Windows 7, not enough.

Back in March I decided that it was time to get a new computer, and a friend suggested I look into getting an iMac. After doing a lot of reading on the Apple site I started to like the idea. My friend let me use his older iMac for a few weeks to familiarize myself. I found it easy to navigate around the os but didn't find too much to do. I started investigating some of the available apps, but I felt limited. I checked out some of the AV apps, and upon inquiring at the Apple iMac forum, I was told in no uncertain terms that I don't need an AV because iMacs don't get viruses. They actually had a tone of scolding me for asking. Then I considered that iMacs are built with pretty much laptop parts so it all fits in there.
Then I looked into price and what that includes, and I built an iMac on the Apple site including an additional 4gb of RAM to get a total of 8 gb. That was $200 extra if my memory serves me right. There wasn't much I could add, so after adding the Microsoft Office for students, the computer would cost about $1,600.
I decided to shop around the WIN 7 computers again and was able to build a DELL XPS8300 on line with a better i5-2400 cpu, sound blaster x-fi xtreme audio sound system, 8gb RAM, 1.5tb HD and a 1gb ati radeon hd 5450 video card etc. Then I added Microsoft Office business addition, Roxio 2011 for free, and Photoshop elements for a total of $1,400. I bought the DELL.

Heyyou said:

Back in March I decided that it was time to get a new computer, and a friend suggested I look into getting an iMac. After doing a lot of reading on the Apple site I started to like the idea. My friend let me use his older iMac for a few weeks to familiarize myself. I found it easy to navigate around the os but didn't find too much to do. I started investigating some of the available apps, but I felt limited. I checked out some of the AV apps, and upon inquiring at the Apple iMac forum, I was told in no uncertain terms that I don't need an AV because iMacs don't get viruses. They actually had a tone of scolding me for asking. Then I considered that iMacs are built with pretty much laptop parts so it all fits in there.
Then I looked into price and what that includes, and I built an iMac on the Apple site including an additional 4gb of RAM to get a total of 8 gb. That was $200 extra if my memory serves me right. There wasn't much I could add, so after adding the Microsoft Office for students, the computer would cost about $1,600.
I decided to shop around the WIN 7 computers again and was able to build a DELL XPS8300 on line with a better i5-2400 cpu, sound blaster x-fi xtreme audio sound system, 8gb RAM, 1.5tb HD and a 1gb ati radeon hd 5450 video card etc. Then I added Microsoft Office business addition, Roxio 2011 for free, and Photoshop elements for a total of $1,400. I bought the DELL.

Good choice. Odd, though, that your XPS8300 has an i5 in it. Mine has an i7-2600. Did you downgrade your processor? The i7 is standard in the 8300 (at least it was when I ordered it). You might have an i7 but don't know it! ;-)

-Max

Max Peck said:

Heyyou said:

Back in March I decided that it was time to get a new computer, and a friend suggested I look into getting an iMac. After doing a lot of reading on the Apple site I started to like the idea. My friend let me use his older iMac for a few weeks to familiarize myself. I found it easy to navigate around the os but didn't find too much to do. I started investigating some of the available apps, but I felt limited. I checked out some of the AV apps, and upon inquiring at the Apple iMac forum, I was told in no uncertain terms that I don't need an AV because iMacs don't get viruses. They actually had a tone of scolding me for asking. Then I considered that iMacs are built with pretty much laptop parts so it all fits in there.
Then I looked into price and what that includes, and I built an iMac on the Apple site including an additional 4gb of RAM to get a total of 8 gb. That was $200 extra if my memory serves me right. There wasn't much I could add, so after adding the Microsoft Office for students, the computer would cost about $1,600.
I decided to shop around the WIN 7 computers again and was able to build a DELL XPS8300 on line with a better i5-2400 cpu, sound blaster x-fi xtreme audio sound system, 8gb RAM, 1.5tb HD and a 1gb ati radeon hd 5450 video card etc. Then I added Microsoft Office business addition, Roxio 2011 for free, and Photoshop elements for a total of $1,400. I bought the DELL.

Good choice. Odd, though, that your XPS8300 has an i5 in it. Mine has an i7-2600. Did you downgrade your processor? The i7 is standard in the 8300 (at least it was when I ordered it). You might have an i7 but don't know it! ;-)

-Max

Actually DELL had a few different set ups at different base prices to choose from, and I actually upgraded to the i5-2400 3.10ghz from a lesser one while building the computer. It's probably more cpu than I'll need. I don't remember seeing a i7 as a choice. Either that or it would have brought the price too high, I forget.

Digerati said:

What I think they really need to do is make noscript available for all browsers

Scripts can be disabled on most (if not all) browsers - though some users may not like the results. For IE users, AdblockIE works very well.

SimpleAdBlock for IE is also available but the free version only has a 200/day block limit, which I think is ridiculous, and they know I think that too! While 200 may be plenty for most people, there were many days when I hit my limit before the morning had run out.

Noscript is specific it's not a block all, and I wouldn't want to block all scripts it would basically make the web unusable.

Heyyou said:

Actually DELL had a few different set ups at different base prices to choose from, and I actually upgraded to the i5-2400 3.10ghz from a lesser one while building the computer. It's probably more cpu than I'll need. I don't remember seeing a i7 as a choice. Either that or it would have brought the price too high, I forget.

Well, either way, you'll love the machine. Mine smokes. It also runs incredibly quiet.

I bought it so I could do video conversion and to use with FSX. My older box was an E500, I think, with a P4/3.4GHz in it. Just didn't have the bandwidth for video conversion. This one doesn't even breathe hard when I'm running video through it! When using FSX I turn on everything and there are no frame-rate delays or anything. All control inputs are just like in a real aircraft. Dadgum it's sweet. I doubt I'll need any more power than this for a very long time.

-Max

Max Peck said:

Heyyou said:

Actually DELL had a few different set ups at different base prices to choose from, and I actually upgraded to the i5-2400 3.10ghz from a lesser one while building the computer. It's probably more cpu than I'll need. I don't remember seeing a i7 as a choice. Either that or it would have brought the price too high, I forget.

. I doubt I'll need any more power than this for a very long time.

-Max

+1 Yes, I think I'm good for a long time as well. Good luck with your XPS8300.

Digerati said:

Noscript is specific it's not a block all, and I wouldn't want to block all scripts it would basically make the web unusable.

Right. Neither are the two adblock add-ons for IE.

Don't get me wrong I love windows, hell the mac os barely even makes any sense to me to be honest. I.E. is not something I've ever liked though, and as you can tell from my avatar it's not something I'm skittish to talk about.

..and adblock is available for pretty much every browser so far as I know. I've not seen much proof it actually helps in preventing code injections though. Unless it's the type that actually resides within a ad banner, and the ad hosting services have actually gotten pretty good about pulling those themselves these days.