Upgrade or give up?

I have a rebuilt computer that is getting old. I am on a limited budget and need to know what would be the cheapest way for me to solve my problem.
My computer has a PentiumS 133 mhzand 64 memory. I just put in a new hard drive in July (20 g) and modem. I have had nothing but problems since I added a USB port. I was going to add memory but couldn't because I have the old pin type. So, for Christmas, what do I get but a Digi Pen camera and a CD burner! No way are they going to work with my outdated Pentium.
So here is the question- can I get a Pentium 4 put in my computer and more memory and what, if anything else would have to be changed? Or would it be better to have a new one built and use all of my new things that I already have?
Thanks in advance.
Vicki

 

Hi Vickic,
You will hear alot of different opinions here, but you are probaly like me and cannot afford an upgrade to p4. Found this site,
http://www.jncs.com/indexmbh.html (clearence)
Check out bundle 643,or some this is will support your Cd-rw & camera easily and is affordable.
Hang out and get a couple more opinions nad shop around.
Bryan

 

Just a suggestion but there are many reputable independant computer dealers who build custom systems.You may want to find one and have them give your system a look. If your monitor and any other accesories you have are good enough for your current needs they may be able to rebuild/upgrade your tower using your case,power supply,and your new hard drive.Explain your situation and what your uses/needs are and they might be able to solve your problem relatively inexpensively.If it starts getting over the $500 range I would have to think twice about that kind of investment.

 

Based on your post, the only things in your current machine that can probably go to a new machine are the hard drive and modem. With the machine being a pentium 133 everything else is probable to old. The big question is what operating system are you using? If it is win95.. forget it. The 2 best operating sytems out there from MS are win 98se and winXP.
(I put in the from MS clause to keep the LINUX gurus off my back) LOL.
Win ME is a very poor OS. Alot of stability problems.
My suggestion would be to build an AMD based system, Athlon or XP depending on how much you want to spend. I think going this route would make you very happy from a performance standpoint.

Just my opinion.
SeeYa

 

By the way, the suggestion from ratchet, JNC is a local company in this area and has a very good reputation. I have never ordered from them online as they are only about 20 minutes away but, they are well known hear locally.

See Ya

 

One soultion for people i have helped is to watch the local want adds for an unwanted computer by someone who has upgraded to some super duper screaming machine. You dont give a location in Michigan, but i am in the Ann Arbor area and local papers have usually 10-20 for sale in the $199.00 to $399.00 price range for what had turned out to be much better than any Pentium 133 and more in the PII orPIII ramge.
If you are in the Detroit metro area, there several that do good work making your desired drea macching come true.

WWW.provide.net