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-   -   IS MY COMPUTER OBSOLETE???? (https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=235957)

Charizard632 November 3rd, 2010 6:01 PM

IS MY COMPUTER OBSOLETE????
 
Right now, I'm using a Dell XPS 400.

MY LITTLE BROTHER WILL NOT USE ANY OTHER COMPUTER EXCEPT FOR THE DELL INSPIRON 1500, which is the default kind of computer I use.

HE SAYS THAT EVERY COMPUTER IN MY HOUSE IS OBSOLETE!!!!!!!!!, BECAUSE IT'S TO SLOW!!!
(Yes, I am stressed!)

So anyways, I took an internet speed test for my obsolete? Dell XPS 400, and its download speed is 2.53Mb/s.

But still, my little brother says it's OBSOLETE!!!

Am I using an obsolete computer?

Archer November 3rd, 2010 11:42 PM

The internet connection speed is totally irrelevant. What the the specs of each?

Captain Fabio November 4th, 2010 2:52 AM

http://i583.photobucket.com/albums/ss274/Darkraven909/Not_sure_if_serious.jpg

Anyway. Internet connection depends on you ISP, Internet Service Provider, not what computer you are using. Tell your brother to stop being stupid and to actually learn about how the internet and computers work.

Also, a Dell 1500 isn't exactly an Ailenware. It is a pretty bog-standard laptop that can't really do much more past playing videos.

Archer November 4th, 2010 3:27 AM

After a quick google it seems that the XPS a little slower in the CPU department. The graphics is so poor on both that it's irrelevant. XPS should come with 3GB ram standard, as opposed to 2. They're about the same, to be honest. The difference is that you can chuck a decent graphics card in the XPS, which isn't an option for the laptop.

aguinn99 November 5th, 2010 2:06 PM

i have no idea if its obselete, but tell your little brother to actually learn about computers(has he even used [email protected]#$)

John-117 November 6th, 2010 9:45 PM

If I were you, I don't think that is a great desktop. Graphic card is not good enough

Archer November 7th, 2010 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John-117 (Post 6273941)
If I were you, I don't think that is a great desktop. Graphic card is not good enough

It really depends on the use. If there's no gaming or high-def video playback going on... There's no point in a good graphics card.

Captain Fabio November 7th, 2010 8:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John-117 (Post 6273941)
If I were you, I don't think that is a great desktop. Graphic card is not good enough

Well that is obvious.
For a laptop to beat a desktop in overall performance, you would have to find a horribly low end desktop and a very expensive £1500+ laptop.

Dawn November 9th, 2010 12:10 PM

http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfb/desktops/xps_400/pd.aspx?refid=xps_400&cs=28&s=dfb

If you haven't done any upgrades to it, it's... pretty darn bad. You should look into getting a better computer, or upgrading your current one, as soon as possible. Simply because you'll enjoy using it more.

My first recommendation if you want to upgrade is to upgrade your RAM. Your RAM seems to be the worst part of your computer by a long shot. 512MB? That was decent about a century ago.

On the bright side your processor is actually decent.

But yeah, seriously. Your computer is capable of going up to 4G of RAM and RAM isn't that expensive. Go upgrade it. You'll be glad your computer isn't as slow.

donavannj November 9th, 2010 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PkMnTrainer Yellow (Post 6279166)
http://www.dell.com/us/en/dfb/desktops/xps_400/pd.aspx?refid=xps_400&cs=28&s=dfb

If you haven't done any upgrades to it, it's... pretty darn bad. You should look into getting a better computer, or upgrading your current one, as soon as possible. Simply because you'll enjoy using it more.

My first recommendation if you want to upgrade is to upgrade your RAM. Your RAM seems to be the worst part of your computer by a long shot. 512MB? That was decent about a century ago.

On the bright side your processor is actually decent.

But yeah, seriously. Your computer is capable of going up to 4G of RAM and RAM isn't that expensive. Go upgrade it. You'll be glad your computer isn't as slow.

For those older laptops, RAM is actually pretty freaking expensive for what you get.

