TCorris Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Hey Guys, A 10 year old computer in my office finally died, convincing the boss to go ahead and buy a new computer. He decided I would handle the task of finding it. Now here is my question. What kind of Desktop computer should we get? We are a very small company. This computer cannot cost us more than $500, or he will walk away from the idea. I've been reading posts with specs calling for 12 to 16GB RAM... Why? All I need is for this computer to run Windows 7 Aero and AutoCAD 2010. Right now I have computers running Windows 7 32-bit, with 2GB RAM, Intel 2.4GHZ Dual Core processors and basic graphics cards. The computers run fine, I just have Windows Aero disabled to run AutoCAD better. The computers keep up with everything and don't crash. Can't I just get a newer computer with an i3, i5, or i7, 4GB DDR3, Windows 7, and an upgraded graphics card? Like I said, I cant throw an idea at him that will cost more than $500, MAYBE I can push him to $650. Any ideas? How about just a good idea for the graphics card? I can install it myself. Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack_O'neill Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Take a look at a place like Tiger.com or its competitors. They have new stuff, refurbs, barebones kits, all sorts of stuff. You might find what you're looking for there, and at least thier stuff comes with a little bit of warranty, unlike buying something from Ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Look in Craigslist and buy someone's used computer. You'll get more for your $500. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Look at Newegg.com as well. Good deals there. Link Not too bad there.. Phenom 2 X4 840T (2.9 GHz.) 4 GB DDR3 1TB HDD Radeon HD 6450 1 GB DVD-RW Wireless Media Card Reader Win7 64-bit $499.99 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReMark Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 He wants a $500 computer to run his $3000+ AutoCAD program on? Is he going to be playing Minesweeper at coffee break too? LOL Tell him you can buy him one of those $199 laptops some company is making for kids over in Africa. He'll save another $300 and you'll probably get a promotion (no pay raise though, sorry). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f700es Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Well nothing in those specs I posted are below Acad needed requirements. At most another graphics card can added for under $100. I guess it depends on what type of CAD work they will be doing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCorris Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 Well nothing in those specs I posted are below Acad needed requirements. At most another graphics card can added for under $100. I guess it depends on what type of CAD work they will be doing. Those specs looked fine to me. We just do simple 2D MEP CAD work. I had an ATI radeon in the computer I am using now until the driver was corrupted and crashed my computer. Up until then the computer ran extremely well, I actually liked the card... until then. Now I have a cheap NVidia card that I've been using, still runs fine, just had to disable Aero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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