Black Friday Computers....help for those computer savy

[DebMcDonald]

This is always where I go when I have a question and someone always has an answer for me. This time it's a computer for my daughter, who will be 12 in two weeks. I'm not looking to spend alot of money, but I'm also not looking for replace the computer is six months. She'll play games and we're currently unsure about her having internet access in her bedroom, so it might be something we are interested in down the road, but not immediately. What has everyone thought of any of the computers on sale on black friday. Does Dell have any good sales right now?

My husband is against a celeron processor - does anyone know why?

You are also talking to someone who knows nothing about computer myself, I can use them just fine, but have never purchased until now and I think I'm on my own on this one as my husband will not join me on black friday.

 

[dturner]

This is always where I go when I have a question and someone always has an answer for me. This time it's a computer for my daughter, who will be 12 in two weeks. I'm not looking to spend alot of money, but I'm also not looking for replace the computer is six months. She'll play games and we're currently unsure about her having internet access in her bedroom, so it might be something we are interested in down the road, but not immediately. What has everyone thought of any of the computers on sale on black friday. Does Dell have any good sales right now?

My husband is against a celeron processor - does anyone know why?

You are also talking to someone who knows nothing about computer myself, I can use them just fine, but have never purchased until now and I think I'm on my own on this one as my husband will not join me on black friday.

The celeron processor might NOT play games or the games your DD plays - it's NOT as powerful as a pentium processor.

Almost all the computers on sale cheap on Black Friday have the celeron processor.

My DS(9) wants a computer also (I wanted to buy a cheap one) but DH said might as well buy another high end computer and give him our Dell which does have a pentium processor and upgraded graphics card, etc.

Speaking of Dell, I saw on TV they have another desktop for $299.00 after $50.00 rebate but it's got the celeron processor so DH said NO!!! if we got that, we would be spending more money to get it to play games, i.e., upgraded graphics card, etc.

 

[ShariVT]

I wouldn't buy one with a celeron processor again. I am happy to spend more on my pentium. I really notice the difference in speed. I gave the celeron one to my mother and it is perfect for her she is never in a hurry and only gets a few emails doesn't do alot of web surfing and no gaming. The one at walmart has a AMD processor I don't know much about them.

 

[StephMK]

I'm so glad you asked that! I always wonder about asking non-Disney direct questions but this is where I get the most answers and feel comfortable w/the responses, kwim? We're in the same boat w/an almost 12 y.o. & trying to find a good computer. Anyone have any luck buying a used one? I see some on craigslist.com in our area or a reseller but unsure if there are potential problems w/used systems?

So sorry, I don't have any answers other than if she uses an MP3 player, that needs certain processors to work as well.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Often it seems Black Friday whips people into a frenzy for no good reason. Such is the case with the WalMart computers, if you ask me.

The desktop for $398 is a good example.

1.8GHz AMD Sempron processor, 512MB Ram, 40 GB Hard Drive, CD-RW drive, media card reader, and 15 in LCD monitor. After tax you are looking at about $430. That isn't all that much for $430.

You can do better on eBay. For $480 (including shipping) I purchased an eMachines desktop with a 2.2GHz Athlon processor, 512 MB RAM, 100 GB Hard Drive, double layer DVD-RW drive, media card reader, upgraded video card and a 15 in LCD monitor. So for a few bucks more it is a much faster machine with more storage, better graphics, and the ability to play and burn DVDs.

 

[nuke]

I'll never buy anything but a Pentium again. We bought the cheapest Dell a couple of years ago and it has a Celeron processor. The thing take a good 5 minutes to start up, doesn't want to shut down, takes forever to go between programs. In other words it sucks! But I'm too cheap to buy a new one so it has to do for a couple more years.