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GPS/PCI Express Break-off from Hardware Breakdown Thread

I wanted to break this off since the other topic was looking to be mostly about the LCD's
floatpoo said:
I wanted to see if the blank sockets on the system board were active. So I grabbed my multimeter and tested each pin to see if any delivered power. I don't know if these sockets are controlled by software, but it looks like these sockets are inactive.
(cant post link ref other thread....)
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I'm an electronics tech (avionics really) just so you know my background, and I am by no way a programmer i just hack my way throught when i need... poorly at that. I'm a long time reader but don't post much.
I havent taken mine apart yet, I bought it for the wife to use as an ereader she was using her evo before and already has bad eyesight I just dont think reading on that small screen is good for her. However we planned on returning it today because she couldn't get anything to work... But i loaded VAGAn-Tab rom on it and she likes it ALOT more now, but we still might be returning it (she thinks it to big and heavy to hold). So all I have to work with is the internal pics posted by other members and I thank you for them!
I was thinking about using a mini pci card with 3g/4g and GPS to solve my problem like this one for Sprint Customers looks very nice and they claim android support. Could someone please verify the length available for the card from the socket to the mounting holes? It should be around 50mm but i cant tell from the pic.
I cant post a link so google
franklinwireless
M600_datasheet_v1.pdf
Then after more research I figured out that think I can get the GPS to work on the board. I found that the RXM-GPS-SG-T looks to be the exact chip they are using, the pin look to match exactly VCC, GND, RX, TX, RF, VOUT. So they are using an active GPS antenna (but could be modded for passive). They use NMEA-0183 or SiRF Binary output selected by a serial command. So we need to figure out if the TX is going to U39 making U39 the interface to the unit, or directly to somewhere else (idk need to see board) I hope i can attach my pic i made or maybe an admin can post it for me.
However the PCI slot might be just as hard to use, the pin 20 that has 3.3v isnt what we want, but it could be a software control to disable/enable the card. However we still need A+ on pins 2,52 (3.3V), 6,28,48(1.5V) and maybe 24(3.3V Aux) dependeding on the card. We could be dealing with a "Non Standard" connector, they are out there but most OEM's dont bother with them. More likely to find them on a Asus product ect. It's common for the SIM card to be powered by the PCI card itself and the board looks wired that way. I have 2 Digi International Mini PCI express Wifi/Cell Development boards and thats how they both power the SIM card. Pin 16 should goto Pin 1 on the sim card, 14->2, 12->3, 10->6 but maybe 7 or 8.
Getting the Power to it could be software or hardware. Looks like around U8 on the frontside could a Vreg setup, Or it could be as simple as putting in some 0 ohm resistors around R15 and R14. We also see that U7 is unpopulated on backside. So that leave us with U7,U8, R15, and R16 which could mean they are all part of the same circuit if they laid it out with any logic. TP1,2,and 3 also make me believe this is true, however they match up to LED_WPAN#, LED, WLAN#,and LED_WWAN#. I sure wish they match the power input pins, but that means all those missing resistors could just be for unpopulated status LED's. Like I've said over and over i cant tell ya unless i can probe around the board.
As far as the memory, yes its possible, I do BGA replacement at work. What I am afraid of is that the other memory chips look to be exactly on the other side and I'd be afraid of messing them up. I'd have to look at my jig at work and see if I could set it up without any problems.

I'm no electronics expert but I dabble. I'd be interested in internal GPS and a memory boost. I'm pretty confident in my soldering skills and would try something if directed by someone smarter than me.

This is something I am very interested in. Any new info on this?

ihaveathumb said:
This is something I am very interested in. Any new info on this?
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I sadly no longer own a G tablet, wife thought it was to heavy to read books, and hated the screen. I cant argue with her on either of those points, so we returned it. However I got the ok to buy a referb on if i can find one, but when I did at my local store i showed them the paper and they told me they dont sell that stuff there and send me away. I talked to 3 different people too basically all told me to go f off. I even tried another time with the 7" they sell same results. I dont know why it gets listed on the website if they wont sell it.
Not to get sidetracked, but i even did by the proper bga fittings to solder the ram chips too lol..
So no its probably not going to go any farther from my stand point, if anyone wants my help I still read the forums everyday.
I'm just gonna wait and see what comes out in the future that XDA gets behind, because I'de never buy anything that didnt have an active community here.

