I'm thinking at least $300 for a nice flat panel and $200 for a video card. Please advise if I am mistaken (prefer not to buy used). If thats the case I would probably be better off buying a new unit from Dell or HP. In the end I will spend more $ but have a longer useful life for that machine. Do you concur?
As for buying a used monitor... I was thinking of fixing it up for the kids' computer. You can spend any amount on a monitor... no need to spend as much as $200 for a video card. Your present machine has an AGP video slot. All the new machines have PCIEx16 now. Are you looking for a machine for general computing and trading (but not primarily gaming)?
Yeah, I know they are gonna want to play games on it, but they are pretty young so, they aren't hard gamers. Its not a big deal, I was just trying to figure whether I should spend some money on it, or toss it and buy a new unit for the kids. I am guessing the Dimension is probably good for another 2-3 years max. By that time Windows 7 and beyond should be in place and I would guess support for XP will be at an end. Or I could probably get them a bare bones machine from Dell or HP for around $600-800 including monitor, and not worry about it again for the forseeable future.
Well, money spent on a monitor wouldn't be wasted in any event. If you bought a new video card for the 4550, it would have to be an AGP card.. and it couldn't be used in a newer computer. WinXP will continue to be supported at least until 2014. For the kids, Dell has specials all the time for $399 or $429... which would be much faster and more modern than the 4550. You could use something like that for trading so long as you didn't run more than 2 monitors. Dell's best line of computers is the Precision T3400... starting about $625, not including monitor...
You can get a dell 22" for $200. I've seen other brands as low as $130 on Newegg. The dell monitors look nice; I haven't used any other brands so I can't speak to their quality. As for video cards, I would say at least $400 for a nice multi-monitor card.
I'm running the dell s2409w, paid $199 and it is hd and has a 3 year warranty. It looks really nice. http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-7345
www.tigerdirect.com 25" monitor, graphics card and upgraded power supply $350.00 Love the monitor so far....
Samsung 2233, just picked one up today and I'm going to order another to replace my older (and far lesser quality) Dell. I've got another Samsung that I'm happy with as well.
Try this video card for CLEAR text. Also, this card is quiet with no fan. Cheap too! http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=P450-8568