Computers & Electronics

Should I give up my Laptop for a good DesktoP?

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  • Oct 19th, 2004 10:17 am
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Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Nov 1, 2003
6363 posts
330 upvotes
Toronto

Should I give up my Laptop for a good DesktoP?

I currently have an Inspiron 300m. Had it for about a year now and paid about $2300 at the time.

Main specs are:

- 1.2 Centrino
- 30 GB HD
- 12.1 inch screen
- 256 MB Ram
- External Floppy Drive
- Media base (has a subwoofer integrated, and a 4X DVD+RW)

My sister needs a laptop, and so I'm thinking of just giving her mine and just asking her for about $1500, and getting a good desktop.

I'm just wondering if I'd be able to get a good desktop computer for about that much.

I already have a 160GB Maxtor IDE HD. And I'm looking for a desktop with these specs:

- 17 inch LCD Monitor
- 2 Ghz processor (think thats fine for me)
- 512 MB RAM
- DVD+RW Burner
- Good Motherboard (have no clue which one)
- Decent Soundcard (doesn't have to be, but 5.1 would be nice)
- A good video card, not a hard-core gamer really though, perhaps somethign with a TV Tuner card.

Reason why i'm thinking of giving up my laptop is I'd just like somethign more powerful. And I know my sister would be fine with my laptop, since she uses basic things. Although I love the portability of a laptop, I think i'd be fine with a desktop as well. But yea do you think I'd be able to get custom parts to put together that desktop I'm looking for about $1500? Minus the cost of a HD since I have one, dont worry about peripherals, I have enough of those.

Thanks.
2 replies
Sr. Member
Dec 3, 2002
517 posts
44 upvotes
BC
IMO, you're going to be able to get one great desktop with $1500.

17" lcd's go about $500-600ish.
processor, something along the lines of an XP 2500 Barton should be pretty good already.. ~$120-140
mobo.. Maybe ~$150-200
ram.. ~$120-150 for some good quality 512, or ~$200 for 2x512 generic's
dvd+/- rw.. ~$100-150, depending on what you're looking for
soundcard.. $0 if you can live with the onboard, or $50-100 for a good one
vidcard... ~$200-250 can probably get you an ati AiW 9600 (includes tv-in options).

Of course, you can probably do a lot better buying used parts here at the forums, and I'm SURE there'll be a ton of people lining up to make you a deal.
Gl with your new rig.
Deal Fanatic
User avatar
Nov 1, 2003
6363 posts
330 upvotes
Toronto
Thanks a lot for the reply. Yea I still havn't talked to her about the $1500, lol wonder if she'll give me that much, cause I know she can probably find a cheaper one off dell's site. But yea we'll see. I dont mind putting in an extra bit either. But I prefer not to.

I'll probably just get custom brand new parts and put it together myself, or with some help from an uncle.

But thanks for giving me some "estimated" prices.

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