Advice on new computer?

Hey, im getting a new pc and i was wandering what advice anybody could give to me. I have a 1k budget and would like to have at least 1 gig of memory,3.00 Ghz processor or faster, 80 gig hdd min, and a decent graphics card. I hope you can offer some advice.

[Brtnboarder495]

Laptop: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... .0.0.0.1.0

Desktop: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... .1.0.0.1.0

If you already have an LCD: http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/W ... .0.0.0.1.0

Well, if you are handy and are comfortable building your own, you should be able to get everything you are looking for for about that price a www.newegg.com . I have bought a lot of stuff through there and their prices are good, they ship fast and I have only had to send one thing back and it was no problem. Considering I have put about 8 computers together from parts bought there, one bad part is not bad. I have had worse luck buying retail and have had to pay more.

As far as what to get... you pretty muck know what you want. If you go that route, make sure you visit the manufacturers links and read into it and buy compatable stuff for what you want. Regardless of where or how you buy, I suggest going with name brands, they have the least problems in the long run.

I am highly partial to ASUS motherboards and have used them exclusively on the last 5 that I have built. If you buy nothing else in a "retail" box, get your motherboard that way, though you can sometimes find documentation for OEM boards from manufacturer sites. You can save some $$$ buying OEM components, but be aware that they do not come with any accessories and documentation. Some components may require additional parts (CPUs for intance will need thermal gel, heatsink and fan).

I strongly do not recommend buying a computer from any retail outlet. Speaking from first hand experience, they milk you on price and do not care what you want. A lot of times, stores have a marking system that you can sometimes spot that let the salespeople know what models have push priority and have commission bonuses for the sales guys. THey will do most anything to convince you to buy what will make them money, not will make you happy. The end result is Less computer for more $$$

Dell and Gateway (Dell being the better of the two) are OK, but usually cost almost DOUBLE for what you could build yourself. Be very cautious of the "el cheapo" specials they advertise on TV and on their site. These are typically very substandard computers and do fine for the average housewife who wants nothing more to do than hang out in chat rooms looking for people to leave their husbands for, but are not ideal for people like you and me, who like playing games or running high-end applications. They also typically have limited upgrade potential so when you are ready to do that, you sometimes get stuck.

So there is my quick 5 minute new-computer tutorial. I just upgraded 2 of my computers at home, including installing a Plextor 716SA DVD burner (SATA interface) and a few other luxury goodies. My secondary work station is now my home made DVR and has DirectTV plugged in. It also connects to my home theater amp so I can blast my music collection over the house. Fun stuff.

Thanks torch511!

I have never thought about building a computer my self so i suppose i could do that, but im not sure if they ship out to England. Also, i have no idea how to build a computer at all so i don't really know to do. Take the easy road and pay more or take a harder road and pay less for more.

Brtb : Links don't work for me.

i'm bad with computers but i have to say this: DO NOT GET A DELL! (compaqs suck too) i've always gotten gateway and i love them!

Originally posted by Matt

Thanks torch511!

I have never thought about building a computer my self so i suppose i could do that, but im not sure if they ship out to England. Also, i have no idea how to build a computer at all so i don't really know to do. Take the easy road and pay more or take a harder road and pay less for more.

Brtb : Links don't work for me.

You might want to go to www.pcstats.com they offer an in depth beginners guide to building your own system and have tons of reviews along with the benchmarks for each product. There is some good readind there without talking over your head.
http://www.pcstats.com/articlesearch.cf ... et+Listing

Originally posted by coaster992001

i'm bad with computers but i have to say this: DO NOT GET A DELL! (compaqs suck too) i've always gotten gateway and i love them!

Dell computers can be good or bad. The low-end systems really suck for a multitude of reasons. I can write a book on that subject alone, but to stay sort of on topic, I will spare everyone. Low end Gateways are no different. Both companies make some good PC's though. The problem is to get a really good computer at either company, one satisfactory for gaming, you are probably going to spend 2000-3000 bucks... Ouch. One thing I hate about both companies is that they load all this crap software on it that you really do not need or want, unless you know ZIP about computers, which is practiaclly no one who would visit this site. Most members here at least have a clue. The last Dell computer I touched was for a former job and the first thing I did was format the hard drive and start fresh.