IF you were looking for a reader fo rher mainly, you should've really gone with the Nook Color... eInk devices are good too IF you don't really need good PDF support and/or need it to read more complexly formatted documents, e.g. technical manual, mathematics texts, etc. i.e. eInk is best suited for ficiton and other simply formatted documents, but it VERY readable except in poorly lit conditions where you'd need external lighting of some sort.

Very true I should have bought her a nook, but now she doesnt want it because its not powerful enough for her needs imo. She also wants to login to her school (blackboard) and be able to use overdrive. Plus she likes dungeon defenders and I dont think that can handle it. We are just gonna wait it out and see what comes along, mostly cause we have our first due next month, so trying to be frugal.

mystkrh said:
Very true I should have bought her a nook, but now she doesnt want it because its not powerful enough for her needs imo. She also wants to login to her school (blackboard) and be able to use overdrive. Plus she likes dungeon defenders and I dont think that can handle it. We are just gonna wait it out and see what comes along, mostly cause we have our first due next month, so trying to be frugal.
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Yep, you'll want a full blown tablet then and I suspect that the NC would be too much of a bother to get setup for her for what she wants it for...
All the 10" tablets are fairly heavy too, so you'll probably have to stick to looking for 7/8" tablets and I suspect Tegra 2 or multi-core cortex-a9 SoCs from other mfgs... not much in the way of 7" ATM other than the elocity a7 (was c. $300 around xmas), but it's not very hacker friendly and I don't know if they ever got the USB port to run in non-host mode... probably best to not even look at it...

The g Tablet would, as many have already said, be a great tablet if it had gps mainly and increased memory. Adding pci-e would be even better. I would be extremely happy with the addition of gps. I would be very tempted to allow somebody with expertise and high level of confidence of success to experiment on my tablet.

GPS+
Just bought my Gtab yesterday. As you know the stock Roman/UI sucks big time. I installed Clockwork followed by CyanogenMod 7 and what a difference. Anyway I looked on the web for a dock and it seems there is a Chinese version of the Gtab that has higher spec's including GPS. It would seem logical to assume the U.S. motherboard has the same circuits built in. Who knows what's possible....

It's too bad that more people don't feel like tearing up their electronics to start soldering things to them.

Is I/O issue real?

Existing Facts
1. USB data transfer inconsistency i.e. hangs relatively frequently when trying to transfer multiple files at once
2. System slows down/almost freezes when installing many applications
3. System slows down/freezes when download many files [supposedly with torrent, but I never confirmed this]
All make sense to point finger at the issue with I/O... But one exception I encounter today...
Case Report
Based on the application recommendations on this forum, for the first time I installed Solid Explorer (File Manager), which by the way is awesome. I was in lasy mood today and knowing it would be problematic but decided to use AirDroid to transfer some files. Initially couple hundred megabytes. Surprisingly, it went smooth. So now I tried like 500MB. Still no problem, and was pretty quick. So now, I actually started to upload like 1GB files (20+ files) at once using AirDroid. While this is taking a place, I realized one set of files uploaded were already complete but I placed in the wrong folder. So I opened Solid Explorer and moved these files WHILE other several hundreds megabyte of files are still being transferred over AirDroid. Basically, I noticed ZERO lag using solid explorer.
Analysis
In above scenario, there has to be intense writing to the disc taking place as I was essentially downloading bunch of files over the WIFI (though it was technically within my network, it should not matter). Sure the file move is just a little tagging so not by any means CPU/GPU or intense process but ZERO lag seems a surprise.
Conclusion
So the issue above does exist but may be it is not as simple as "Flash drive writing is slow." In fact, if anything to me this scenario defends against such conclusion and gives me a hope it is some sort of software/kernel handling USB transfer, or torrent download in comparison to AirDroid application.
So if not anything, I recommend AirDroid for the file transfer from you computer until the issue gets fixed.

Subscribed!
Thanks for the interesting thread. Please post back if you have any other observations. The I/O thing has kept me from ordering one.
Any chance you could try it with other file explorers, too? I wonder if it's just something goofy with Asus software?

Maybe you just received a good unit. My old tPrime could torrent well at 1 bar wifi at 1 megabyte per second and play graphically intensive games at the same time.

