Help with a cruddy situation

[XxsydenxX]

I realize you all must get plenty of these types of questions, all of the time, and may find it rather imposing or annoying, but im really in a crunch, and who better to contact then the number one computing site [imo] on in the interwebz! Recently, my computer died out....it was something that i saved up for..for many years...repairs will cost over 800 dollars and i just dont have that money, i can barely afford anything...I am a high school student, whom left my family..I wont go into extreme detail or sob story, but i will say I have had lots of...bruises in my life time. Anyways these bruises caused mental "bruising" and i missed out on alot of school...so im 17 going into the 10th grade...In my school its required you either have a home computer which i no longer have...or a laptop...The operating system doesn't matter as long as it can use Microsoft office so i was thinking about using linux. I'm familiar with linux and used it alot before. Now here is where you come in, could you suggest something VERY cheap to me...which has integrated [or pci card doesnt matter] nvidia graphics, [because of photo manipulation] and something that has atleast an amd athlon x 2 or a Pentium dual core...... I would be so thankful at any help you you could give me...and sadly...my price range...is 200 dollars..i know thats really pushing it. But they have standards set on what our laptops or home computers need to be....the home computer has to be small form factor...and thanks again..really.

[red_Marvin]

I do not know how the market is in the USA and what the prices are, but later posters might benefit from knowing what peripherals you already have, when suggesting parts. Eg. Do you have a monitor you can still use, or does that have to be included in the USD 200?

While USD 200 might not buy you a state of the art computer, since it is needed mainly for word processing and the like anything with >1GHz and 512MB ram should be more than enough.

[oldsoundguy]

I realize you all must get plenty of these types of questions, all of the time, and may find it rather imposing or annoying, but im really in a crunch, and who better to contact then the number one computing site [imo] on in the interwebz! Recently, my computer died out....it was something that i saved up for..for many years...repairs will cost over 800 dollars and i just dont have that money, i can barely afford anything...I am a high school student, whom left my family..I wont go into extreme detail or sob story, but i will say I have had lots of...bruises in my life time. Anyways these bruises caused mental "bruising" and i missed out on alot of school...so im 17 going into the 10th grade...In my school its required you either have a home computer which i no longer have...or a laptop...The operating system doesn't matter as long as it can use Microsoft office so i was thinking about using linux. I'm familiar with linux and used it alot before. Now here is where you come in, could you suggest something VERY cheap to me...which has integrated [or pci card doesnt matter] nvidia graphics, [because of photo manipulation] and something that has atleast an amd athlon x 2 or a Pentium dual core...... I would be so thankful at any help you you could give me...and sadly...my price range...is 200 dollars..i know thats really pushing it. But they have standards set on what our laptops or home computers need to be....the home computer has to be small form factor...and thanks again..really.

First: Is this a US PUBLIC school? IF it is, they can NOT require a computer simply because that is discrimination against low income families. (Shelter, food and clothing come first.)

Second, you are asking for a nearly state of the art computer. Doubt that something with that much power is needed for a HIGH school just yet.

Third: IF your plea is legit, contact some CHURCHES in your area. (or learn to say: "Do you want fries with that?")

You can get a basic operational computer at many of the thrift stores or a computer shop that specialize in picking up the trade ins from other stores and selling same.

AND I have never repaired a computer that needed 800 bucks worth of parts/labor except one that caught fire from accumulated hair plugging up the fans.

[starcannon]

I'd put a WTB advertisement up on your local craigslist.

Nvidia is not something your going to need in order to do photo manipulation, new integrated intel's will handle you fine for that.

I'd recommend a dual core intel somewhere at or nearly 2ghz, 2gb of ram, b/g wifi card(intel would be best) make it a laptop if possible, it sounds like you don't have a lot of room, and if this is for school, portability might be nice. If this is your sole computer, I'd look at 14~15 inch widescreens if possible as well.