As far as building your own computer, there is a huge amount of information out there about how to build them. If you spend an evening on the internet, most people over the age of 16 could learn pretty much what you need to know to build your own system.

The hardest part is connecting all the bloody wired that control the switches and lights on the case to the motherboard. If you can figure that part out, you are good to go, and connecting the two is not a difficult thing to do. Plug and Play devices have really made the whole process easy. Back in the day you used to run into IRQ inturrupt conflicts and stuff like that, those days are gone. The last computer I bought I only had to go into the BIOS to disable the on-board sound card and assign the Primary 1 SATA port as the primary boot device.

When you buy a retail motherboard, the instruction book has all the information you need to know in it, and will walk you through building the computer, short of installing windows. If you open up your computer and take a look inside, it looks intimidating, but really they are a "simple assembly of complex parts".

So if anyone else is looking to buy a computer, you may want to think about building one yourself. My dad argued with me for years that it was too hard for him to do. My bother and I convinced him otherwise and he went that route instead. My dad and I went from boxes to running computer withy windows installed in just over 2 hours, and installing windows takes about 40 minutes of that.

So think about it before you plop your hard earned money on a Comcrap (Compaq), Spewsxxt Packard (HP), ech-machine (e-machine) or some other store bought POS.

Ok. Im half way there. I have decided to not to custom build this time because i don't want to risk anything, and since i don't have a job, i wont be able to afford to fix something if i accidently screw it up. So its a choice of what computer make to go with. My current pc is a dell and it has lasted a long time and had nothing wrong it since we bought it 5 years ago. Now i want to hear some advice which can lead me to some quality systems for a good price.

This looks like a nice PC for about $1,000

http://tinyurl.com/8e3u9

Originally posted by IntaminFan397

This looks like a nice PC for about $1,000

http://tinyurl.com/8e3u9

Erm, no. Typical overpriced Alienware poop. Doesn't even have a real graphics card.

The default selection for the video card isn't that great, but you can customize it. And what's wrong with Alienwares? Sure, they can be expensive but they make some excellent computers. Of course their top end machines will be 2 or 3 times more than your going to pay if you don't build the same thing yourself, but if you don't make your own PC you won't find any great gaming computers that are fairly inexpensive.

IntaminFan397 : Did i remind you i was English, that means 1 thousand pounds is around 2 thousand dollars, so my budget has roughly doubled in America.

Tyler : What would you recommend?

Originally posted by IntaminFan397

but if you don't make your own PC you won't find any great gaming computers that are fairly inexpensive.

I'm gonna disagree with that.

The machine I'm on right now was purchased from http://www.monarchcomputer.com

For just under a grand I got:

Antec Sonata case (quietest mini tower on the market) with 350w quiet powersupply
MSI Motherboard (Forget the exact model number, it uses the Via KT800 chipset)
AMD Athlon64 3000+
1GB of Corsair PC3200 DDR
Geforce 6600GT (AGP8x, 128MB)
200GB Maxtor 7200-rpm SATA hd.

For under a grand. Really no more than it would have cost to build from parts, I got all the manuals, extra cables, etc. The machine itself is very well put together, with everything internally nicely tied off and out of the way to allow for good airflow.

I found a really great pc for just under 1k, Here are the specs. Its a customized pc.

Base:
Intel????????? Pentium 4 processor with HT technology 640 (3.20GHz, 800FSB, 2MB cache)

Microsoft Operating System:
Microsoft????????? Windows????????? XP Home Edition SP2 - English

Memory:
1024MB Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]

Hard Drive:
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst????????? cache

Video Card:
256MB Nvidia Ge Force 6800

What do you think of this set up?

Sounds good to me.