Buying an old computer

[ShortStraw 1]

Hi Simtropolis. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. I've been away for a while and this site is unfamiliar to me now.

I'm about to buy an older, probably used computer for the primary purpose of running Simcity4. A laptop would be ideal but since my budget is very low (under 700 us$) I might go with a desktop instead. I intend to use Windows XP since I've had problems with Vista and 7 on my primary computer. I'm sure the answers I need are somewhere in these forums but I can't seem to find a relevant topic or thread.

If someone could point me in the right direction or offer suggestions I would be most appreciative, thanks in advance.

[z1 566]

For under $700, you can buy a decent new computer that would most likely serve your needs far better than a used one. It would come preloaded with Windows 7, but that really is the OS of choice; I've been using it since it came out, and it works perfectly for me (and many others). Since it would come preloaded on your machine, that in itself may eliminate some problems you've had. I've found it to be the best OS for running SC4. And Windows XP was great for its time, but it's rapidly going the way of Windows 98.

If you have any problems with Windows 7, you can always post here; the solutions tend to be well known at this point. And it's not necessary to run SC4 in any compatibility mode to use it.

Be sure to get a decent amount of memory; memory is cheap, and SC4 devours it. I'd recommend 2 GB as a reasonable minimum.

Finally, the graphics you'd find on a new machine would probably be much better for SC4 than on a used machine; especially in your price range, you'd get the power you need without the excessive features that aren't used by SC4.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Amen. Look for systems similar to mine, which last fall priced at $700 preloaded with Windows 7 and some other junk. I had them give it to me naked and saved $200, and used my savings to up the memory to 4GB. With six-months of development since, that price should definitely get you a new desktop with W7, which should run just fine.

FYI, my base system is a Gigabyte GA-MA78LM-S2H, which has a dual core Athlon X2, ATI 3000 GPU, a dvd/cd-rw, and a 500MB hard disk. It also has about a dozen USB ports and the plugs for both VGA and high-definition media. Peripherals are another matter. All I did was replace my main box.

The ability to replace the guts of your system is one of the main advantages of a desktop. Laptops for general use are not really where its at if you want to run something as serious as SC4 which not only eats memory but also the CPU. Laptop overheats are usual with this program.

[nicolasville 2]

$700 can actually get you a heck of a lot of computer for your money. I recently bought a $400 refurbished PC that came with Windows 7, 4 GB of RAM, and a pretty adequate video card. You definitely want Windows 7; SimCity works great on it for me. You might not be able to use some older applications for SimCity (Like SC4 Mapper), but 7's just a way more feature-filled, faster operating system than simple XP.

[hamsterTK 93]

I have a lenovo laptop I bought 2 years ago for about that much money and it has 4 GB ram and a 256 mb graphics card.

I say shop around, and go to Newegg.com, and buy a new PC.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

$700 can actually get you a heck of a lot of computer for your money. I recently bought a $400 refurbished PC that came with Windows 7, 4 GB of RAM, and a pretty adequate video card. You definitely want Windows 7; SimCity works great on it for me. You might not be able to use some older applications for SimCity (Like SC4 Mapper), but 7's just a way more feature-filled, faster operating system than simple XP.

If you try to run mapper, what do you get? Try running it from a console (run cmd from the run box) and see what you get.

[ShortStraw 1]

Thanks everyone for your input. I was wary of Windows7 because of some complaints about compatibility I had read here and on Devotion but I actually couldn't find a copy of XP in my hometown and the used machines available were priced absurdly high. The local computer shops are very proud of their merchandise and apparently can't bear to part with any of it so they price it as if it were made of gold and blessed with divine properties. I briefly considered the sensible patient approach of ordering something from one of the many reputable online dealers but then went with my usual impatient impulses and just bought a new machine from a department store. It has Windows 7 and I was nervous about that but it has performed very well with no more glitches than I got from XP so everything turned out better than expected.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply.