Computer purchase question

[kombat96 10+ year member]

im looking into buying a new computer. was wondering what you guys suggest. i'd like to stay under or close to a grand. i need a monitor and the tower, no printer cause i have a decent one already. where what and to look for idears. best buy is otay, but CC has a few nice ones. what type of add-ons or Xtras should one look for as to them (BB, CC) trying to sell me some bullsh!t machine.

the computer is mostly for homework, email. no photoshop or edit of pictures. a basic desktop for a kid if you will.

ohh and ill be getting vista with office pro also.

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[TulsaMike 10+ year member]

ugpm

 

[AllDayMJ 10+ year member]

well, you have no needs for really any performance. so any entry level computer should suit your needs nicely.. a core 2 duo processor with 1.66ghz, and like a 120gb hard drive and you should be fine, just invest in a nice 17"+ screen..really you could get by with spending 500 TOTAL if you dont plan on using for gaming/photochop/music/ or videos theres no real demand for an overly expensive system.. buy online: newegg.com, or buy dell.com+coupons codes for a good deal.

 

[tRidiot 10+ year member]

I can build you one to your own specs and ship it to you if you like. If you're interested, just PM me.

It'll be better than any prefab POS machine you'll buy, too. I hate seeing people get ripped off by Dell and Gateway. UGH.

 

[Hintzyboy 5,000+ posts]

for $800 at sam's club, we goy an HP with 2.6ghz dual-core, 2gb ram, 360gb hdd, dvdrw w/lightscribe, 15-1 media reader, 21" widescreen monitor, vista home premium.

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

im looking into buying a new computer. was wondering what you guys suggest. i'd like to stay under or close to a grand. i need a monitor and the tower, no printer cause i have a decent one already. where what and to look for idears. best buy is otay, but CC has a few nice ones. what type of add-ons or Xtras should one look for as to them (BB, CC) trying to sell me some bullsh!t machine.
the computer is mostly for homework, email. no photoshop or edit of pictures. a basic desktop for a kid if you will.

ohh and ill be getting vista with office pro also.

I would get a custom-built unit, personally. All the name brand computers use shit motherboards, power supplies, and graphics because people who don't know much about computers only look at CPU speed, memory, and hard drive ...
With a custom-built unit, it may not look as good on paper for the same price, but you can usually rest assured that you'll be getting higher quality parts and usually better service as well.

If you must get a name brand unit, I'd either go w/ a Dell (not the slim ones, though) or an Acer (again, not the slim ones).

If you're going to be using it for basic needs, I'd go with:

Basic dual core CPU (i.e. AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ - 4200+)

1-2 GB of RAM (1 GB if XP, 2 GB if Vista)

Onboard graphics processor (Recommend AMD/ATI or Nvidia chipset ... I'd avoid anything from Intel, VIA, or SiS w/ integrated graphics)

320 - 500 GB Hard Drive

Windows XP Home or Windows Vista Home Basic

 

[jrdbrn 10+ year member]

You can get Dells with $300 off easily with coupons 9GL1S7F1C6$9LD

At Jmac, from experience, both custom and premanufactured have their off points. I had an $250 Asus board that died in a year and have a Dell that is going on 5 years (currently running server 2003 24/7). I've gone through quite a few computers and while I've seen many Dells/HPs go down, I've had my share of custom pcs go down as well.

I wouldn't go AMD even on a budget. Intel has cheaper C2D processors. A while back Dell had a Q6600, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, and 24" LCD for under $1k... not sure if it is still going on.

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

This is what I would get ... It's fast, uses high-quality parts, and offers tons of expandibility if your needs change in the future.

Case - Antec Sonata III

Power Supply - Included w/ Case

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H

CPU - AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+

Memory - 2 x 1 GB Crucial Value PC2-6400 RAM

Hard Drive - Western Digital 320 GB SATA 2

Optical Drive - Pioneer DVR-115DBK 20X DVD RW

Operating System - Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit

Anti-Virus - ESET NOD32 v3.0

Total Cost = $529.89 before shipping and taxes

 

[Jmac 10+ year member]

You can get Dells with $300 off easily with coupons 9GL1S7F1C6$9LD
At Jmac, from experience, both custom and premanufactured have their off points. I had an $250 Asus board that died in a year and have a Dell that is going on 5 years. I've gone through quite a few computers and while I've seen many Dells/HPs go down, I've had my share of custom pcs go down as well.

I wouldn't go AMD even on a budget. Intel has cheaper C2D processors. A while back Dell had a Q6600, 2GB RAM, 320GB HDD, and 24" LCD for under $1k... not sure if it is still going on.

Why not go AMD ? They offer better performance for the dollar on the lower-end of the price spectrum and offer significantly better motherboards (integrated graphics chipsets are FAR superior not to mention you get a REAL 16x PCI-E slot and the option of Hybrid Crossfire on the latest AMD chipsets). The ONLY reason to go Intel is if you're looking for a high-end machine or if you're overclocking; outside of that, AMD offers a much better system for those on a budget, IMO.
I used to work at a small computer shop that just sold custom-made computers and I currently work at Staples (I worked as the technician for the better part of a year) and I have built dozens of PCs outside of work as well. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. I'm not saying you're never going to have problems w/ a custom-built PC, but the percentage of customer computers that need repair (when using high-quality parts; some places will still use shit parts) is significantly lower than those that are pre-manufactured, in my experience.

 

[crunktimes.com 5,000+ posts]

If you are going to go with a cheap prebuilt I would suggest checking out some deal forums such as http://www.fatwallet.com if you don't want to me bothered places like http://www.gotapex.com post Dell deals daily.

 

[jrdbrn 10+ year member]

Yea I am way over

Coolermaster Centurion Case

Xclio 460W PSU

GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard

Intel C2D E6750 @ 2.67GHz 1333MHz FSB 4MB Cache

eVGA 8800GT Video Card

G.Skill 2 x 1GB PC2-6400 RAM

Western Digital 320GB SATA HDD 16MB Cache 7200 RPM

Samsung 20x SATA DVD Burner

Viewsonic 20" 5ms LCD Monitor

I went more of a gaming PC, but it will last years to come ;P

$998.91 LOL

Yes, I was bored