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[Owlbread]

MadMalkavian, I can only say that if there is any way for you to wait until December to buy a computer or find another computer to use temporarily, please take that option. The kinds of computers you're going to buy for 300 dollars are nowhere near good enough to be able to do what you want to do.

[MadMalkavian]

MadMalkavian, I can only say that if there is any way for you to wait until December to buy a computer or find another computer to use temporarily, please take that option. The kinds of computers you're going to buy for 300 dollars are nowhere near good enough to be able to do what you want to do.

Neither of those are options right now. I may not have a computer by the middle of the month if things keep going on how they are with this machine I am typing from. Plus almost nothing released after 2006 interests me in regards to video games so it's alright if I don't have the best equipment.

[Lord Shonus]

That's a pretty bad buy, actually. Not only is refurbished equipment somewhat risky, I just (my dining-room computer died less than a month ago, and needed replacing) bought a better computer from Best Buy for roughly the same price (factoring in shipping). When it comes to lower-end prebuilds, online shopping doesn't save you a significant amount of money compared to a major retailer, and the local stores have better warranty coverage and no ship time.

[MadMalkavian]

I don't buy it Betty. You haven't heard the horror stories I've heard about Best Buy and their GeekSquad.

[Tellemurius]

I don't buy it Betty. You haven't heard the horror stories I've heard about Best Buy and their GeekSquad.

Geeksquad's warranty is actually nice as they ususally will just toss the junk and let you go pick out a new one.

[MadMalkavian]

I don't buy it Betty. You haven't heard the horror stories I've heard about Best Buy and their GeekSquad.

Geeksquad's warranty is actually nice as they ususally will just toss the junk and let you go pick out a new one.

I don't trust Best Buy or Geeksquad. I'm going to leave it at that.

[Tellemurius]

I don't buy it Betty. You haven't heard the horror stories I've heard about Best Buy and their GeekSquad.

Geeksquad's warranty is actually nice as they ususally will just toss the junk and let you go pick out a new one.

I don't trust Best Buy or Geeksquad. I'm going to leave it at that.

Believe me, i know the stories you are talking about and i worked on a machine that was from an aftermath of a geeksquad repair recently. The employees could care less for repairs and alot of it is a joke, for the warranty though its quick and easy for them as corporate manages most of that so they throw away the crap one and grab a new one off the shelf and hand it, just hope they dont need to do a data transfer.

[Lord Shonus]

I wasn't referring to Geeksquad at all. I was referring to replacement warranties (where you just get a new product off the shelf), which come free for a set period with every product (unless you open the case) and can be extended for a small charge. It is by far the best option for low-end equipment.

[MaximumZero]

@MadMalkavian: The reason you didn't find that on HP's website is because it's actually a business-class machine.

Here is everything you'll ever want to know about it.

[MadMalkavian]

I don't buy it Betty. You haven't heard the horror stories I've heard about Best Buy and their GeekSquad.

Geeksquad's warranty is actually nice as they ususally will just toss the junk and let you go pick out a new one.

I don't trust Best Buy or Geeksquad. I'm going to leave it at that.

Believe me, i know the stories you are talking about and i worked on a machine that was from an aftermath of a geeksquad repair recently. The employees could care less for repairs and alot of it is a joke, for the warranty though its quick and easy for them as corporate manages most of that so they throw away the crap one and grab a new one off the shelf and hand it, just hope they dont need to do a data transfer.

Well that is a little more reassuring then. The data transfer bit might be a problem as I have a data cap on my internet and don't like replacing everything all the time. Still, Best Buy had worse deals than Newegg or TigerDirect from what I saw. Just my opinion of it at least.

I wasn't referring to Geeksquad at all. I was referring to replacement warranties (where you just get a new product off the shelf), which come free for a set period with every product (unless you open the case) and can be extended for a small charge. It is by far the best option for low-end equipment.

I was considering getting a replacement warranty but I was also going to talk to my payee about saving up about $500 USD within the next few months "just in case". Not certain which one I'm going to do yet because I'm more sold on making the purchase from TigerDirect or Newegg than Best Buy considering I've done business in the past with both TigerDirect and Newegg and have been satisfied with the results.