The 100 Mega Shock November 9th, 2010 12:52 PM

While the whole 4GB of RAM would end up wasting a chunk of money for the performance gain you'd end up with (not to mention bottlenecking elsewhere) even doubling from 512 to 1GB of memory would make a big difference, and 2GB would result in further benefits.

Dawn November 9th, 2010 2:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donavannj (Post 6279187)
For those older laptops, RAM is actually pretty freaking expensive for what you get.

Well, it looks like a desktop to me. $20. Maybe less. I've turned computers that terrible into decent gaming machines for well under $200 by just replacing the RAM and Graphics Card. Dimension 9100....ever heard of it? Yeah, it has very similar specs. That thing came equiped the then pretty decent ATI Radeon X300 card and lasted about until.... 2006'ish.

Some RAM later, and a new graphics card, and it could play anything on the market and was pleasant to use.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 100 Mega Shock (Post 6279216)
While the whole 4GB of RAM would end up wasting a chunk of money for the performance gain you'd end up with (not to mention bottlenecking elsewhere) even doubling from 512 to 1GB of memory would make a big difference, and 2GB would result in further benefits.

That depends completely on what he uses his computer for, and even then there's future proofing. 4GB is hardly a "waste".

Archer November 10th, 2010 3:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PkMnTrainer Yellow (Post 6279348)


Well, it looks like a desktop to me. $20. Maybe less. I've turned computers that terrible into decent gaming machines for well under $200 by just replacing the RAM and Graphics Card. Dimension 9100....ever heard of it? Yeah, it has very similar specs. That thing came equiped the then pretty decent ATI Radeon X300 card and lasted about until.... 2006'ish.

Some RAM later, and a new graphics card, and it could play anything on the market and was pleasant to use.


That depends completely on what he uses his computer for, and even then there's future proofing. 4GB is hardly a "waste".

Pentium Ds are getting old. 3.2GHz D is about the same as a 1.7GHz Core 2 Duo. Which is not really enough to cope with TF2 or Bad Company 2. The second problem is that the power supply is only 375W. Which means you'd bet away with a card in the range of a 5650/430, which is pretty poor. Sure, you can upgrade that too, but it's very likely that (a) it is a proprietary shape, so a new PSU will not fit. Dell will be Dell. or (b) After you spend $50 on a new PSU and $60 on ram, $130 on a decent graphics card, you've just spent $240 on a machine that is still slow. You might as well fork out the extra money on a new H55/i3 system that can be upgraded much further. It might game, but there's no way in hell it will be able to run anything on the market.

Also, if they're not doing anything particularly intensive, such as heavy Photoshop use, video editing, VMs or gaming, 4GB is absolutely a waste of money. Where the hell are you getting DDR2 RAM for $20? Unless they're 1GB DIMMs.

OP, what do you want to do with it?

Dawn November 10th, 2010 10:52 AM

How EXACTLY is future proofing a waste of money, or using any adobe product which are all obese, video gaming, or video editing? These are very popular passtimes/things people to do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141300&cm_re=2GB_ddr2_ram-_-20-141-300-_-Product
$16.50 per gig

aguinn99 November 10th, 2010 1:45 PM

how old is the computer, what year?
let me seaRCH SOME FACTS...........

its not that bad....but not really good.
the facts:


NEW Intel® Pentium® D Processor up to 840 (3.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) with Dual Core Technology.

Operating Systems

Chipset
Intel® 945P chipset

Office Suites & Productivity
Learn More
Standard:
Corel® WordPerfect®

Optional:
Microsoft Works Suite 2005
Corel® WordPerfect® Office 12
Microsoft Office 2003 Basic Edition
Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition

Memory
Learn More
512 MB dual channel DDR2-533MHz SDRAM standard, upgradable to 4 GB1 dual channel DDR2-667MHz SDRAM
4 DIMM slots

Drive Bays
Externally available:
Two 3.5-inch bays for an optional floppy or 13-in-1 media card reader
Two 5.25" for CD, CD-RW, DVD or combination drive

Internally accessible:
Two 3.5-inch bays for hard drives

I/O Ports
Video: 1 VGA connector, 1 DVI connector
USB: 7 USB 2.0 ports - 2 front/5 back/1 internal
7.1 Channel Audio: 5 miniature jacks for line in, line out (front, rear and center) and two front panel connectors for headphones/microphone
Network: Integrated 10/100/10002 Ethernet
Optional: One 9-pin serial port (optional)
Optional: 2 PS/2 ports (optional)

