Re: Which is Better - Building My Own Computer or Buying the HP m9340f
Hi JNMayes and welcome to the PCWorld Communities. 
The Discussion to which you have posted your concern is in relation to the news article. I have branched your issue into its own Discussion.
This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
The Discussion to which you have posted your concern is in relation to the news article. I have branched your issue into its own Discussion.
This is my personal Dream PC: http://forums.pcworld.com/blogs/mphenterprises/2007/12/21/my-gift-to-myself
Re: Which is Better - Building My Own Computer or Buying the HP m9340f
Building a computer is always cheaper than buying one from a manufacturer unless you have like a 50% discount coupon. Is there really a need for 6gigs of ram unless your really into hardcore photo editing and movie editing? The stats for HP is pretty good but the price is not. You can certainly build one for such a way cheaper price.
Re: Which is Better - Building My Own Computer or Buying the HP m9340f
jnmayes - Welcome to the PC World Community. First let me point out as other regular members can confirm, I have a LOT of HP equipment. I have 2 HP laptops and an older HP Media Center and a 4 year old HP business class desktop, as well as several HP printers. With that said, I do not care for the m9xxx series of Media Center computers for the prinicipal fact that the glossy black case looks good but is one of several computer lines put out by HP and Dell that have the backwards cases.
The vast majority of cases open the left side panel to access the contents of the machine. The backwards or right sided cases open the right side panel to access the contents of the machine. This may seem a trivial thing, and it may be. The keyboard and mouse connections for example instead of being located immediately under the PSU are on the bottom edge of the back panel.
Fortunately, the MB is a standard MB, just rotated 180degrees to comply with the case setup.
Manufactured computers are always a compromise in what marketing types think will sell. They can be customized to a certain degree, if you order directly, and not on off a shelf at a store or website, for then you always get what is available.
Do you need 6GB of memory? I have 4 in my machine with Vista HP and it runs great. I have 2GB in my HP Media Center with Vista HP and it runs great.
Do you want a dial up modem?
Do you want cable card access for the TV tuner?
Doe you even want a TV tuner?
I would sit down and decide what I want on the computer, and then see how difficult it would be to buy the bits and pieces to put it together and how much it would cost.
The m9340f is a good buy, if it meets your needs. If you want to purchase a manufactured machine, then go to the HP website and see what it would cost to get exactly what you want. I personally lean more to the d5000 series more than the m9000 series, but then that's just me.
The vast majority of cases open the left side panel to access the contents of the machine. The backwards or right sided cases open the right side panel to access the contents of the machine. This may seem a trivial thing, and it may be. The keyboard and mouse connections for example instead of being located immediately under the PSU are on the bottom edge of the back panel.
Fortunately, the MB is a standard MB, just rotated 180degrees to comply with the case setup.
Manufactured computers are always a compromise in what marketing types think will sell. They can be customized to a certain degree, if you order directly, and not on off a shelf at a store or website, for then you always get what is available.
Do you need 6GB of memory? I have 4 in my machine with Vista HP and it runs great. I have 2GB in my HP Media Center with Vista HP and it runs great.
Do you want a dial up modem?
Do you want cable card access for the TV tuner?
Doe you even want a TV tuner?
I would sit down and decide what I want on the computer, and then see how difficult it would be to buy the bits and pieces to put it together and how much it would cost.
The m9340f is a good buy, if it meets your needs. If you want to purchase a manufactured machine, then go to the HP website and see what it would cost to get exactly what you want. I personally lean more to the d5000 series more than the m9000 series, but then that's just me.
Re: Which is Better - Building My Own Computer or Buying the HP m9340f
Smax - you hit just about all the bases that could be hit. Consider turning that into a document.
Jnmayes - I would add a few things. I use PC De-crapifier on the HP dv9500t laptop I bought directly from HP last fall. It does a fairly good job, it did not remove all of the crapware, and all but one of the items remaining were generally the "sign up to this internet site" type of icons easily dispatched with the delete comman. The one item was a trial of Norton's Internet Security which I ripped out by it's roots with the removal tool.
Starting about 20 years ago I built my own for about a decade, when time required and availability and cost factors swapped the decision. I bought my last desktop two years ago and since built two, one for me and one for a friend. Years ago, I could purchase the CPU, Memory and MB from the supplier and they would "integrate" them (read assemble) them for me so all I had to do was install the MB in the case, add the drives, install the OS and software and voila! I was done.
I was hesitant on the first one about installing the CPU and heatsink/fan, but reading posts in this community gave me the tools I needed. Now, I had a case and a DVD burner, and HD already, so now all I needed were the guts. I ordered the MB, Intel C2D E6750, 2GB of memory, Vista HP OEM DVD, and 8600GT video card for a total of $731. Add maybe a $80 for a case, $60 for a HD and $35 for a DVD Burner and it pushes $900, but if you paid todays prices you could knock $150 off of it for a total of about $750.
Following the instructions for the MB and the processor, I had no trouble assembling the CPU and heatsink onto the MB. From there it was familiar territory, as I have been know to completely disassemble a computer to give it a good cleaning to get all the dust out. After that one, I started assembling parts for one with an E4500 C2D for the friend and the total outlay was around $500. This time it used the onboard video as it was basically an internet machine for my friends daughter.
