Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty good computer, but needs some help. . ., December 10, 2008
This computer is from a company that specializes in custom built computers. Because I've always used these types I was drawn in by the price. Overall, the computer is pretty nice; it has a large hard drive, nice amount of memory, Vista premium, a smart drive (compact flash, smart media, SD, smart media) and room to grow. But honestly, if you are not comfortable with DIY computers, or are a newbie to the computer market, I would probably go with a name brand product.
It comes with an onboard video and audio card that sucks about half the ram from the get go. It also comes with a paltry 300 watt power supply, hardly sufficient to support any additional cards, hard drives, etc. When I first got it out of the case, the software loaded up and installed just fine...however, I began to have problems with crashing almost immediately. I was going to return it, but then I remembered that Vista doesn't like onboard video. . .so I ended up purchasing a separate video card (512 MB) and a 500 watt power supply. This added an additional $175 to my cost. I think that a company that builds computers should have known this and it was simply trying to cut corners, maybe. But since I did that, it's been been running sweet. It handles multi-tasking easily and is pretty fast. I'm not much of a computer gamer, so I don't know how it responds in that regard.
There's a lot more that I could say, and perhaps I'll do more detail once I've had it for another couple of weeks. But overall, it is a decent computer for the price; however, be aware that you should consider adding at least a larger power supply and video card. Again, if you don't like poking around inside your computer, get an HP or Dell.
Update--Jan. 09
Computer still runs great. . . and for all the uproar about Vista, I'm starting to really like it. For those that asked I am using the Antec Earthwatts 500w power supply and the NVidia geforce 9400 (I think--threw away the box) 512mb video card primarily because they were on sale during the holidays. Again, I'm not a computer gamer and don't use CAD/photo/any other visual heavy programs so I don't need a top of the line video card. Any card that you get depends on your programs, what you are doing with your computer, the type of monitor, etc. Check out ratings before you buy.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Computer purchase, December 22, 2008
I bought the unit because it offered the most recent high speed chip as well as 4GB RAM. It worked well, right out of the box and the speed has been as good as I hoped for, when buying the specs.
The speakers somehow got crushed in the package, but the computer was not affected. Amazon agreed to adjust the price rather than send back the entire unit, unto which I had already loaded and unloaded data and software.
A good buying experiece so far.
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Well Equipped and Functional for the Money, December 14, 2008
Have had the computer a little more than a week. Also purchased from Amazon a ViewSonic monitor to use with this computer. Both shipped directly from Amazon as scheduled. From opening boxes to setup to startup was less than 30 minutes. Everything ran fine from the outset. One big plus is the lack of bloatware and adware on the computer. It has a trial for Office 2007 and one for Norton's internet security suite. I removed both sets of software with no problem. The computer is doing everything I need it to do--e.g., streaming Pandora music while writing email and running word processor. Windows Onecare security suite was installed and runs with no conflicts. A Linksys wireless N USB network adaptor is used with consistently good to very good connectivity (approximately 50 ft. from router). I rate the computer 4 out of 5 for the only reason that the cooling fan is distractingly noisy. The noise is not obnoxious like an incessant rattle or squeak, it's just an unusually loud "whirr." Another slight disappointment is the fuzzy appearance of text on the monitor at native resolution (1440x900), but I suspect this is more a problem with the monitor than with the ZT computer, or, as some forums have suggested, maybe a problem with Vista (I've set ClearType but it doesn't help much). All in all, I'll be satisfied with this computer for a couple years. For well under $800 for the computer and monitor, it's worth the money for the fast processor, 4GB of memory, and 500GB hard drive. (I should note that I don't use the speakers that came with the system. Instead, I use a pair of Bose Companion 2.0 speakers that sound just great on this system.)
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
