Opinions on Lenovo ThinkCentre M55 8810-94U Intel Desktop PC for $449

[roseBudd]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4181377&CatId=2630

I am a hardware geek so putting a 2nd 1 GB RAM and a larger SATA HD as needed will be no biggie.

Graphics Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000

Lenovo ThinkCentre M55 8810-94U Intel Desktop PC - Intel E6300 Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz, 1GB DDR2, 80GB SATA, DVD-ROM, Gigabit LAN, Windows XP Pro

[Clovis Sangrail]

1. too expensive for what it is

go to pricewatch.com

[roseBudd]

3. Systemax Ascent KMA3500 Desktop Computer - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3403941&CatId=2629

Will also check pricewatch, mainly interested in opinions on the hardware

Systemax Ascent KMA3500 Desktop Computer - AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / genuine Windows® Vista Business® / 1GB DDR2 / 160GB HDD / DVD-ROM/CD-RW / Customized w/ XP Pro Downgrade

This affordable system comes with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz socket AM2 processor running on an MSI K9N6SGM-V motherboard with NVIDIA GeForce 6100 graphics. Add on an 160GB SATA II 7200RPM hard drive and 1GB of DDR2 667MHz PC5400 RAM, and integrated 10/100 ethernet adapter for quick network connections. Plus, a DVD-ROM/CD burner for watching movies, listening to music, ripping CDs, making CDs, or installing programs. It also includes a 350 Watt power supply, keyboard and scroll mouse. All these components and more run under Microsoft's Windows Vista Business Edition operating system.

[orwell]

4. The Lenovo...

...would be faster with the Core2. These are nice processors...and that comes from a long time amd fan.

XP is a faster operating system than Vista, but Vista is "prettier". You need 2 Gig to run Vista with the aero effects but 1 Gig is fine for XP.

Of the two, I would go for the Lenovo. Just remove the bloatware and you would have a nice machine. $449 seems like a decent price.

[roseBudd]

5. thanks for the input, I am a hardware geek so adding the 2nd 1 MB NP

I never got the obsession with a pretty OS. And the jumping Dock icons just seem silly.

I was forced onto an iMac at work running Parallels at work.

The deal killer for me with my Mac side is thumbnail view which I think PCs have had since Win 2000.

I don't use Adobe Bridge. For me thumbnail view of all my graphic files other than PDFs is so integral to how I work.

Whether it is open, attach, or overwrite thumbnail view is how I work right after Last Modified.

Plus Allaire/Macromedia/Adobe never made Homesite the non WYSIWYG HTML/CSS editor for Macs.

[Kukesa]

2. You should post this in DU's Computer Support/Help Group n/t

[hobbit709]

6. Build your own

I can usually find the parts online-might have to go to more than one place but the last one I built has a Athlon X2 2.5 GHz, 2Gb RAM, ECS 7050 motherboard, 250 Gb SATA drive and 20X DVD burner in a midtower case with a 400 watt power supply. Total parts cost was just over $200 including shipping.

[roseBudd]

7. I was thinking about it, here are the MB/CPU bundles

Which would you pick?

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=14

[Clovis Sangrail]

8. I couldn't really type before because I had a cat sleeping on 1 arm :D

If money is an issue you'll be better off in the long run building your own system.
That doesn't really mean spending much (if any) more - just more legwork from you.

I've got an E6300 overclocked to 3.1ghz in an Asus P5N-E motherboard.
(a decent board is *key)
I've had the board for a while, and it will be a reasonable system for a while to come.
It overclocks well, has a 1.33ghz bus and accepts quad core chips as well.
In a year or two when quad core chips are cheap I can drop one in and get a serious upgrade for not much money.
The board takes up to 8gb of DDRII so I've got that upgrade path as well (I only have 2gb right now)

The board was close to $200 when I got it, but it's saving me a bundle.

The below components are going to be way better than what you get with the Lenovo for about the same cost.
Shipping will eat more money, but if you dig around you probably get everything from 1 or 2 vendors and cut that down as well.

$122 P5N-E http://www.partspc.com/ProductDetails.asp?CatID=679&ProdID=6346
$104 E6300 http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=729
<$80 2gb DDRII 800 (not gonna recommend specific memory)
$53.98 500gb ncq sataII Seagate HD http://3btech.net/se50728mbbus.html
$57.99 NVidia 8600 gts http://3btech.net/reboxpanvge8.html
<$80 case w/ decent PS (not gonna recommend anything specific here either)

on edit:
I grabbed all that from pricewatch.com in a just a few minutes... which is why I recommended the site.