Choosing Family PCs on a Budget

Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:00PM EDT

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A dad of four (ages 2 to 12) writes that he is looking for a good computer for his kids and a laptop with wireless Internet access for himself so he can check on email and work from the couch, the porch, anywhere in the house. (Mom already has a Mac.)

"Both machines can be simple—to keep costs down. We're buying on a budget. But they need enough horsepower (er, memory and speed) for fast Internet access and use of video and other multimedia features. What do you recommend?" he writes.

Since Mom has a Mac, this Jersey dad would consider buying Macs all around—if money were no object. But he's trying to save some money while still outfitting his family with solid computers. (Aren't we all?)

For the kids' computer, I recommend the HP Pavilion Slimline s3100y, a powerful, capable, and compact desktop PC. HP is offering customized models starting at $450 with a rebate right now, but you do have to buy the monitor separately. This 19-inch widescreen monitor ($230) turns the PC from homework machine into an impressive media-viewing center, but HP also is offering $70 off 15-inch monitors with the purchase of a customized Pavilion Slimline s3100y. Remember to get the most memory and the biggest hard drive that your budget allows.

For a laptop, Joe the Jersey Dad, consider the HP Pavilion dv6000t notebook (pictured). It may not be the fastest computer, but it will deliver all of your basic computing needs mixed with some impressive entertainment components in a stylish package at a budget price. You can get the memory and features you need for about $1,100, maybe less. Or, if you're looking for a workhorse with no optical drive to burn CDs or DVDs, Lenovo's ThinkPad x61 is a good choice, especially if you're moving it between home and the office. Battery life gets high marks from users, and it's fast, light, and truly portable.

But if you do want some media center capabilities for a good price, there's also the Dell Inspiron E1505. It's slightly heavier and more expensive than the HP mentioned above. I've been happy with its predecessor, the Dell Inspiron 6000.

To check out a few other Yahoo! Tech picks, click over to Chris Null's "Quick Guide to Buying a Laptop," which runs you through the four types of laptops and what matters most: screen size, CPU and RAM, extra features, and battery life. His most recent "How to Buy a Laptop" post is also a must read.

If anyone has any other suggestions for Jersey Dad, pipe up. Hope that helps. Let us know what you decide and why.

Quick Guide to Buying a Laptop
How to Buy a Laptop: Summer 2007 Edition

Comments on Choosing Family PCs on a Budget

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  • 1 Posted by taficke on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:54PM EDT Report Abuse

    Gateway's are one of the best deals around! And they have lots of features for not a lot of money.

  • 3 Posted by g.saulmon on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:05PM EDT Report Abuse

    Let us not forget Toshiba...they have several good laptops for not a lot of money....

  • 4 Posted by britbloke50 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:13PM EDT Report Abuse

    For the best deals check out Tigerdirect you won't get better.

  • 5 Posted by jpwatkins105 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:42PM EDT Report Abuse

    uh no!! He wants macs, and you told him he cant afford it, then suggested him a $1100 PC, macbook, same price. Mac mini for the kids may be a little over though.

  • 6 Posted by syntheticon2k3 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    That's a horrid recommendation. Why recommend something that is so limited in upgrade options? Want a new videocard, too bad the small form factor makes it impossible. Want a different sound card, too bad, same deal. Micro/mini form factors are ok for office use but for home use they aren't usually a good option. A standard mid tower form factor (which will most likely use a standard ATX or EPS12V PSU which is easy to replace if it goes bad is a better bet. You will have a few PCI slots and probably a PCI-Express x16 slot for a future videocard upgrade and replacing components and/or adding RAM is always easier than trying to maneuver around in those tiny cases.

  • 7 Posted by syntheticon2k3 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:52PM EDT Report Abuse

    Forgot to add, ignore the author and don't worry as much about harddrive space. Adding an external storage drive later on if it's necessary is a snap (you literally just plug it in and voila, more storage space.) The MOST IMPORTANT aspect to look at when ordering is making sure you get the best PROCESSOR your budget will allow, followed by the most RAM and then worry about harddrive space. Even budget pcs usually come with over 120GB of harddrive space(and sometimes 250GB or more.) The average, everyday user probably isn't going to be able to upgrade the cpu, so get the best you can right off the bat. Adding RAM is usually easy enough for even a beginner to do (and if you aren't comfortable with that, I'm sure you can find a local pc shop that will pop in more RAM for you.) So again, don't worry about harddrive space, if you need more, grab something like a Western Digital Mybook that uses either USB 2.0 or Firewire and is simply plug and play. You can move all of your data to the external drive for backing up and keep your harddrive clean. Why she thinks harddrive space is more important than cpu in regards to the initial purchase is beyond me.

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