But you have to make the decision. PC De-Crapifier and Norton's Removal Tool can turn a manufactured machine into a nice desktop if you want to go that route.
Jnmayes - I would add a few things. I use PC De-crapifier on the HP dv9500t laptop I bought directly from HP last fall. It does a fairly good job, it did not remove all of the crapware, and all but one of the items remaining were generally the "sign up to this internet site" type of icons easily dispatched with the delete comman. The one item was a trial of Norton's Internet Security which I ripped out by it's roots with the removal tool.
Starting about 20 years ago I built my own for about a decade, when time required and availability and cost factors swapped the decision. I bought my last desktop two years ago and since built two, one for me and one for a friend. Years ago, I could purchase the CPU, Memory and MB from the supplier and they would "integrate" them (read assemble) them for me so all I had to do was install the MB in the case, add the drives, install the OS and software and voila! I was done.
I was hesitant on the first one about installing the CPU and heatsink/fan, but reading posts in this community gave me the tools I needed. Now, I had a case and a DVD burner, and HD already, so now all I needed were the guts. I ordered the MB, Intel C2D E6750, 2GB of memory, Vista HP OEM DVD, and 8600GT video card for a total of $731. Add maybe a $80 for a case, $60 for a HD and $35 for a DVD Burner and it pushes $900, but if you paid todays prices you could knock $150 off of it for a total of about $750.
Following the instructions for the MB and the processor, I had no trouble assembling the CPU and heatsink onto the MB. From there it was familiar territory, as I have been know to completely disassemble a computer to give it a good cleaning to get all the dust out. After that one, I started assembling parts for one with an E4500 C2D for the friend and the total outlay was around $500. This time it used the onboard video as it was basically an internet machine for my friends daughter.
But you have to make the decision. PC De-Crapifier and Norton's Removal Tool can turn a manufactured machine into a nice desktop if you want to go that route.
Re: Which is Better - Building My Own Computer or Buying the HP m9340f
First of all, the 32 bit recognizes 4GB less the amount dedicated to video, CPU cache, etc. All hardware memory is deducted from the general memory when maxed out at 4GB. Thus, if you have a 512GB video card, the machine can use approximately 3.5GB, if you have a 1GB video card, the machine and use approximately 3GB.
I was going to reccommend that you go with 2 x 2GB, which would leave two slots open for future expansion, but I see that is not an option. I would agree that the 3GB option is not viable (2 x 1 GB + 2 x 512MB for those who have not looked), nor is the 4GB (4 x 1GB) for $50 more. The 6GB (2 x 2GB + 2 x 1GB) option for an additional $50 is a possibility, but I have to agree with you that the 8GB (4 x 2GB) for $200 over the base memory of 3GB is probably the best option. The memory would then all be matched factory installed and fully covered under the warranty.
For reference, on Newegg's website a 4GB (2 x 2GB) package of quality heat shielded DDR2 800 memory is around $90 a package. If you wanted, you could go with the 3GB and then for about $180 install memory with matching specs, yet high quality heat shielded memory. You could run the 3GB for a while and see how it performed. Then later if you wanted, you could boost the memory to either 6 (1 pkg ~ $90) or 8 (2 pkg ~ $180). Keep in mind that around December to January because of Christmas sales, memory may go up slightly. I would wait until you have the machine in hand to order the memory. Open the case, remove one module and order the same speed and CAS latency. I anticipate that the machine will come with DDR2-800, but the specifications indicate that it could come with DDR2-667. The CAS latency is usually little numbers like 4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-12. Match them exactly. Here is a document with greater detail.
I have to quit looking at these systems, I keep drooling on the desktop. But if you have not already found it, here is the page with full MB specifications, drawing and photos of the layout.
I was going to reccommend that you go with 2 x 2GB, which would leave two slots open for future expansion, but I see that is not an option. I would agree that the 3GB option is not viable (2 x 1 GB + 2 x 512MB for those who have not looked), nor is the 4GB (4 x 1GB) for $50 more. The 6GB (2 x 2GB + 2 x 1GB) option for an additional $50 is a possibility, but I have to agree with you that the 8GB (4 x 2GB) for $200 over the base memory of 3GB is probably the best option. The memory would then all be matched factory installed and fully covered under the warranty.
For reference, on Newegg's website a 4GB (2 x 2GB) package of quality heat shielded DDR2 800 memory is around $90 a package. If you wanted, you could go with the 3GB and then for about $180 install memory with matching specs, yet high quality heat shielded memory. You could run the 3GB for a while and see how it performed. Then later if you wanted, you could boost the memory to either 6 (1 pkg ~ $90) or 8 (2 pkg ~ $180). Keep in mind that around December to January because of Christmas sales, memory may go up slightly. I would wait until you have the machine in hand to order the memory. Open the case, remove one module and order the same speed and CAS latency. I anticipate that the machine will come with DDR2-800, but the specifications indicate that it could come with DDR2-667. The CAS latency is usually little numbers like 4-4-4-12 or 5-5-5-12. Match them exactly. Here is a document with greater detail.
I have to quit looking at these systems, I keep drooling on the desktop. But if you have not already found it, here is the page with full MB specifications, drawing and photos of the layout.