Help a Mac guy buy a PC

[juggernaut]

I was in the same boat as you six months ago: Mac guy who needed a PC for poker.

I bought a Dell Dimension DIM300. It came with Pentium 4 2.8GHz and 512 RAM. I put in a dual monitor video card and have been able to run 4 tables, PT and PV simultaneously with no problem.

It was around $600. If you don't need it for much else, then a bottom of the line Dell is more than sufficient.

[citizenkn]

When my Mac wouldn't run the bigger poker sites, I went to Fry's and bought the cheapest PC they had---$350 for a Compaq Presario plus $150 for a cheap 20" CRT display. Tack on another $100 for additional RAM, and I had a $600 computer that paid for itself in two weeks.

In other words, don't fret over the specs. If it can get on the internet, it's good enough. And you can keep using your REAL computer for everything else.....

[citizenkn]

[ QUOTE ]
I assume you bought a PC just for poker. What did you get? Are you able to get up to 4 tables going at once? I doubt I will go over that but I want the option.

Turns out the deal was too good to be true. Can't get the $600 off on that one...

[/ QUOTE ]

As long as you have enough RAM, four tables should be no problem on ANY current model PC.

[PSW]

Thanks very much for the continued replies...

And we think that 512 MB is enough RAM?

The other thing I am concerned about is being able to 4-table... I am just thinking ahead. Right now I prefer 1 table but I have done fairly well at 2-tables too. What is the lowest level monitor that allows 4-tables w/o overlap? I have seen a lot of talk about the 2001FP but that is very spendy. What resolution is necessare for 4-tabling?

Thanks

[AAmaz0n]

I am also a Mac person; it was a sad day when I had to buy a machine that runs software made by the evil empire.

I went the cheap route; an eMachine celeron 2 GHz with 512 of Ram. I think that it was around $300 on sale at Frys. It runs 4 tables and PT, GV, etc with no problem as well as some tables on another site at the same time. I've never tried to max it out, but I know it will handle 6 tables at least.

Initially I went the super cheap way for the monitor - Univ of So. Calif surplus where they ditch their replaced but still usable hardware. $50 for a 17' monitor. it didn't support 1600 x 1200 for the four tables with no overlap that I wanted but was good enough until phase two.

The next upgrade was a Samsung 19" CRT for $199; it does 1600x 1200 @ 72 Hz and is much easier on the eyes. I added a cheap video card so now I have both monitors running; the old 17 does the lobby and PT while the four tables that I'm running go with no overlap on the Samsung.

So for less than $600 you should be able to put together a new system. You don't need a really great 3d gaming system; the poker site software isn't that intense.

One thing that has helped me with keeping the load down on the PC has been dedicating it to the poker stuff. I keep my indigo iMac on the side for mail, web surfing and spreadsheets so I can run those without slowing down PT imports. And of course, it's nice to use the better machine when writing on the forum. ;-)

Shauna

[Los Feliz Slim]

Another reply from a Mac guy who sadly had to buy a PC for poker. I went a different route on the purchase so I thought this would be worthwhile.

I invested around $1200 total on a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop w/internal wireless card. I purchased it with 256MB of RAM and added 1GB I bought and installed myself from Crucial. I also got a D-Link wireless router and a carrying case from different vendors (everything total is included in what I paid).

So now I've got my iMac G5 and my laptop on the same network. I easily 4-table with PT and GT+ going, plus Firefox while I'm bored. I absolutely love the wireless aspect, being able to play wherever I want is fantastic. I'm also amazed how much I don't hate the PC, and am really looking forward to being able to play poker, etc, when I travel.

[PSW]

Well, I ended up buying a Dell Dimension 4700 w/ 512 M and a 17 in FP monitor. It cost me $817 w/ the virus protection and 1 yr service, wireless keyboard and mouse ect. I could have gone cheaper and ended up between 500-600 but I really wanted a thin monitor. Also, the main reason I needed to get the 4700 is because it's the lowest level that supports the 2001 Ultra God-like monitor. I figured that I didn't want to limit myself down the line.

Thanks very much for all the input.

psw

ps. Can't wait to get onto partypoker. I do a good job against PokerRoom 2/4 and I have heard that party is easier and the bonuses are better. Comments?