Need assistance on new computer purchase

[aweinman]

Hi,

I am in the market for a new computer. Mostly for email, internet, WP, but also for some usage with Photo's manipulation and video processing, rendering, etc to create home DVD's.

I have always bought from local computer stores with specific parts in mind, but I took a look today at FutureShop and found the following:

HP M7470 Dual Core Media Center (Refurbished)
& LG 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor -L204WT
For $1029.99
Processor Type AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Dual Core
Processor Speed 2.2GHz
RAM 2GB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (Exp. To 4GB)
Hard Drive 300GB SATA (7200RPM)
Optical Drives DL 16X DVD+/-RW Lightscribe & DVD-ROM
Graphics Card ATI Radeon Xpress 200 w/ 256MB (Shared)
Available Expansion Bays 1 HP Personal Media Drive
Available Expansion Slots 1 x PCI
Cache 2 x 512KB L2
Network Card Integrated 10/100
Other Control Devices HP Keyboard, Optical Mouse, Remote
Preloaded Operating System Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Sound Card Integrated Audio, 6 Speaker Configurable
System Bus 2000MHz

or

HP Pentium Dual Core 820 2.8GHz With Viiv (Refurbished)
& LG 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor -L204WT
for $999.99
Processor Type Intel Pentium Dual Core 820 With Viiv
Processor Speed 2.8GHz
RAM 2GB DDR2 SDRAM (Exp. To 4GB)
Hard Drive 250GB 7200RPM (I believe this is SATA also)
Optical Drives 16X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer With LightScribe
Graphics Card nVidia GeForce 7300LE
Available Expansion Bays 1 x 3.5", 1 x 5.25"
Available Expansion Slots 2 x PCI
Cache 2MB L2
Network Card 10/100 Ethernet
Other Control Devices HP Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse
Preloaded Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005
Sound Card Intel High Definition, 8-Speaker Config
System Bus 800MHz


These 2 deals would give me a fully loaded computer with a 20" monitor for about $1000+tax. And licensed Windows MCE

Am I asking for problems by purchasing a name brand versus buying specific parts locally?

If these are good deals, which is better?

Also is this not a great price. A computer with a processor, memory, drive and LCD 20" like this I think would cost me over $1500 locally.

Anyway, please assist.

And by the way, anyone know what manufacturer HP uses for it Hard Drives?

Thanks,
Allan

[Emoe]

Those are pretty good deals. A lot of major retailers are liquidating systems atm to prepare for next gen stuff. The AMD system is better.

I'm going to guess they use samsung or hitachi hard drives.

[aweinman]

Thanks for the reply.

Anyone have experiance with HP or Gateway. As Futureshop also has some very good discounts on Gateways.

BTW. These computers are refurbs. Anyone have any issues with a refurb computer?

Thanks,
Allan

[aweinman]

Just found out more info on the AMD package above:

AMD X2-4200 @2.2GHz
2GB of PC-3200 DDR occupying only 2 of 4 memory slots (expandable to 4GB)
300GB SATA hard drive,
embedded ATI Radeon Xpress 200,
MSI MS-7184 motherboard,
16X DVD(+/-)R/RW RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe drive and a
2nd 16X DVD ROM drive, modem,
Hauppage WinTV and FM tuner PCI card,
RealTek AC'97 audio controller (up to 5.1 speaker systems and digital audio out),
10/100 Base-T controller,
card reader for multiple card types,
multiple front ports (1 firewire, 2 USB HS),
multiple rear ports (1 firewire, 4 USB HS),
and two free PCI slots (one normal, the other PCI Express x16),
optical mouse and a very nice infrared remote and IR receiver.
parallel port.

Anyone?

[aweinman]

Not many replies. Was hoping for more assistance.
Anyone have anything to say about FutureShop computers?

If this is not a good place to ask, can anyone let me know a good site to ask questions like this.

Thanks,
Allan