The computer quiz

[danaeris]

Alright. You have to choose between four systems. You have limited money, but you also need the processing power to do short (5-10 minute) audio and video clips in addition to graphic and website work.

A) 2.16 GHz, 120 GB hard drive, 2 GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, Intel GMA 950 graphics card, 1 FireWire 400 port, polycarbonate body with some chipping, 1.5 years wear and tear on all but the hard drive which is only a six months old, no insurance, requires some assembly.

B) 2 GHz, 160 GB hard drive, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics card, no FireWire, aluminum 'unibody', brand new, with three year warranty, but it will cost you somewhere between $170 and $570.

C) 2.4 GHz, 250 GB hard drive, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics card, no FireWire, aluminum 'unibody', illuminated keyboard, brand new, with three year warranty, but it will cost you somewhere between $450 and $850.

D) 2.4 GHz, 250 GB hard drive, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics card + 9600M GT with 256MB, 1 FireWire 800 port, aluminum 'unibody', illuminated keyboard, brand new, with three year warranty, but it will cost you somewhere between $930 and $1330.

[Poll #1319322]

Comments

[qedrakmar.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming the cost is the extra cost above the baseline of A. The graphics card shouldn't affect the graphics work you do, just how much of it you can do simultaneously. The most likely component to go is usually the hard drive (one of 2 moving parts, besides fans) and none of those listed is particularly worse in that category than any other. Assuming you back up your serious work somewhere else (as everyone should do), which the firewire will facilitate, the hard drive is your only risk, and they are comparatively cheap. You could probably upgrade to 500G for less than the difference of any of the other systems.

It looks to me like A is a winner, unless you worry about the "some assembly" in which case I would lean D, because firewire really can be that important.

[yaksman.livejournal.com]

Difficult to say. I'm guessing system A is the one you already have, which is why you don't mention any price.

You've got limited funds, but it's hard for anyone but you to say just how limited, and how much you can/will sacrifice for improvements in your computing. I can say that I wouldn't go for B over A. (You're losing a bit of processor speed and connectivity for a bigger hard drive and fancy video card, not a tradoff worth that kind of money), but after that, I'm really not sure.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

I'm guessing system A is the one you already have, which is why you don't mention any price.

System A is the one I already have + upgrading the memory, the OS, and the cost of the software suite I'm buying, Adobe CS4

I can say that I wouldn't go for B over A. (You're losing a bit of processor speed and connectivity for a bigger hard drive and fancy video card, not a tradoff worth that kind of money)

Well, there's also the lack of warranty and the wear and tear on system A, and the higher speed of the memory and the option of someday expanding that memory to 4GB on system B (system A cannot accommodate any more memory than it has).

[lawbard.livejournal.com]

I think the lack of a firewire drive could become a significant hindrance, which is why I lean towards A or D.

[etherial.livejournal.com]

Yay Condorcet voting!

[iclysdale.livejournal.com]

I'll echo everyone else's comments on Firewire for video.

Beyond that, I'll just say that I'm always a fan of buying as low-end as you think you can get away with -- it's generally much cheaper to progressively upgrade a little more memory, a new external hard drive, as you need them. My current desktop is seven years old, and my home laptop's five years old - and they do everything I need, including a fair deal of audio editing. I wouldn't want to be doing video on them, but your machine's nowhere near as old as they are...

[badoingdoing.livejournal.com]

Adding capability to do firewire isn't hard for a desktop, and is much cheaper than, say, computer D.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Alas, these are all laptops, not desktops.