People, explanation is very simple
There's no major problems with this tablet.
Most of people here are telling everyone about problems, let's say about 100 in total.
And let's say about 10000 tablets already got sold in US, nothing 32&64 gb.
So that's only 0.01% of them are broken one way or another.
That's really good margin for any product.
Unfortunately for those people, but way within standards for Asus.
I had $100 Monster surge protector suddenly die from brand new heater. I bough $25 Belkin, and it's working perfectly for 2 yrs.
Most complains I been reading about saying about that you can't do heavy tasks while tablet is busy copying big files, so what???
This is a tablet, NOT A SERVER.
Copy all your music and video and just use a tablet, it's almost perfect in every other way.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

vlad2277 said:
People, explanation is very simple
There's no major problems with this tablet.
Most of people here are telling everyone about problems, let's say about 100 in total.
And let's say about 10000 tablets already got sold in US, nothing 32&64 gb.
So that's only 0.01% of them are broken one way or another.
That's really good margin for any product.
Unfortunately for those people, but way within standards for Asus.
I had $100 Monster surge protector suddenly die from brand new heater. I bough $25 Belkin, and it's working perfectly for 2 yrs.
Most complains I been reading about saying about that you can't do heavy tasks while tablet is busy copying big files, so what???
This is a tablet, NOT A SERVER.
Copy all your music and video and just use a tablet, it's almost perfect in every other way.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
That's actually 1%, but who's counting
While I love the tab, the IO issues are obvious and easily reproduced, not to say that some software doesn't work better than others when dealing with file access. I have little doubt asus will address soon.

gottahavit said:
That's actually 1%, but who's counting
While I love the tab, the IO issues are obvious and easily reproduced, not to say that some software doesn't work better than others when dealing with file access. I have little doubt asus will address soon.
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Yes, you right, but still very small margin for serious defects.
There's almost no I/o issues during normal usage.
There's no reason to use a tablet while you copying you huge video library or something else.
Other then that you really don't see any lag during normal usage.
On my cell I use a program fast reboot. No root needed, it shuts down all appear almost like hot reboot and you start over, when you have too many background apparel opened.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

People, ASUS put a microsd slot on this tablet for a reason. Don't let the slot go to waste.
I do agree that ASUS should pimp out the IO though.

vlad2277 said:
Yes, you right, but still very small margin for serious defects.
There's almost no I/o issues during normal usage.
There's no reason to use a tablet while you copying you huge video library or something else.
Other then that you really don't see any lag during normal usage.
On my cell I use a program fast reboot. No root needed, it shuts down all appear almost like hot reboot and you start over, when you have too many background apparel opened.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
To add to that... until very recently, you couldnt sync the iPad (or other iOS device) and use it at the same time. That was done for a reason; there were hacks around it for jailbroken users, but there was a noticeable performance hit. Even some android devices unmount the storage from the device to prevent issues like this. I'm not saying there isnt a serious underlying issue, but most of the cases I've heard of involve atypical use.

vlad2277 said:
People, explanation is very simple
There's no major problems with this tablet.
Most of people here are telling everyone about problems, let's say about 100 in total.
And let's say about 10000 tablets already got sold in US, nothing 32&64 gb.
So that's only 0.01% of them are broken one way or another.
That's really good margin for any product.
Unfortunately for those people, but way within standards for Asus.
I had $100 Monster surge protector suddenly die from brand new heater. I bough $25 Belkin, and it's working perfectly for 2 yrs.
Most complains I been reading about saying about that you can't do heavy tasks while tablet is busy copying big files, so what???
This is a tablet, NOT A SERVER.
Copy all your music and video and just use a tablet, it's almost perfect in every other way.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're saying that the standard, builtin browser that throws out ANR messages, rolls over and dies at the simplest web page is "almost perfect in every other way"?
Yes, it's a tablet, but it's also not 1994. If I want to browse the web while downloading the new BF3 Armored Kill 1080p 60fps trailer (the awesomeness in that video...) I shouldn't be able to? Streaming video while having the audio sent through a bluetooth headset shouldn't be possible (go on, give it a try)? Give me a ****ing break!
Yes, ARM and x86 architectures aren't directly comparable, but we're still talking about a 4-core (well, 5) CPU with 1 GB RAM and a flash drive running a now fairly mature mobile operating system.
This is a $600 product (even more for those of us in the EU or Asia), we're entitled to complain when said product at times performs like a $60 dollar Chinese tablet instead.
Also, anyone admitting to using Monster products pretty much have their credibility thrown out the window immediately.