Slots
3 PCI slots
1 PCIe x 1 slot
1 PCIe x 4 slot
1 PCIe x 16 (graphics) slot

Chassis
Quiet, silver and white chassis with black accents features:
7 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 5 back) and front headphone jack
Color coded ports and internal cables simplify service and set up
Dimensions (H x W x D): 17.5" x 7.4" x 17.5"
Weight: 34 lbs.

Power
Output Wattage: 375 Watts
Input Voltage (auto-sensing): 90 to 135V at 50/60 Hz; or 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz
Heat Dissipation: 1280 BTU/hour (fully loaded computer without monitor)
Backup Battery: 3.0 V CR2032 coin cell
kinda long....

its not that bad....but not really good.
the facts:


NEW Intel® Pentium® D Processor up to 840 (3.2GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 800MHz FSB) with Dual Core Technology.

Operating Systems

Chipset
Intel® 945P chipset

Office Suites & Productivity
Learn More
Standard:
Corel® WordPerfect®

Optional:
Microsoft Works Suite 2005
Corel® WordPerfect® Office 12
Microsoft Office 2003 Basic Edition
Microsoft Office 2003 Small Business Edition
Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Edition

Memory
Learn More
512 MB dual channel DDR2-533MHz SDRAM standard, upgradable to 4 GB1 dual channel DDR2-667MHz SDRAM
4 DIMM slots

Drive Bays
Externally available:
Two 3.5-inch bays for an optional floppy or 13-in-1 media card reader
Two 5.25" for CD, CD-RW, DVD or combination drive

Internally accessible:
Two 3.5-inch bays for hard drives

I/O Ports
Video: 1 VGA connector, 1 DVI connector
USB: 7 USB 2.0 ports - 2 front/5 back/1 internal
7.1 Channel Audio: 5 miniature jacks for line in, line out (front, rear and center) and two front panel connectors for headphones/microphone
Network: Integrated 10/100/10002 Ethernet
Optional: One 9-pin serial port (optional)
Optional: 2 PS/2 ports (optional)

Slots
3 PCI slots
1 PCIe x 1 slot
1 PCIe x 4 slot
1 PCIe x 16 (graphics) slot

Chassis
Quiet, silver and white chassis with black accents features:
7 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 5 back) and front headphone jack
Color coded ports and internal cables simplify service and set up
Dimensions (H x W x D): 17.5" x 7.4" x 17.5"
Weight: 34 lbs.

Power
Output Wattage: 375 Watts
Input Voltage (auto-sensing): 90 to 135V at 50/60 Hz; or 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz
Heat Dissipation: 1280 BTU/hour (fully loaded computer without monitor)
Backup Battery: 3.0 V CR2032 coin cell
kinda long....

at least you have a computer.

Archer November 10th, 2010 2:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PkMnTrainer Yellow (Post 6280697)
How EXACTLY is future proofing a waste of money, or using any adobe product which are all obese, video gaming, or video editing? These are very popular passtimes/things people to do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141300&cm_re=2GB_ddr2_ram-_-20-141-300-_-Product
$16.50 per gig

Oh, per gig. Well that's not too bad - and I fully support dropping in a 2GB stick. But another reason that I don't like the idea of putting too much into that system is that I'm pretty sure it's pseudo-BTX. So if the motherboard fails, you're NOT getting a replacement. Coincidentally, I have personally seen two Dell BTX mobos of that era fail in the last year. The same goes with most proprietary systems. There's just little point upgrading them that far, because if the power supply or motherboard go, you're screwed.

The 100 Mega Shock November 12th, 2010 5:54 AM

You can't "future-proof" computers, let alone one that's already so old. Eventually you're going to hit performance problems that can't be resolved by adding more RAM, and I wouldn't say there are that many ways you can use such a computer where adding over, say 2GB of RAM is the answer to a performance issue.

