[MelodyL]

I don't think we are going the laptop route.

Here's what I want to do.


I like my monitor. It's just fine. It's from Hewlett Packard.

I like my keyboard (It's a Keys-u-see big key keyboard.

I DO NOT LIKE MY HARD DRIVE, so when I say COMPUTER, please know that I am referring to the TOWER, okay??

I have a HP MEDIA CENTER PC, 3700+ AMD Athlon 64 Processor, Windows XP, 1.0 GB memory, 200 GB HAR DRIVE With Integated ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 GRAPHICS.

There are all sorts of slots in this thing that I can hook up cameras to (I never have by the way). I have various USB ports and PS2 ports, and serial ports. etc. etc.

Can I do the following?


Can I bring this TOWER to the guy a few blocks from here and request him to MAKE THIS A NEWER COMPUTER? Can he re-format my hard drive and then install Vista (or whatever is newer on the market today?", Can he give me more RAM, MORE HARD DRIVE, and whatever comes with the new computers.

See, I don't need a new keyboard, monitor, printer, THEY ALL WORK JUST FINE.

But a long time a go, I got hit with a virus and this darn thing has never really been right ever since. Sometimes it freezes, it's slow to get online, and I just said "Why on earth can't I just bring in the tower and have him give me NEWER STUFF?? That way, I still get my computer, I know how to use it. I know where the two cd roms are. I have a Light Scribe DVD plus,minus writer./CD writer. The other rom drive just says CD ROM

SO CAN I DO THIS??

Oh, and if I do this, then I gather all I have to do is unplug the stuff from the back of the tower, and replug all connections, (i.e. monitor, printer, logitech mouse, logitech camera, etc), when I get it back from the computer guy? Can I do this?

And here's my really good question. Do I have to re-install the modem software? I remember that Verizon told me that software IS IN THE MODEM, so if I can just re-plug everything from the tower, and then re-plug everything again, WELL, CAN I DO THIS?

Thanks much.

P.S. The only other alternative is to buy a completely new desktop and this way sounds MUCH cheaper, no???

Melody

[allentgamer]

Hi Melody, I believe you can do all the things you want to do. The only thing you might want to do is price the items you want to change, and then ask the guy down the street how much the labor will be to do this upgrade.

Once you find out how much this upgrade is going to be, then go look around at some of the new computers. Here lately the prices have been coming down on computers, and you might be surprised to find that buying a new one wont be all that much more than upgrading your old one.

I was wondering if you know if your hard drive and DVD are SATA or not? I am guessing it probably isnt. SATA makes programs, picture editing, video editing, and DVD burning a bit more snappy than what you would be used to, and if you add a core 2 duo processor it will be quite a bit faster than what you have. Especially if your computer speed has been slowed by a virus, or just plain old clutter in the registery.

You can look on newegg.com, or tigerdirect.com for just the tower prices. The prices are very reasonable, and wont break the bank like they used to.

You will love how much faster your computer will be no matter which way you go I can guarantee that

P.S. Your new or old computer should be able to see your internet connection without any software

[MelodyL]

Originally Posted by allentgamer

Hi Melody, I believe you can do all the things you want to do. The only thing you might want to do is price the items you want to change, and then ask the guy down the street how much the labor will be to do this upgrade.

Once you find out how much this upgrade is going to be, then go look around at some of the new computers. Here lately the prices have been coming down on computers, and you might be surprised to find that buying a new one wont be all that much more than upgrading your old one.

I was wondering if you know if your hard drive and DVD are SATA or not? I am guessing it probably isnt. SATA makes programs, picture editing, video editing, and DVD burning a bit more snappy than what you would be used to, and if you add a core 2 duo processor it will be quite a bit faster than what you have. Especially if your computer speed has been slowed by a virus, or just plain old clutter in the registery.

You can look on newegg.com, or tigerdirect.com for just the tower prices. The prices are very reasonable, and wont break the bank like they used to.

You will love how much faster your computer will be no matter which way you go I can guarantee that

P.S. Your new or old computer should be able to see your internet connection without any software

Hi Allen:

You said:

"I was wondering if you know if your hard drive and DVD are SATA or not? I am guessing it probably isnt. SATA makes programs, picture editing, video editing, and DVD burning a bit more snappy than what you would be used to, and if you add a core 2 duo processor it will be quite a bit faster than what you have. Especially if your computer speed has been slowed by a virus, or just plain old clutter in the registery"

lol lol I'm hysterical. I wouldn't know a SATA FROM A SOTA!! How can I find out if my hard drive has this SATA?? I don't do picture editing, or video editing. I just make my videos and upload them on youtube. I do sprouting and my sprouting friends seem to like viewing my latest sprout videos. And I've never burned any DVD's but I do have the lightscribe writer thingee so I gather I could if I wanted to. I STILL USE VCR's by the way. lol

I would guess this media center that I have can do ALL THOSE FANCY EDITING stuff, but that's not my thing. I have no idea why I even got the media center edition of XP.

If I go the Vista Route, is there any particular kind I shoudl get?

Oh, one more thing. I can replug my modem into the back of the tower right (I mean if I upgrade), and even if I get a brand new computer, all I have to do is plug the modem in the back of the tower right?

I can't find my modem software and I remember when I got Verizon dsl, the cd didn't even work right and the lady at Verizon had to walk me through the whole installation.

Do I have to DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN? or is the software already on the modem.

See, I have lots of questions and very few answers. And you're going to LOVE what happened earlier today.

I am SUPPOSEDLY the COMPUTER GURU in my neighborhood!!! ME!!!! Can you believe that?? All of my neighbors are well into their 70's and some are over 100. Very few have computers and if they do, it belongs to one of their kids or grandkids.

