Adobe Community: Message List - Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 20:29:16 GMT

At least she didn't try to deposit a check in her banking account, by feeding it into the CD drive.

Hunt

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:27:27 GMT

Send her this next time:

The link:

http://xkcd.com/627/

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 14:17:02 GMT

There are times that I have to bang my head against the wall when dealing with my wife's sister

She has several games that I put on her new computer... mostly different company's variants of Mahjong

Yesterday she called and said that when she went to play one of her games, it told her to put the CD in the drive (a form of copy protection, I presume) and she asked me what she should do

Well duh... if the program says to put the CD in the drive, you put the CD in the drive!

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 27 Jul 2013 02:21:24 GMT

Hey, so long as she can get to her Web sites (remember, set up her log-in for dicey sites to "Jim Simon"), all is well in the world.

Way to go, and hope that all realize that there IS a spot in Heaven for you.

Hunt

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 15:37:52 GMT

Bought the Dell 660 on Thursday... I got it all set up and delivered to her on Friday... no calls since then, so she seems to be happy

The computer is all she needs for her "basic" work (Word-Excel-Pictures) and no more web visit complaints about her old Vista browser

I can't say the same about the buying experience at Best Buy... the employee who worked with us was great, the BB computer system SUCKS DUST BUNNIES

By the time we reached the local store, they had sold their last Dell (Sister-in-Law would not order by phone to pay/reserve one, she had to see it... even though all she was going to see was a micro-tower case... oh well, it's her money)

I had employee "Seth" check the BB inventory computer to find another store with the Dell model... he found one with two, but when he was going to let her buy one "here" to pick up "there" the BB computer popped up a note to call the "there" store to verify inventory

It turns out that the BB computer system is not Real Time, there is a 1-to-2 (more?) hour delay between an item being sold and the online inventory being updated

When Seth finally got someone to answer his "store to store" call and check... the "there" store did not have any to sell

So, the same process with "there-2" store and possibly "phantom" inventory... after another long "store to store" call wait, found that "there-2" actually did have a Dell 660 on the shelf

She paid and we drove to "there-2" to get the computer... I took her home and loaded her old computer in my car and brought everything to my place to get old files off to DVD and then started new computer for activation and file transfer

Moral of the story is that if a "local" Best Buy has an item in stock, the buying process is smooth... if sold out and need to contact another store... the BB computer system SUCKS DUST BUNNIES and buying is not a great experience

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 02:50:21 GMT

After some delays (she's old and has DR visits and gets tired really easily) it looks like we go to BBuy Thursday morning

After more reading, a potential drawback to the Dell is that it has 2 ram slots and a max of 8gig... as built and no more

The HP has 4 ram slots, and it "could" be possible to add 16Gig (2x8Gig) to the as built 8Gig... for $130... BUT, that won't happen, since she is really pushing her limited budget to spend $450 on either "as built" boxes

Each one uses part of the 8Gig for onboard graphics, and each one also has one PCI x16 slot... so I could give her a give of an ATI 512Meg graphic card for not very much $$ if she still has multi-tasking problems due to the shared memory

All in all... it looks like the Dell is 1st choice for "known good" telephone support

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 01:26:56 GMT

I think her Photoshop Elements will be just fine with Win8 and 8G

Her biggest problem (aside from the old IE in Vista not working well on some web sites she visits) is that she forgets that after some number of programs being opened, Vista with 4G begins to bog down... every time she has a thought, she opens the corresponding program (Browser... Photo editing... Word... Excel... A game, or two) without closing something she is not using

Even thought it is 64bit, I am hoping that Win8 manages memory and task switching better, so she won't HAVE to remember to close X when she wants to open Y and Z

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 01:02:52 GMT

I have a small laptop with Windows 8 and it runs Photoshop on 8G just fine. Rendering in Premiere Pro is painful, but other programs seem fine.

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:59:49 GMT

It does have Win8 pre-installed... along with some demo software versions that I will remove (anything she uses, she has her own install discs)

I'm not sure about the restore disc... local BBuy has 3 in stock, so after we go to her house to SEE her problems, and most likely go buy a new box... we will find out what comes with the box (I know it has mouse and keyboard)

I don't much care about the restore disc... I will do all installs of her programs, and file transfers via USB stick from old computer... and once everything is done, I will use http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/image-for-linux.htm to make a full backup to a USB hard drive

The only option I MAY do if she finds that Win8 64bit Home Premium needs more than 8Gig of ram for what she does is to buy another 8Gig http://www.crucial.com/store/listparts.aspx?model=Inspiron%20660 for $76 - but that is not an automatic upgrade by any means

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:56:05 GMT

It may be in India, but I can remember when a hard drive failed and Dell sent a technician to my house to install a new hard drive with the OS. It was just the way it was when I bought it by the time he left. And let me say, that was when the OS came on 3.5" floppies. It took a while but he patiently took care of everything.