(You never asked him if he was running a 64-bit OS, either)

Archer November 13th, 2010 3:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 100 Mega Shock (Post 6283187)
You can't "future-proof" computers, let alone one that's already so old. Eventually you're going to hit performance problems that can't be resolved by adding more RAM, and I wouldn't say there are that many ways you can use such a computer where adding over, say 2GB of RAM is the answer to a performance issue.

(You never asked him if he was running a 64-bit OS, either)

I HIGHLY doubt that they're running a 64-bit system. The Pentium Ds were really early in the x64 adoption and XP Pro x64 was a dog.

With the machine in it's current state, the best option is to put in another 1GB or 2GB of ram and do a fresh install of XP. A bloated windows install will bring any computer to its knees. (ie. someone who uses limewire, AVG, Norton, McAfee, driver helper software and other useless wastes of space which load on start up. Not to mention the viruses that any of those AVs will let through)

Whereas I have a 1GHz Pentium 3 rig that's running XP quite happily, because the install is clean and well optimised.

Purple Materia November 14th, 2010 2:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer (Post 6286439)
Whereas I have a 1GHz Pentium 3 rig that's running XP quite happily, because the install is clean and well optimised.

If I may ask, how? Manual fine tuning, software?

Archer November 14th, 2010 2:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Materia (Post 6287452)
If I may ask, how? Manual fine tuning, software?

There's not a lot to it. Making sure that no services/programs that don't need to be there are loading on startup. A lightweight AV/other software also goes a long way. Eg, most browsers are obese these days. Even Chrome. Something like K-Meleon would be wonderful if it looked a little better.

So many people have installs of XP (partially because it's older, partially because it's less secure than Vista/7) that run like crap because they have all sorts of mess installed. Don't get me started on Virus infections. "But it's okay, I was using Norton. My uncle's vet says it's really good because it came with their computer." Wrong. Many of the popular AVs, in practise, are useless. Norton, McAfee, Trend, all bloated horrible crap. I'd also like to point out that CA Antivirus is potentially the most disgusting piece of software I have ever seen running. MSE and Avira are very light and effective. Oh, and they're both free and more effective than the big two.

That reminds me. OEM preinstalled software is usually bloatware. Toshiba, Sony, HP, MSI are the biggest culprits of this. Lenovo, Dell and Asus generally aren't too bad. Although Asus is hit and miss.

Printer "helpers" are a big one. They sit in the tray and suck memory for the once a month that you might scan something in without doing it the proper way (via the Printers and Scanner menu). This also only applies to Vista and 7, but the desktop gadgets are horribly bloated. Google's are even worse. Don't just no choose any, disable them.

You can also use a tool called nLite to slim down the installer disc, but I find that's too much hassle when you can do most of it post-installation. Before I finish, I want to remind everyone that Service Packs will slim down the installations. XP SP0/SP1 is bloated, but SP2 is much better. SP3 is a slight improvement. Vista SP0 was a mess, but SP1 fixed a lot of things, SP2 really isn't much different to Windows 7.

Purple Materia November 14th, 2010 1:37 PM

Just because it came with the computer, doesn't mean it's any good. I personally use NOD32; it's probably not the best but I love it.

I also disabled some features in the Visual Effects of XP. Helped alot.

TheAppleFreak November 14th, 2010 2:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer (Post 6287492)
There's not a lot to it. Making sure that no services/programs that don't need to be there are loading on startup. A lightweight AV/other software also goes a long way. Eg, most browsers are obese these days. Even Chrome. Something like K-Meleon would be wonderful if it looked a little better.

So many people have installs of XP (partially because it's older, partially because it's less secure than Vista/7) that run like crap because they have all sorts of mess installed. Don't get me started on Virus infections. "But it's okay, I was using Norton. My uncle's vet says it's really good because it came with their computer." Wrong. Many of the popular AVs, in practise, are useless. Norton, McAfee, Trend, all bloated horrible crap. I'd also like to point out that CA Antivirus is potentially the most disgusting piece of software I have ever seen running. MSE and Avira are very light and effective. Oh, and they're both free and more effective than the big two.

That reminds me. OEM preinstalled software is usually bloatware. Toshiba, Sony, HP, MSI are the biggest culprits of this. Lenovo, Dell and Asus generally aren't too bad. Although Asus is hit and miss.