vlad2277 said:
People, explanation is very simple
There's no major problems with this tablet.
Most of people here are telling everyone about problems, let's say about 100 in total.
And let's say about 10000 tablets already got sold in US, nothing 32&64 gb.
So that's only 0.01% of them are broken one way or another.
That's really good margin for any product.
Unfortunately for those people, but way within standards for Asus.
I had $100 Monster surge protector suddenly die from brand new heater. I bough $25 Belkin, and it's working perfectly for 2 yrs.
Most complains I been reading about saying about that you can't do heavy tasks while tablet is busy copying big files, so what???
This is a tablet, NOT A SERVER.
Copy all your music and video and just use a tablet, it's almost perfect in every other way.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You pull those numbers from where the sun never shines, and since they are pure fantasy from you, you invalidate your theoretical observation with them. Opinions are like asses: everyone has (at least) one.
gottahavit said:
That's actually 1%, but who's counting
While I love the tab, the IO issues are obvious and easily reproduced, not to say that some software doesn't work better than others when dealing with file access. I have little doubt asus will address soon.
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Click to collapse
Some programs mask it by using averages -- and even projection -- so you can't really trust the eye. Total Commander, however, actually shows the file transfer halting every now and then (on .21 firmware, at about 170 MB chunk intervals on full speed copy).
vlad2277 said:
Yes, you right, but still very small margin for serious defects.
There's almost no I/o issues during normal usage.
There's no reason to use a tablet while you copying you huge video library or something else.
Other then that you really don't see any lag during normal usage.
On my cell I use a program fast reboot. No root needed, it shuts down all appear almost like hot reboot and you start over, when you have too many background apparel opened.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha! Someone ups your marging by a factor of 10 -- a failure rate of 1% is a lot in a modern and supposedly properly Q&A'd device, by the way. (Again, your personal opinion on the matter notwithstanding.) Almost no I/O issue under normal use? Have you actually installed any app from the Play Store? And, in *my* personal opinion (yes, I have an ass as well), if you provide multitasking capability in an OS, it should be functional and workable. Funny how you perceive no reason to multitask, because I have lots of them.
Jotokun said:
To add to that... until very recently, you couldnt sync the iPad (or other iOS device) and use it at the same time. That was done for a reason; there were hacks around it for jailbroken users, but there was a noticeable performance hit. Even some android devices unmount the storage from the device to prevent issues like this. I'm not saying there isnt a serious underlying issue, but most of the cases I've heard of involve atypical use.
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Again, just installing something from the Play Store could hang your device for up to a full minute, whereas installing the same app on every other Android device I have used/owned/seen from a distance doesn't impact performance to the same extent.
I love the tablet, and have a lot of pleasure from its many uses in my particular case. It is not a crusade against the TF700 or ASUS to point towards these issues, although I must admit it is hard to not get a little bit angry at the people that defend their point of view that there simply is not problem at all, eeing that some users in here -- myself included; I've had it since over two weeks before retail -- have had the unit far longer than they have and have had (and taken) ample time to fool around with the device and share their observations. If your unit doesn't exhibit any issues and functions perfectly, well, congratulations! I would never sell that particular unit, and would be extremely saddened when it ultimately fails, for NO DEVICE EVER CONCEIVED BY MAN has been without its faults. To put them into context, fine, I'm with you, but to flush them down the imaginary problem toilet because of your opinion, based on imaginary data (like fantasized sales figures, LOL), going against harder observations from other people... No, that makes my blood pressure rise.

I really think the tablet is lacking a exhaust port with a low power fan to push some hot air out of the device.

Redefined301 said:
I really think the tablet is lacking a exhaust port with a low power fan to push some hot air out of the device.
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This is a tablet not a laptop. I wouldn't have bought it if it required a fan and exhaust ports for proper temperature control. That would be almost as ridiculous as cellphone with a fan...

cipherbreak said:
This is a tablet not a laptop. I wouldn't have bought it if it required a fan and exhaust ports for proper temperature control. That would be almost as ridiculous as cellphone with a fan...
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Click to collapse
All it need is some thermal control on the processor.
The quad-cores can hit 80C.. that's the real issues here.
It's not safe so to speak... The heat does accumulate after a while it will be too hot to even touch it.