I go into Best Buy and they treat me like I'm some inbred hillbilly mongrel that doesn't know what they are talking about. Not very pleasant I tell you what.

@MadMalkavian: The reason you didn't find that on HP's website is because it's actually a business-class machine.

Here is everything you'll ever want to know about it.

Yeah thanks for refreshing my memory. I was right, it does have the Intel GMA 4500, the cost-reduced version of the Intel GMA X4500, with compatibilities with DirectX 10, 4.0 Shaders and Open GL 2.1 - good enough for what I want to do at the present, which is play the following games...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

• The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
• Fable: The Lost Chapters
• Vampire: The Masquerade: Redemption
• Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines
• The Sims 2
• The Sims 3
• Organ Trail: Director's Cut
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II
• Thief: Deadly Shadows
• Team Fortress 2
• Terraria
• Dwarf Fortress
• Touhou 10.5 - Scarlet Weather Rhapsody
• ADOM
• The Rougelike
• Neverwinter Nights
• Haven and Hearth
• Dungeons and Dragons Online
• La Tale

And a smattering of other video games that I likely forgot about or will just barely meet the minimum system requirements for. In hindsight I don't even really want to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The only things that would get me into those two games are if I get to talk to my younger brother more often about The Elder Scrolls and if I can get past the fact that they fucked everything up in those two games just with the changes between Morrowind and Oblivion alone. Even then I plan on getting an XBOX 360 so I can play video games that my computer would be unable to play, such as Fable II, Blazblue and Record of Agarest War. Might as well pick up Oblivion and Skyrim for that as well.

Now to all of you I will concede that I may be willing to give Best Buy a chance thanks to what Lord Shonus and Tellemurius have said. It all depends on whether the warranty from TigerDirect or the warranty from Best Buy is a better deal. I appreciate your input and I'm sorry if I'm just a little too tsundere for this part of the forum.

Truth be told I was asking for input and opinions rather than advice because I don't ask for advice from people on the internet as that lead me to being doxed one time and receiving a dozen packages about a Missionary position, recruitment calls from the Church of Scientology, and one thirty-five year old schizophrenic who has a beef jerky fetish saying he wanted to make love to my butt. I know you guys won't do that but I'm not really willing to trust people on the internet like how I used to. I thank you for your input and opinions however and I appreciate them very much so. I'm going to now check out the pricing between TigerDirect and Best Buy for the HP DC7900 as it turns out both sites have the same variant available for sale. Have a good evening.

[Descan]

I have no idea how advice is so special that it would lead to all that, while opinion/input wouldn't.

[MadMalkavian]

I have no idea how advice is so special that it would lead to all that, while opinion/input wouldn't.

I don't know either. I think it's because when you ask for advice you might be inclined to follow it while if you ask for someone's opinion or input you might be persuaded to their view or you might not. Again, I'm sorry if I stepped on any toes and I do appreciate everyone's input.

Also I checked out Best Buy. It turns out they were sold out of the computer and didn't have the others available from what I could see but I'm able to get a one-year extended warranty from Newegg on a similar variant of the model I linked to you guys. I thank you once again for your help and your input. However, I was supposed to make my mind up by Friday and seeing as it is that I have now made up my mind on what I want to get.

Once more have a good evening and I'm sorry if I stepped on any toes.

[Baffler]

Hey, I was thinking of installing Company of Heroes on my laptop. My machine meets most of the system requirements easily, but not all. Namely the processor. It requires 2GHz but I only have 1.5GHz. I have more than 4 times the required RAM and Video RAM though, and so much more disc space than is required that it isn't even worth considering. I don't expect to run at max FPS, but I value a consistent framerate over a high framerate for RTS games anyway. Is it worth trying?

[MadMalkavian]

I've got a couple quick questions. With 3.00Ghz, 2GB of RAM and an Intel GMA 4500 will I be able to run The Sims 3? Also how much RAM will the Intel GMA 4500 have after it borrows some from the system RAM?

[Tellemurius]

I've got a couple quick questions. With 3.00Ghz, 2GB of RAM and an Intel GMA 4500 will I be able to run The Sims 3? Also how much RAM will the Intel GMA 4500 have after it borrows some from the system RAM?

the GMA4500 will take half of that ram, I had troubles running the first and second game with that chip so really doubt 3 would run well or at all.