Printer "helpers" are a big one. They sit in the tray and suck memory for the once a month that you might scan something in without doing it the proper way (via the Printers and Scanner menu). This also only applies to Vista and 7, but the desktop gadgets are horribly bloated. Google's are even worse. Don't just no choose any, disable them.

It's even worse for stuff you can't easily remove. My mom used to use Norton and later F-Prot antivirus on her Windows 2000 machine (she has a new W7 machine, thank god), and those would bring it to its knees when they started up. It was even worse back when it ran ME; they ate up inordinate amounts of RAM and didn't do anything to stem the flow of a major virus infection she got (which is why she moved to 2000). Eventually, the program's subscriptions expired, but they kept starting up and became bloatware which only annoyed her.

When she got a new machine earlier this year, it had so much stuff on it that she'd never use. There was facial tracking software for login stuff, password managers, trials for programs that she'd never need, even one that acted as adware! Ugh. She had a trial for McAfee which bogged down the normally fast machine until it rivaled the speed of the Win2000 machine. All of it was deleted.


I think the reason why some of these programs are so bloated is because individually, the devs know the program won't take up too much space and power. When the OEMs begin stacking them, though, that's when it gets bad.

Archer November 14th, 2010 4:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Materia (Post 6288585)
Just because it came with the computer, doesn't mean it's any good. I personally use NOD32; it's probably not the best but I love it.

I also disabled some features in the Visual Effects of XP. Helped alot.

If it's one of the newer versions (ie. not the really old free one), then it's basically the best there is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAppleFreak (Post 6288618)
It's even worse for stuff you can't easily remove. My mom used to use Norton and later F-Prot antivirus on her Windows 2000 machine (she has a new W7 machine, thank god), and those would bring it to its knees when they started up. It was even worse back when it ran ME; they ate up inordinate amounts of RAM and didn't do anything to stem the flow of a major virus infection she got (which is why she moved to 2000). Eventually, the program's subscriptions expired, but they kept starting up and became bloatware which only annoyed her.

When she got a new machine earlier this year, it had so much stuff on it that she'd never use. There was facial tracking software for login stuff, password managers, trials for programs that she'd never need, even one that acted as adware! Ugh. She had a trial for McAfee which bogged down the normally fast machine until it rivaled the speed of the Win2000 machine. All of it was deleted.


I think the reason why some of these programs are so bloated is because individually, the devs know the program won't take up too much space and power. When the OEMs begin stacking them, though, that's when it gets bad.

Was it a Dell? I think all of these companies should stop being so heroic and just do a bare install of Windows with the option to install an anti-virus. It really is horrible.

TheAppleFreak November 14th, 2010 6:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archer (Post 6288821)
Was it a Dell? I think all of these companies should stop being so heroic and just do a bare install of Windows with the option to install an anti-virus. It really is horrible.

No, it was Lenovo. With a Dell, they would have at least sent me an OEM reinstall disk so I could wipe/do a fresh install. With Lenovo, they put a "restore" partition on the disk which brings it back to the default factory state when you activate some process. Ugh.

The Win2000 machine was a Dell, though. It has since been beaten to death with a hammer, torn to pieces and threw into a fire retired and now sits in a landfill.

Dawn November 15th, 2010 8:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 100 Mega Shock (Post 6283187)
You can't "future-proof" computers

Yes, you can. Let me remind you that future proofing a computer is simply getting more than you currently can make use of with the knowledge that as the computer ages it will allow the computer to last longer without needing to be upgraded or replaced.

See, if you actually look at the specs of that computer you'll see it lacks the power to run anything past XP. XP is so old that it predates the age where 64 bit became viable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The 100 Mega Shock (Post 6283187)
and I wouldn't say there are that many ways you can use such a computer where adding over, say 2GB of RAM is the answer to a performance issue.

You would be horribly, horribly mistaken. When Microsoft went from XP to Vista the hardware requirement of RAM had a major increase. Other pieces of hardware? Not so much. That being said, increasing your RAM from a decade old standard too low to run even four year old Operating Systems can do incredible things for your computer.


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