Computer Shopping Recommendations?

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

I shopping around for a new PC and was wondering if anyne had any recommendations? My current computer is getting a little old and I'd like to replace it before something happens.

I definitely want to stick with Windows XP and not deal with Vista if I don't have to. There seem to be a number of vendors who still sell XP. I want to be able to do graphics and I generally have bought 'up' for my computers; they last longer it seems and can handle newer software for longer, so my budget is moderately high for a new computer. And I'd like to get away from Norton Anti-Virus since it's such a resource hog, but I'm not current on what anti-virus/anti-spyware software works best without pinging all the time for updates.

Any suggestions?

[JediKai]

My husband, the LAN-WAN manager, uses McAfee because that's what our agency uses.

I do agree about XP, myself, but Don says there won't be a lot of new software available for XP. It's support has been extended by Microsoft, but there will be an end to it and then it will be vulnerable since no further patches will be issued. Microsoft is already talking about it's next OS upgrade, to be called Windows 7.

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

Since Microsoft is still supporting Windows 2000 now, I expect that Windows XP will be supported for a few years yet. I've tried Windows Vista on my aunt's computer and would really rather just avoid it. It takes up much too many resources by default and if Microsoft's next operating system avoids that, I think it will be much more successful.

They use Norton AntiVirus at work for me, but it's always doing stuff in the background, which is annoying.

[acalsohei]

I just brought a computer to a small computer store in town and they were able to install XP for me, no problem. I, too, wanted to avoid Vista, and the guys at Hot Geeks (really!) agreed with me. I also don't have the budget to upgrade to Vista on all three computers, and the others wouldn't "play nice" with Vista.

Planned obsolescence. Great idea! Not!

[Jan-Qui Coran]

There is going to be a new windows in town soon because so many dislike Vista. I think it was Windows 7 but please don't make book on that--I only heard or read about it once. I'm eventually going to have to replace my stuff & I'm strongly hoping I can avoid Vista.
I know I went from Win 98 into XP---so I've been fortunate that the pc's have been ok, even if I've had to system restore all my pc's at one time or another.

They've got to have so much memory space because of all the graphics that's in programs--XP does pretty good but we know that XP can't last forever---sadly.

[JediMistressDragon]

My husband has Vista on his PC and no problems. It took us a bit to relearn the differences with it over YP, but no problems. It even took a very old software I have for business cards on--we just had to upgrade it to allow download of pictures. I still have XP on my laptrop, but can't afford a new Laptop for now.
There's many laptops and PCs on sale these days--doing Black Friday prices, so look for those and get yours at a very good price.
JMD

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

I'm still shopping. Zeroing in on choices. It would be nice to see what they have in a store, but there aren't many choices here and I think the few dealers I could get to only do business computers. So, I've been looking online for now. I've seen a lot of places that still offer Windows XP. I even saw a couple of copies of XP for sale at Wal-Mart last weekend - they looked a little shop-worn, so I guess they're leftover from when Microsoft cut off individual sales.

I visited my aunt the weekend before last and she and my cousin are still is not happy with Vista. I've heard that Microsoft is rushing their next operating system. But that might just mean new bugs when it's first released. But if it takes up less disk space that will still be a big selling point.

[JediKai]

The problems with Vista are not only that it's a hog but that many devices and programs didn't work with it, due to lack of drivers and other issues. Yeah, any new OS is likely, as usual, to make the users the beta testers!

[JediKai]

WELLLLL..... I'm now running Vista (32 bit). My old XP machine died last week. I spent a lot of time figuring out what to do. Poor Wolf spent days trying to make the dead computer run again and gave up.

Decided to go with Vista after I figured out all my peripherals would run....except the Palm PDA, which was a big problem. Nothing does organizer as well as Palm and it is still essential to use at work.

Check compatibility here: www.microsoft.com/windows/compatibility/

Fortunately, a Microsoft guy assigned to Best Buy alerted me to the fact that the Palm would only work on 32 bit. The Palm website said it was compatible with Vista but neglected to include it was only so on 32 bit.

I got a cheap ($300) e-machine, figuring it as a "bridge" computer. It will last for a few years until Palm either folds (they haven't made a new device in years) or gets with the 64 bit program.

Both the printers and my new mp3 player work with Vista, either 32 or 64 bit.

[Ani-Chay Pinn]

Sorry to hear about your computer going out! That's always tough. That's why I want to replace this one now before something happens.

And thanks for the link! I'll check it out.

It's almost a sure thing they won't go to Vista where I work since it has to be approved through a long chain of command and by the time that happens the new OS will be out. Plus Microsoft is still supporting XP and you can still buy machines with XP on them. Microsoft is still supporting Windows 2000.

Soooooooo, how is Vista doing for you? Slower, faster, harder to figure out?

BTW, what kind of backups do you use? Anti-virus, anti-spyware? I'm not happy with Norton because it's always looking for updates. Another resource hog.

[JediKai]

My work also hasn't approved Vista and, as you say, isn't likely anytime soon and will probably be on Windows 7 before. Since I have access via VPN to work, have to have McAfee. We use that rather than Norton at home. I use Spy Bot Search and Destroy as well as Lavasoft to remove spy ware and other stuff. I use the back up utility that comes with the OS to back up to an external drive regularly.

So far I haven't noticed much in the way of performance issues. Of course, this machine has twice the RAM of my old one and works at about the same speed given the hogginess of Vista! Not hard to figure out once we switched the start menu back to "classic" and made some other preference choices that make it look more like XP!