Bluetooth Sound Delay when playing Dead Trigger..

vlad2277 said:
Yes, you right, but still very small margin for serious defects.
There's almost no I/o issues during normal usage.
There's no reason to use a tablet while you copying you huge video library or something else.
Other then that you really don't see any lag during normal usage.
On my cell I use a program fast reboot. No root needed, it shuts down all appear almost like hot reboot and you start over, when you have too many background apparel opened.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I consider downloading an app form the play store and trying to continue to use my tablet normal usage. That said I am not that concerned about the IO issues, as I believe ASUS will fix them soon.
I also do not consider rebooting regularly to clean memory or kill poorly written software a valid argument in any way. That went the way of windows 98.
Most of the issues with android are due to poorly written software and in some case poorly written modules in the OS or poor mutations done by the mfgr. But on a device that really can't run another viable OS, they go hand and hand and it's really unacceptable for device manufacturers to point at the OS as an excuse.

Redefined301 said:
I really think the tablet is lacking a exhaust port with a low power fan to push some hot air out of the device.
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Click to collapse
A fan in a tablet. Now I've heard everything. Hey guys...look at my new 5 inch thick tablet witha fan!
Comical..:laugh:

xRevilatioNx said:
A fan in a tablet. Now I've heard everything. Hey guys...look at my new 5 inch thick tablet witha fan!
Comical..:laugh:
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Click to collapse
Wait till autumn and Win 8 (not RT) tablets on i386 ;>

xRevilatioNx said:
A fan in a tablet. Now I've heard everything. Hey guys...look at my new 5 inch thick tablet witha fan!
Comical..:laugh:
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Click to collapse
d14b0ll0s said:
Wait till autumn and Win 8 (not RT) tablets on i386 ;>
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Click to collapse
Meh... If they run it full-powered, it'll need something xlose to a turbine in that cramped space.
Or a cooling element (Peltier). Now, THAT would be something to brag about -- icicles hanging from the lower left part of your tablet in the summer train commute, and all these hot chicks licking the...
<looks around>
Errrrmm... Sorry, carry on.

MartyHulskemper said:
Meh... If they run it full-powered, it'll need something xlose to a turbine in that cramped space.
Or a cooling element (Peltier). Now, THAT would be something to brag about -- icicles hanging from the lower left part of your tablet in the summer train commute, and all these hot chicks licking the...
<looks around>
Errrrmm... Sorry, carry on.
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Click to collapse
LMAO:laugh:

If I created confusion here, I apologize. I did not mean to say "look my tablet is perfect and everyone else got short sticks" I do recognize the issues exist, but I wanted share my experience based on the specific scenario. This particular scenario at least to me speak against potential hardware issue that everyone were concerned about i.e. Flash drive being too slow, or perhaps Tegra 3 chip set cannot handle data writing and do anything else because clearly while AirDroid is receiving 1GB+ data with relatively quick speed without causing any noticeable delay on the system.

Tablets worth the price?

So, feel free to flame, but I was writing something in another thread about tablets and the following came to mind:
Are tablets worth what we pay for them? Or are they just a marketing 're-deploy'? Allow me to expound:
Literally just before tablets careened onto the current computer scene(I know windows failed to promote tablets years back), there existed Netbooks. What it seems to me is that Netbooks are what the Industry thought we would want, A very portable yet still completely functional computer. As if even the small laptops weren't small enough...anyway. What I think happened is these things weren't cool enough. Maybe not powerful enough either, but that point should be moot because modern hardware can support this, as proven by current tablets.
I bought a Netbook and loved it, BUT I don't do a lot of gaming, just some simple web browsing, skyping, some skript kiddie type hacking. Plus for me the ultra small design was essential due to the nature of my work/constant traveling blah blah. This thing played movies, had the latest support of my favorite *nixes and performed pretty well except for battery life(typically a measly 3-4 hours) and of course gaming. Then came tablets; they look cooler, offer touch screen capabilities which sometimes feel as cumbersome as alt-tabbing, and have much much better battery and gaming performance, with the added benefit of blending nicely with the current "app store eco-structure".
Ahh, finally my point!!!:
A trend I see rising with tablets is the ability to add a keyboard and mouse....really? So what, then you have a laptop again? Or just the ability to go from cool-tech-but-not-too-nerdy tablet guy, to an fully functional device, and back again? I don't get it, other than the obvious shift to more clever marketing and selling us yet another device. On top of that I can use a USB 2.0 anything on my netbook, or be stuck with a proprietary connecter as with the Transform or iPad. Why would we choose this other than to look cool or because it's being shoved down our throats? What I see is a device (tablet) that is less fuctional, less productive, and more money compared to the more practical, just as portable netbook. I just miss the support of my Netbook, which I only paid $200 for....
Any thoughts...like maybe I'm a crazy hippy that needs to go live in a commune?