Well, earlier today my doorbell rings and it's the lady who lives on another block. I know her but not well. She said "I heard you are a computer expert". I responded "I am????" I laughed and said "What's wrong?"

She said "You have to come home with me, something is wrong with my computer". I just looked at her because believe me, she wouldn't know how to use a computer or go online if her life depended on it." I then said "you use the computer?" She said 'yes, for my music".

So I'm thinking "this lady has music files and she knows computers??"

So we go down into her basement and there's this BEAUTIFUL DELL WITH A WIDE SCREEN MONITOR AND WINDOWS VISTA and all neat stuff and she can't do anything with her mouse.

I saw a pop up on her monitor that said "you are unprotected, go and check your McAfee".

so I said "oh, you have no virus protection right now". Well, she had no clue what I was talking about and she's running around the house yelling "I have no virus protection, I have no virus protection, oh my goodness"

I said "take it easy", let's just reboot" and I did.

Everything came back up perfect;. I then said "how do you listen to your music". And she said "Put me online". I saw the AOL icon and clicked on it, and her name came up and she put her password in and BINGO, some radio thing came on and she was running around the house calling me a genius, clapping her hands, and asking me if I wanted a drink".

I never laughed so hard in all my life. I gather her son programmed the computer that all she had to go was click on AOL and the home page was some radio thing. That's all she did. Then she could go about her housework and listen to the music.

So I am the neighborhood computer geek, and I'm on this message board asking about modems and computers.

You gotta love this.

Melody

[bobber]

weigh the cost,,and check out the tech,,,and yes ,they can soup up anything,,,good thing about the new ones,,their fastand cheaper now,,starting under 300,,,, i still have my old dinasar hp,,i like it alot,,my pc before that i had it worked on several times,,it wasnt the same even after a complete wipe and reinstall,,only bought me another yr out of it ,but it wasnt the same,,,weigh the cost,,you may be disapointed,,,or maybe not,,if you like your machine,,soup it up,,i still have mine as a backup,,,

[Jomar]

Maybe all you need is a new hard drive??

Have someone install it, copy over the OS files- or did you ever make those back up/ restore cds?
they could be used to set up a fresh system on the new drive and keep all the old stuff on the old drive as your back up files.

I don't know if HP is still proprietary , meaning they have to use HP stuff /operating system to repair/rebuild...
unless you do a full rebuild motherboard and many internals.

a good tech guy should be able to estimate what you have, vs new, vs replacing a few things to help you figure out the best way to go from here.

[Jomar]

here's some places to compare prices- new pc or various parts..
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...EW.asp?CatId=6
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...me=Desktop-PCs

http://www.pcdirectsource.com/parts.cfm?Cat=53

[MelodyL]

Originally Posted by Jo*mar

here's some places to compare prices- new pc or various parts..
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...EW.asp?CatId=6
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCateg...me=Desktop-PCs

http://www.pcdirectsource.com/parts.cfm?Cat=53

Okay. I have two more questions. Actually one, because NO ONE ANSWERED MY MODEM QUESTION. Can I just unplug what I have now connected and just re-plug the modem and IT WILL WORK??? Or do I have to install modem stuff?

And now here's my other question. Suppose I don't want to keep my tower. Seems more trouble than anything now that I think of it.

Can't I just go to the computer store and say "I want to keep my monitor, and keyboard and mouse, all I need is a NEW COMPUTER!!

Then he shows me what is on the market today, and I say "okay" and I buy it for WHATEVER, because I have no idea how much they cost today. Then I bring it home, (and I have all cd's for all my peripherals by the way).

So let's say I buy a new computer (just the tower), and it comes with Windows Vista (what else do they come when you get a bundle??). Can I bring it home and hook my monitor and keyboard and mouse? Will I have to use the cds that came with the monitor, keyboard and mouse?

Or are these things plug and play?

AND SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTION ABOUT THE MODEM.

lol
Melody

[Friend2U]

Originally Posted by allentgamer

Hi Melody, I believe you can do all the things you want to do. The only thing you might want to do is price the items you want to change, and then ask the guy down the street how much the labor will be to do this upgrade.

Once you find out how much this upgrade is going to be, then go look around at some of the new computers. Here lately the prices have been coming down on computers, and you might be surprised to find that buying a new one wont be all that much more than upgrading your old one.

I was wondering if you know if your hard drive and DVD are SATA or not? I am guessing it probably isnt. SATA makes programs, picture editing, video editing, and DVD burning a bit more snappy than what you would be used to, and if you add a core 2 duo processor it will be quite a bit faster than what you have. Especially if your computer speed has been slowed by a virus, or just plain old clutter in the registery.

You can look on newegg.com, or tigerdirect.com for just the tower prices. The prices are very reasonable, and wont break the bank like they used to.

You will love how much faster your computer will be no matter which way you go I can guarantee that

P.S. Your new or old computer should be able to see your internet connection without any software

I am going to replace my old laptop with a desktop. I don't know yet what to get. I need to have something that will edit video and I create a lot of illustrations and need a really good program for that... powerpoint video presentations... I need a lot of memory and whatever else. It will be an investment. But since I retired, I was spoiled with my computer at work and now have time to do some things at home... buy not with this laptop dinosaur.

I've looked a Dell..? They have a pretty fast copier/printer which I need something for publishing children's books Right now I"m printing everything on Hp and is really slow. My profits don't look to great if I figure the time put in...

Well I'm rambling a bit.... I may need to pick your brain later. I'm just doing a lot of reading and searching and taking notes now. I want to make a good decision.

Anyway, back to the thanks.... You've added to my notes!!!!