What's a Good computer for $500 (to run on 32" tv?)

[alphacoyle]

Hello,

I am looking for a newer computer for mother's day that will be connected to a 32" viewsonic 1080 tv. The computer is used for watching netflix and youtube videos, light gaming and general computing.
I have been considering Dell's xps studio 8300, or a gaming computer off of CL. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to buy?

Any help is greatly appreciated as mother's day is coming up fast.

Thanks!

 

[C12Friedman]

Something like this should take care of your needs I would think... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883220153

 

[alphacoyle]

Do you think this is a better system than the dell xps studio 8300? Thanks!

 

[C12Friedman]

Do you think this is a better system than the dell xps studio 8300? Thanks!

They seem to be fairly evenly matched as far as performance, for the price difference (~$100 less) I think the Asus is the better value

 

[alphacoyle]

why do you like that particular one?

 

[C12Friedman]

Cost/Value the Asus AMD machine with it's APU (CPU & VGA combined) at $500 will give you near the same performance as the Core i5 which is $100 more. The Asus has wi-fi already where, the Dell, it's an add-on. The AMD unit also has USB 3.0 ports - the dell only appears to have USB 2.0.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dxdoms1&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&model_id=xps-8300
until you get into these prices (for the i7 machines) you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in every day computing...
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olstemplatemapper.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0500000%23%230%23%2311a~~cabcat0501000%23%230%23%2329~~f510||44656c6c~~nf681||585053&list=y&nrp=15&sc=abComputerSP&ks=960&usc=abcat0500000&sp=-bestsellingsort+skuid&list=y&iht=n
Those prices seem a little steep.
There are some unknowns for me as far as Asus pre-builts, 1) the amount of bloatware - although I know Dell has quite a bit, I do not know about Asus and 2) whether Asus "locks down" their pre-builts - I know Dell does.
The above factors may not be important for you but those are why I directed you that way.
The biggest drawback of the Asus/AMD machine is it's use of the FM1 socket (what AMD APU's currently use) which seems to be going out of favor and will be replaced by socket FM2 soon. Although I feel that is countered by Dell's "lockdown" which makes upgrades quite tricky.

 

[alphacoyle]

Thanks for the additional information; I've been out of the loop for awhile and the technology has really advanced, a lot. I wonder if by lockdown you mean one cannot just format and reinstall windows without all the bloatware, if so that would be awful. Perhaps I should slow down and catch up, then just build a system. I will read up on this asus specs though.

 

[C12Friedman]

Actually, by locked down, I mean hardware choices are limited as are BIOS options. The lockdown is placed there so that the "average user" won't be able to make the system unstable. As far as bloatware, most can be removed by ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS but a few are stuck and are considered integral to the OS (I find that annoying). I will always recommend doing your own build if it is an option, if only for the versatility of parts and the ability to upgrade later.
As far as being out of the loop, I know how that goes, seems you blink and everything you did know has changed somehow... speeds are incredible (compared to just 10 years ago (when I did my last tower build - was travelling so went to laptops) but it seems building has gotten easier (a lot more information available).
If you do decide on doing your own build, I will recommend looking into a Solid State Drive (SSD) for system/boot drive - my favorite upgrade to computers in 40+ years of computing. For an idea of speed of those things, on my i5 rig, from restart to login screen is ~17 seconds.
Enjoy, ask for a much information as you can - from me, you're only getting one opinion with my own personal bias (I love building computers).

 

[alphacoyle]

Ok I will just do a build and include an ssd. I want everything to work together with good video, audio and be fast while internet browsing. I think a dual core is all we need but you can probably advise if that is the case. Do you have any suggestions for a motherboard, video and sound cards, ram & processor that all will work togther well?

 

[C12Friedman]

Ok I will just do a build and include an ssd. I want everything to work together with good video, audio and be fast while internet browsing. I think a dual core is all we need but you can probably advise if that is the case. Do you have any suggestions for a motherboard, video and sound cards, ram & processor that all will work togther well?

A sound decision (IMO)... now I'm going to refer you to the Systems - New Build area of the forum here
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum-31.html
to start a new thread. This sticky suggests what to include in the thread to get the most valuable recommendation
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice
The people who hang in those forums are good (I like to read them - rarely do I comment there) although you will find a few opinionated types who will (near) demand you get a certain item... Overall, it's about the best place to get build recommendations even with that.

 

[alphacoyle]

Best answer selected by alphacoyle.

 

[alphacoyle]

Ending up getting the dell xps 8300 and it's been a decent performer.