my points why my a500 is better use then a netbook,.
portability - no one can say its not easier to carry a slim tablet with a integrated keyboard
functionality - being able to do such things as stand in the street looking through the tab with the camera and seeing augmented reality deal, offer, new location without having to open startup, login and hold a massive block of hardware to do the same, and also a whole plethora of other uses such as barcode scanning, video making ,etc etc imaging scanning barcodes to find cheaper prices with a netbook,,,.,..one handed possible? probably not
battery life, my tablet can go 2days on a single charge with medium usage, a netbook would last a few hours,
i can do pretty much anything on my a500 i can do on my laptop.
i can access and use my laptop with screen and sound from anywhere else in the world.....from my a500 tablet (phonemypc)
also most usb devices connect to my a500 i think the only thing my lappy has that my tablet doesnt is a dvd drive, but the one in my lappy is dusty as hell as i download all my movies and move them between devices to play in diff' areas anyway. and then again my laptop has no gps. and only a front camera
if my laptop im writting this message with was a tablet it would probably be a crap one lol
no gps,no touchscreen, no back camera, front camera is weak no accelerometer no hdmi port lol etc etc

Major edit:
I see your point and don't want to convolute my thoughts too much. I just think a lot of the things you mentioned could be implemented, if the money was there.
You have pointed out that I have kind of answered my own questions...
Why tablets, because the phone market was so successfull and it allows for a lot of control on the developers end of the OS, so it's easier to implement the apps, market place as apposed to a traditional PC software sales setup.

r0zj0k3r said:
I think that depends on what you want to do. with my netbook, I literally could do everything I could on my computer because they were the same OS!!! That means, compiling software, video/audio editing, skype with group video , a similar app store could be integrated into a netbook style os (see ubuntu store). The industry just doesn't want to push it, and because it was easier to shift from phones to what amount to "really big phones"
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Click to collapse
Do you think that the new windows OS will allow you to switch between a Tablet and your Netbook without loose of functionality?

warus1 said:
Do you think that the new windows OS will allow you to switch between a Tablet and your Netbook without loose of functionality?
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Click to collapse
I think it would be a great way for windows to break away from the pack, but I don't think they want to do that now. They seem to be in the same mode as everyone else, lets follow the market instead of trying really new things.

Looking for a decent laptop...

Hey everybody I'm in the market for a new computer and I'm getting a laptop for several reasons. Anyway I am looking to be able to build aosp ROMs from source for my galaxy nexus. I have been told I should get something with at least 4gbs of ram. How much HD space should I get? I will be putting Ubuntu on it when I get it. I've been looking online at some different models, not sure if I see anything I like or can afford lol. Price range BTW is like $300-500. Maybe a little more. Thanks in advance for any insight

Well, my standard question is "why a laptop"? You could build a very decent desktop for that price. I understand needing portability - but what kind of power needs to actually be portable? Desktop + Chromebook (or other low-priced solution) could even possibly be squeaked out, very nearly in that price-range. You could skip a video card in the desktop at first, and if you don't play video games probably wouldn't miss it too much.
Anyway, if you still really want a laptop, I'd ask you to think exhaustively about what you'll do with it. Any video games? Anything that needs a good GPU? AMD still has some good deals when it comes to laptops without a dedicated GPU (if you don't need one) - and at your price point will outperform any integrated Intel ones. You can get a laptop with dedicated GPU in your price-range, but it really depends on what you need.
I don't think HDD space is a huge issue - I'd want at least 350-500Gb,but could make due with less. It depends on what you're going to put on it. I know some people can tear through terabytes with HD video collections. If you plan on having a lot of "collection" type data, an external solution might be best - and/or a backup disk, always good to have.
At your price range, I'd look for sales, "scratch and dent" deals, and used machines.
I had an Inspiron for a while and I and everyone I've know who had one ended up with problems / failures. On a whole, a desktop is likely to be around longer - since failures are inevitable and at least you can easily access and replace them I a desktop.
I'd probably check out Craigslist if I was you - see what people are selling locally (since shipping will add quite a bit)
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Will mobile devices take over electronics?

