Trade-in Desktop for Family Personal Computer
Written on March 21, 2008 – 10:36 pm | by Keith Neo
Last night, something unexpected happened to my family desktop, the one that is mainly used by my father and occasionally myself. The system hanged during the process of operating the personal computer. As a hands-on IT expert myself, I prised open the casing myself to investigate what has caused the system failure. Without much analysis, it appears that the CPU fan had failed, causing an overheating of the CPU.
This is no wonder the system would hanged. Intel CPU has a functionality to protect overheating of its processor. If the temperature rises above the threshold value, the CPU will suspend all activities (or processes) and ceased operation. When I accessed the BIOS setup to check the temperature of the CPU, it was fluctuating at an extremely high temperature of 97 degree Celsius!
My conclusion was, either to purchase a new CPU fan to replace the current one (which is a little more physical) or to simply purchase a new system, since the current desktop is more than 7 years old. It is definitely time to upgrade.
Just today, I was at the Challenger IT store browsing around, I was informed by one of the sales person that there is a trade-in promotion for the next 3 days (Friday till Sunday) - a value of $400.
Without further hesitation, I felt that was a good opportunity to purchase a new system. Meanwhile, I don’t think there is any necessity to go for high end systems - thus, I have selected two potential computer systems from the store - both priced at $699 (without monitor).
System 1: Acer Aspire M1610 (22M25)
- Processor and Core Logic
- Intel Duo Core E2180
- 2GHz 1MB L2 Cache
- System Memory
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- System Subsystem
- 250GB SATA HDD
- SuperMulti Burner DVD +/- and CD-RW Double Layer (DL) Drive
- 9-in-1 Digital Media Reader
- Graphics
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
- I/O Interface
- Integrated 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet
- Integrated 56Kbps V.92 Data/Fax Modem
- 6x USB 2.0 ports
- Acer Wired Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse
- OS Preload
- Preloaded Windows Vista Home Basic Edition
- Warranty
- 1 year limited Parts, Labour and On-Site Warranty
System 2: Compaq Presario SR5378CF
- Processor and Core Logic
- Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E4600
- 2.4GHz
- System Memory
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- System Subsystem
- 160GB SATA HDD
- SuperMulti Burner DVD +/- and CD-RW with LightScribe Drive
- Graphics
- Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 Integrated Graphics
- I/O Interface
- Integrated 10/100 BaseT Network Interface
- 15-in-1 Card Reader
- 6x USB 2.0 ports
- Compaq Wired Multimedia Keyboard & Optical Mouse
- OS Preload
- Preloaded Windows Vista Home Basic Edition
- Warranty
- 1 year limited Parts, Labour and On-Site Warranty
For both systems, there will be a FREE Chinese Star 2006 software, preloaded into the personal computer system. In addition, there is an extension to 5 years service warranty, which is exclusive to Challenger members only! The latter is definitely a good value for money.
My current preference is System 1, particularly because of its larger drive capacity. However, its processor is slightly poorer than System 2. Hence, which one should I choose?
