should just get an external drive, there are sooooooo many sales going on u can get 500gb for about 90 now... how many freaking videos, photos, and mp3s can u put in there?!?! haha.. i have a 320gb and a 500gb external right now, i'm only on my 320gb and put the 500gb in the closet until i need it, but i got it for cheap so that is why i got it... um i'm on my 320gb right now, and i have about 800+ music albums, programs, videos, documents, and more in there and i still have about 200gbs left so it's worth ur investment.

go fo the external!!! if you're scared to buy stuff online, sometimes they have some good deals on external drives at office max, staples, or if you are a member at like sam's club or even walmart has some good deals. hope that helps a little.

 

[KhoOnxNouxWanxJai]

You should definately buy an external; I bought a new comp; but it's still in the box? cause I'm still mildly in love with my old one. I don't plan to use the new one until next year because i'll be away at school somewhere else and I plan to leave this old one home, but an old computer can be a totally new one! You just have to upgrade a bit... Externals are cheap now a days... I bought my 500 gb for less than 90 dollars and i mean some are a little over like maybe 125 but still thats cheap for a 500 gb, but if you need like a lot a lot of space then they have 1 TB's now; but 1 Tb's are like 300 Plus.... and it's awesome ... It's awesome to like click into it and see you have all that space muahaha... but I think externals range from like a 80 gb, 160 gb, 250 gb, 320 gb, 500 gb, 720 gb, and 1 TB .... -___-" just look around and there are bound to be places that have good deals. Fry's is a good place to go for computer stuff in my area they always have sales on externals and such

 

[.diane.]

^ yeah i've recommended frys to numerous friends it's pretty good. your local stores might have some good deals. i heard compusa is closing so maybe just maybe they will have some good slashes for external hdds. ya'll know i'm a media freak so i have externals >_>

 

[BaBeeLaiLai]

40gb and 128? Thats my old comp, well my old comp has 18gb and 128 but still running strong, its HP Pavilion. I bought another comp at walmart fullset $548 came with 21.6 widescreen LCD, DVD RW and 160GB Brand name Emachine Processor Pentium 4. My old comp I'm still going to tune it up upgrading more gb, memorys and ram. If your old comp is still working you can save alot money tuneing it up and it'll be twice as fast or triple fast. It depends buying a new comp is good but your budget instead of not buying a fullset you can just get the destop cpu by itselt not including Montior or flatscreen and with the desktop you can find 300 to 400 1ghz processor and 160gb harddrive and 1gb memory. The choice is yours but if you want my opinion getting which better brand? I prefer Hp pavilion, Dell, and Emachines don't get "Compaq" I bought one of those and it gets hot real fast burning the wires out.

Emachines? ey..not for meeh everyone that i know that had an Emachine broke down on them lolz...and hey i have a Compaq and it's from walmart too...lolz...i guess were totally opposites on the brand.

Well if you can get it for free.. why not? lol. I plan to build myself a new PC (in a week or 2) so I ain't gonna come down on you for wanting a new one but if I were to give you an honest answer, I would ask you if you really need it. If harddrive space is all you need then just spend the money on a big ass external. For me (at least I manage to convince my mind) its a part of my life and I do plan to run alot of virtual machines. The current PC is still very good (6600 with 2 gigs of ram) but I don't feel like it is going to work for me in the near future. If you don't plan to do anything new at all and it is working fine for you now then whats the point?

If your man is going to hook you up, you should use that for something else!

Man i wish i was as good as you and build my own computer tooo..i do have a friend that is good in computers...but i don't want to ask him to build meeh one...he's too busy with two jobs and bills.

Okie i guess i know what im gonna do now...IM GONNA GET AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE...i didn't know that it was that popular and that so many people use it.

One more question about my computer...my computer has been kinda werid lately...well it works perfectly fine but then when i use it for too long...it makes a rambling sound...i believe it's the fans! Anyone know whats happending...? is it because like Zero says...that it is getting too hot...but then this never happend before though.

 

[darvil]

If it is old then it is normal that the fan will not spin as fast as it used to.

Really though what kind of noise is it specifically? And how long are we talking about? You might be just able to change the fan if it is a heating issue although if the fan is not working well then it won't wait a few hours before it starts to not work well.

Maybe its time to ask your computer friend to change it out.

If you're going to buy an external, let us know so the nerds on the forum can let you know if its a good deal or if there is a better one.

 

[.diane.]

If you're going to buy an external, let us know so the nerds on the forum can let you know if its a good deal or if there is a better one.

i believe p'tim feels loved -using plural +1 on the nerd side :wub:

 

[darvil]

ya should have bold the s also!

i believe p'tim feels loved -using plural +1 on the nerd side :wub:

 

[KEdoubleNY]

I prefer to built my own computer cause its cheaper and better than what imma get at the store .. same goes to you .. if you know someone that can built a PC .. than have them do it for you .. of course you gotta throw in the labor cost .. depending on how well you know the person .. it might be free

 

[noungning]

ahaha i'm part of the geek squad i don't know about u 2

 

[BaBeeLaiLai]

If it is old then it is normal that the fan will not spin as fast as it used to.

Really though what kind of noise is it specifically? And how long are we talking about? You might be just able to change the fan if it is a heating issue although if the fan is not working well then it won't wait a few hours before it starts to not work well.

Maybe its time to ask your computer friend to change it out.

If you're going to buy an external, let us know so the nerds on the forum can let you know if its a good deal or if there is a better one.

well you know that sound when you turn on the computer and you hear it goes..well thats the fan right...anywayz it's that same sound but then it gets rougher and it sounds like it's spinning like faster or something...i don't know..but it's just the noise..it's been going on for a couple of months now ever since i got my computer rebooted. other than that everything works fine.

When i do find an external hard drive ill be sure to ask yall Geeks...opps i mean Nerds...lolz...hahahaha ill tell you guys the brand...and everythang..hehehe Thanks you guys