Shopping help? Anyone?

[roadrunnertwice]

My parents want a new computer. For various reasons, I kind of wanted them to get a Mac, but they'd prefer a Windows 7 box,* so that's what they're shopping for. Or rather, asking me to help them shop for.

I have no idea how to buy a Windows PC these days.

They're leaning towards getting a Dell, mostly due to inertia; I suspect there are better options. Any advice? This will probably be a desktop machine instead of a laptop, and will be used mostly for productivity and media.

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Also, they want to be able to watch Hulu and Netflix Instant on their TV, and I'm not sure of the most cost-effective or easiest way to do that. Is Boxee good? What's the best way to run it? Should I consider scrounging a cheap AppleTV or something?


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* Familiarity, mostly. Plus they need Quickbooks, which would require them to buy Windows 7 and VMWare anyway if they went with a Mac. (Which I still think would be preferable to having to maintain and protect a full-time Windows box, but whatever; I won't be using the computer.)

Actually, this does have the side benefit of putting Chris in charge of tech support from here on out. I haven't administered a Windows system in years, so tag, bro, you're it! :P

Comments

[itastelikelove.livejournal.com]

Boo.

[roadrunnertwice]

Yeah, sorry.

Incidentally, how do YOU feel about what they should get? Any requirements of your own?

[itastelikelove.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't care all that much. My computer skills goldfish has kinda shrunk to the size of its current bowl. I'm pretty good at anything that I need to do on the Grackle, but I tend not to even have much interest in things that I can't do with my aged and minimalist brick. On the other hand, I don't know anything at all about using macs, so I'd be more comfortable if they get a windows 7 machine. I'll be learning a lot from scratch, but at least I'll recognize the framework.

Seriously. I know so little about macs that all things that are supposed to be intuitive are like trying to read avian facial expressions.

[roadrunnertwice]

Come to think of it, I'd already learnt Unix before going Mac, and that probably made a big difference.

I honestly think you could get fully up to speed in about three months, maybe less, and you'd be functional in less than a week of full-time use. But there's that question of whether that would actually improve your life at all, which, meh, who knows.

[itastelikelove.livejournal.com]

i probably could get used to using a mac, but...i don't really use the house computer all that much lately anyway, so it would take quite a bit longer.

[itastelikelove.livejournal.com]

in related news, i finally put that 20-gig drive in the grackle. kinda nice being able to keep non-essential files on the hard drive rather than cds and thumb drives. i have a whole gigabyte of pdfs ON MY HARD DRIVE. I feel like i've entered the twenty-first century.

[roadrunnertwice]

Oh, no kidding? Sweet! You get sound and stuff working again?

[itastelikelove.livejournal.com]

nope. i tried for a couple of days, even put the old drive back in and looked up the version of the driver, but it didn't take. everything else works as well or better, though, so i'm okay with it for now, at least. i'll probably try again eventually, but it's a pretty frustrating business.

[roadrunnertwice]

Yeah, no joke. I still never figured out where your friend found the damn driver in the first place.