Ever since ~September of 2012 when Windows 8 was released and I tried it for the first time, I have been giving this idea a lot of thought. Mobile devices are becoming so powerful and more and more people are ditching their computer for an iPad / other tabet, which is almost equally as powerful as their old computer. Take the newly announced Tegra 4 APU. It has 72 freaking graphics cores!!!!! I run a laptop with a Geforce 555M that has 96 cuda cores, and I use that for intensive gaming. That is insane! What would ANYONE need 72 graphics cores on a mobile device for? The most graphically intensive android game I can think of off the top of my head is NOVA 3, and honestly, does that need a quad core processor, 72 graphics cores, and (probably becoming standard). 2GB of ram? NO! So why do companies pack those rediculous specs into a phone/tablet for? Does anyone else remember the days of a 1GHz single core Athlon processor on a desktop, and that was considered the best? Now dont get me wrong, I'm not saying we should throttle mobile devices just for the sake of throttling them, but I am trying to get my point across that there is no reason for those kinds of specs to be packed into a device that was originally intended to make calls.
I'm not ranting/raving or anything. Sorry if it comes across that way. I'm just curious to see if anyone is still out there that isn't converting to an average consumer who just cares how many gpu/cpu cores and how much ram they can get into a 4" cell phone.

My dad was never big into computers. Now that he has a smartphone, he says he hardly ever uses his desktop. So, for a lot of people, I think that their mobile devices can perform and replace the functions of a "for pleasure" desktop. Obviously, this is not going to cut it for the kind of gamer who cares about overclocking and liquid cooling - there's just more freedom with a custom desktop build, but I'm sure they'll appreciate mobile gaming, too - I know I do.
A phone might be a little small for web-browsing, but not everyone is big into that. Apps for e-mail, Facebook, eBay - those cover a lot of "normal" use.
And a 10" tablet is a good size to enjoy full web-browsing. For me, personally, it's not entirely the same, but it's close enough for most of my uses. I still prefer the desktop for some things, but I can do them without much trouble on the tablet, too. For me, a tablet with keyboard has taken the place of a laptop - I still like having a desktop for movies, games, and backup - but a tablet covers all the things I needed a laptop for. I think a lot of people can find that is true, who don't use their laptops for much "heavy lifting" - they'll find that a tablet is smaller, lighter, and does a lot of things very well.
With the lowering price of tablets, I do think that they will be able to take a good part of the consumer market that will find they don't need a laptop or even desktop (and we know that desktops have already been on the way out for the average consumer).
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The GTX 680M (Nvidia Kepler card for laptops) is running on 1184 or so CUDA-cores.
The high end desktop Keplers I can't recall, but it's safe to say that the less than hundred cores in the Tegra 4 SoC really only tells you one thing:
Mobile units just cannot -at least for a very long time- replace stationary electronics.
I don't remember the clock speed of the Tegra cores, but the Kepler cards run at over 1GHz.
When materials allow power supply, battery lifetime and passive cooling comparable to what is available to a stationary unit, then mobile units will replace them.
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I think that there will always be a need for desktop computers, at least in the foreseeable future. Mobile devices are good and quite convenient for media consumption, but try doing any kind of serious work on one. Electronics will continue to become more and more miniaturized, and it's possible that one day desktops will simply be a thing of the past, but we still have a long way to go.
(Here's hoping that we see holography in our lifetimes!)

Holography already exists, and not just the fake kind, Google it
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Extrinsic said:
I think that there will always be a need for desktop computers, at least in the foreseeable future. Mobile devices are good and quite convenient for media consumption, but try doing any kind of serious work on one. Electronics will continue to become more and more miniaturized, and it's possible that one day desktops will simply be a thing of the past, but we still have a long way to go.
(Here's hoping that we see holography in our lifetimes!)
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I think it depends on the consumer. Most consumers are ditching desktops for laptops. The laptops in some cases function just like a desktop would, almost always at home and plugged in - but people are staying away from machines that aren't portable more than ever.
Desktops are certainly still needed for heavy lifting - gaming and many work applications. But for a person who's not in a tech field, a laptop can do all the word-processing one could need as well as email and simple company applications. People who use computers as an accessory tool, not a primary one, don't need a desktop since a laptop can provide the same power they'd have gotten in a bigger, immobile box. And this way they can work from the couch or kitchen table.
Tablets aren't going to take over things like word-processing, although I can see farther in the future the modular concept expanded upon (I use my ASUD Transformer for word-processing quite often).
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