$200.00 is pushing the envelope a little, but if you get lucky on craigslist or ebay, or perhaps even here on the forums, you could pull it off. By the way, be sure to put a WTB with a minimumn spec list in the Ubuntu Forums Community Market (http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=38)

GL

[starcannon]

First: Is this a US PUBLIC school? IF it is, they can NOT require a computer simply because that is discrimination against low income families. (Shelter, food and clothing come first.)

Second, you are asking for a nearly state of the art computer. Doubt that something with that much power is needed for a HIGH school just yet.

Third: IF your plea is legit, contact some CHURCHES in your area. (or learn to say: "Do you want fries with that?")

You can get a basic operational computer at many of the thrift stores or a computer shop that specialize in picking up the trade ins from other stores and selling same.

AND I have never repaired a computer that needed 800 bucks worth of parts/labor except one that caught fire from accumulated hair plugging up the fans.

+1 those are some great ideas as well.

[XxsydenxX]

First: Is this a US PUBLIC school? IF it is, they can NOT require a computer simply because that is discrimination against low income families. (Shelter, food and clothing come first.)

Second, you are asking for a nearly state of the art computer. Doubt that something with that much power is needed for a HIGH school just yet.

Third: IF your plea is legit, contact some CHURCHES in your area. (or learn to say: "Do you want fries with that?")

You can get a basic operational computer at many of the thrift stores or a computer shop that specialize in picking up the trade ins from other stores and selling same.

AND I have never repaired a computer that needed 800 bucks worth of parts/labor except one that caught fire from accumulated hair plugging up the fans.


It's a private school...in which i pay with my monthly social security check.

I may go to some churches and explain my situation with said proof then...

As for getting a job, i have no car and no one to drive me to work and the bus line in the city i live in is rather..un safe...after all i live in the city with the highest rate of crime and murder to my knowledge, so an ideal job would be somewhere near me..but in this economy finding someone who is looking for workers is hard..

but thank you for your opinion...:)

[starcannon]

These aren't duo cores, but still plenty fast for anything an average highschool will throw at you.

Tower/CPU:
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/computer_systems_with_os/refurbished_pentium
$80 shipped to your door.(even has ATi graphics)

Monitor:
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/monitors/lcd_15in
$58 shipped to your door.

Keyboard/Mouse/Speaker Combo
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/input_devices/keyboard_combo
$19.99 shipped to your door.

USB 2gb Thumbdrive:
http://www.pricewatch.com/browse/flash_card_memory/usb_2gb
$8.25 shipped to your door.

HP All-In-One Color Printer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828115193R
$52.31 shipped to your door

Grand Total: $218.55 including the printer

$166.24 without the printer.
I think your school would be fine with a system like that, you can ditch the win2k OS off that computer and put Ubuntu on there, or pay $10 more for the XP upgrade at time of purchase, and Wine MS Office if you like, or set it up as a dual boot, and run MS Office natively in MS Windows, or if you already have a WinXP install disk, you could throw that on there just fine as well and save $10.

GL that should do it for you.

Edit, heres a laptop in your price range, comes with XP Pro:
http://www.kaileypc.com/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=450.21593*tW1y44&p_id=00234&xm=on
Looks like they sell a lot of refurbs for decent money, I'm gonna be picking something up for my kids here me thinks:
http://www.kaileypc.com/store/agora.cgi

Again, GL

[K.Mandla]

First: Is this a US PUBLIC school? IF it is, they can NOT require a computer simply because that is discrimination against low income families. (Shelter, food and clothing come first.)

Second, you are asking for a nearly state of the art computer. Doubt that something with that much power is needed for a HIGH school just yet.

Third: IF your plea is legit, contact some CHURCHES in your area. (or learn to say: "Do you want fries with that?")

You can get a basic operational computer at many of the thrift stores or a computer shop that specialize in picking up the trade ins from other stores and selling same.

AND I have never repaired a computer that needed 800 bucks worth of parts/labor except one that caught fire from accumulated hair plugging up the fans.
+1 on all points.