Did I need him to do that? No. But, it was kind of nice not having to do it myself.

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 22:55:07 GMT

I would go with the Dell.

They probably still come with pre-installed OEM OS,

along with a dummy-proof restore disk if needed.

And, a phone number in India for her to call.

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 17:34:48 GMT

Since I build my own, I am also not enthused about Dell's "only our way" hardware policies... but that really isn't a factor here, since the default of their current $450 offering is all she needs

I am "slightly" leaning toward Dell... Vista problems are not the fault of Dell... one of her gripes is that every web page she visits complains about her version of IE, and she can't update because Microsoft no longer ports new IE versions back to Vista

If (more likely when) she decides to buy new, either box has Win8 so will be current for a few years... or at least updated for awhile to stay reasonably current with web page standards changes

She is coming over today after for a monthly card game, and my wife is going to sit her down before the game starts to introduce her to Win8... which is, once you get past the tiles of the start screen, not all that different on the OUTSIDE from the Vista she uses... and having the menu/icon tiles on the start screen would mean she doesn't have to mess with a separate menu program

Oh well... one step at a time... 1st is Win8 introduction... then is to get her to decided does she really want to spend $450 on a limited income, or would she rather just continue to call me to complain (which does NO good at all... I can't help with such an old computer and an OS that was not all that good when new)

Grin... having Dell support for a new computer is a REALLY good thing!

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 16:49:31 GMT

Generally, I don't much like Dell's propensity for building systems

with proprietary hardware and case configurations.

That said, I have an old Dell GX620 that I have used as a 3D

network render manager for years, completely hiccup-free.

I don't ask much from it (just telling the render nodes what to do),

but it always starts and runs when I press the power button.

I also have a 2003 Dell I8200 laptop that just won't quit working.

I use it for taking out to the pool for music & net access.

If I were getting it for myself, HP without question.

If I were buying for an 80 year old sister-in-law...

I would probably get the Dell.

Easy to buy, easy to set up (basically no options other than factory),

and she can call Dell support with problems (instead of you).

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:52:43 GMT

The mouse is a dell inspiron 530, with some junk I put into it to upgrade it...( power supply, drives, cpu, pci fw800, etc )...and it has been chugging along pretty well for a real long time. So that's good for dell. Had acer monitors so dont know about dell monitors.

The pig got built custom but I got 2 HP Pavillion 23xi monitors...and I really like the monitors. If the box ( pavillion ) is like the monitors I would go with the HP for sure.

Re: Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 15:47:13 GMT

Personally, I lean toward the Dell even though it does not have as many cores. The support from Dell was always good for me when I had Dells. Plus, I am an Intel guy from way back.

The HP looks to be slightly better in some respects, but I doubt that any of them are important enough to outweigh the Dell support. (Unless Dell support is not what it used to be - I wouldn't know.).

As far as the quality of the parts? I don't believe that you would ever see a difference. And the Dell warranty probably trumps the HP due to ease of getting help.

On the other hand, since Best Buy has the Geek Squad, you are probably fine with either. Go with your gut. Or, maybe just pick the quietest one.

Opinions on NON-Editing PC for Sister-in-Law

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 14 Jul 2013 14:42:22 GMT

80'ish sister-in-law has a 6+ year old "basic" Dell (with Vista) that is beginning to "flake out" on her (I don't know if it is hardware, or Vista is just old and messed up)

I can't build her a computer at the same price as a mass market computer, but really don't know much about the current state of affairs in ready made

There is a Best Buy store near, so I checked the BB site... there are 2 in her price range, both $450

Dell Inspiron with 1T drive

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dell+-+Inspiron+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1TB+Hard+Drive/9028043. p?id=1218971611623&skuId=9028043&cmp=RMX&ky=1whxm51gbOgORrn6M8JOUlLjDtR0yY7Rx

HP Pavilion 500 with 1.5T drive

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pavilion+500+Desktop+-+8GB+Memory+-+1.5TB+Hard+Drive/8998 102.p?id=1218968343934&skuId=8998102&cmp=RMX&ky=1whxm51gbOgORrn6M8JOUlLjDtR0yY7Rx

Computers are generally equal except for hard drive size... which is not a big consideration, since her current 320Gig drive is only about half full

Until recently, her Dell has been doing OK (slow, but it is 6+ years old and was not fast when new) so I am "slightly" leaning toward telling her to buy another Dell

BUT... does HP "generally" build a better computer than Dell, and does anyone know something specific... good or bad... about the HP Pavilion 500?

Remember, this is NOT for video editing (which is why I ask in the Lounge) with the "hardest" work she does being Photoshop Elements for her digital camera

Also, I am only interested in these two computers, since they are available at BB for immediate pickup (she keeps calling, and I need to get her a new computer SOON)