need advice on computer buying

[Thor Von Clemson]

My wife and I had our laptop crash last night and we need to buy a computer. I think our price range is $1000-1200. Here are some of the things I know we need. I have a dell dimension 9100 desktop here at work and it would be perfect with the exception of the price... I think it cost us more than 2k for all the stuff we had done to it.

1. Flat panel monitor. We do not have a large desk space so we need a monitor that is flat and does not take up a lot of space.

2. Something that works well for gaming, recording music, storing and editing photos and watching videos- I play a lot of games online. Our laptop was too slow to process the music and graphics. I doubt I will be doing much recording on this computer but it would be nice to have. I watch a lot of movies on the computer so I need something that will work well for that. Basically, I think that means I need something with a fast processor, quality soundcard and video card, and a lot of memory right?

3. Cd/DVD burner would be nice.

I think that is all for right now. Ordering one from Dell online would be the most obvious choice to me but I wanted to see if there were any other good places to check out.

Anyone?

[charvelguy]

used optiplex: They come in a couple styles.. small form, which is mini desktop and tower. GX260, GX270, GX280.

The 260's are very afforable, under 200..usually with a pentium 4 2.0. Most vendors on ebay have an extended warranty thru squaretrade for an additional 3 years. Plus most these newer systems there can have had a service contract under Dell's warranty and that can be picked again from the website if you choose to do so.
If you want gaming features.. you'll likely want a PCI express slot motherboard which most the higher end optiplex have.
If you already have a video card.. you may want to check compatibility, otherwise the Nvidia stuff is usually good for general game user..affordable and have many versions available.

The GX280 have higher end processor capacity. Usually you'll see those with 80gb drive and over 3gb pent 4. They usually have a DVD player from Dell as well.

Ram is what will cost tho.. usually a 1GB stick is about 85.00+ on sale.

I use two 260's. A SSF for the daily. 1.7 pent 4.
Then a P4 2.66 GX260 tower for all my music and game/personal. I added a liteon DVD burner for about 50.00. .. both can be gotten about 200.00 ea with no system

A flat screen 19" can be had pretty cheap.. usually 200.. maybe less new with a rebate. I've seen them going 179.00 at some online places. I picked a Samsung at Sams club for 225.00

Dell resinstall/repair cd's are selling pretty cheap on eBay right now. You can get Windows XP Pro sp1 loaded with all the drivers for an Optiplex for about 25.00. Then update on Microsoft to Sp2. Plus all the drivers are available online too.
Just make sure you load the motherboard chipset drivers first before anything.

I deal with a local vendor and picked up my system in person. There's a few on ebay who have Dell products. If you are interested..I can supply you with names, location etc.

[hippietim]

I highly recommend Dell's. They've always worked great for me. I've had dozens of them over the years both for work and personal use. Here at work we have thousands of them.

[wilkinsi]

get a mac. problem solved. no crashing, no viruses.

[Inearthed]

get a mac. problem solved. no crashing, no viruses.

He wants to game online. Many popular games aren't ported to Macs.

[Inazone]

Check out General Nanosystems (near the U of M) to see what their current specials are. Nothing against Dell, but GN has been great, and they offer a lot of video, audio and case options that you won't find from Dell or comparable companies.

http://www.generalnanosystems.com/

[PallarAndersVisa]

you wont get a gaming pc from any of these companies for 1000 bucks

[neilli]

I second the recomendation for Dell, if you can stretch to them for the specs you want.....

[Soap]

Unless you need one in a hurry, build your own, man.
Got to newegg.com and order the stuff and build it yourself.
Theres nothing to it, and once you do you'll kick yourself wondering why you didn't build one sooner. Its a piece of cake, like putting a plastic model car together, actually much easier.

Otherwise, it really doesn't much anymore these days what you get.
HP, Dell, Compaq and so on. Service and features are all about the same regardless which you decide.

[illumina]

Being a computer nerd...

https://www.velocitymicro.com

https://www.maingear.com

custom computers geared towards gamers, with GREAT support. Computer will arrive with perfect wiring in case (airflow = lets hot video cards breath more), winblows preinstalled and patched, and in some cases will even preinstall your games for you! (with you providing the CD key of course).

My roomate ordered the velocity micro 1500 series... couldnt be happier with it.

[atomic charvel guy]

Thor,
There's a warehouse full of laptops here, some used, some factory seconds which are brand new but maybe a scratch to the outside or some cosmetic blemish of some kind. Smoking prices since we buy them by the thousands.
I still do chip and memory deals on occaision , but have gotten fully into mortgages, refi's, hard money loans, etc.
e-mail is - [email protected]
if you wanna know what I can dig up for you.
Tommy

[sully]

He wants to game online. Many popular games aren't ported to Macs.

that's why you get an intelmac and run windows on it in a separate window.

the gaming thing is changing, it's not windows only anymore. and hell, if you have a new mac (which you can get for close to your price range), you'll get something way more powerful, durable, and something that will hold it's value.

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/1354003/wo/Ee7JYASkYX6d35f7iOy1ToAanyl/2.0.0.19.1.0.8.7.3.5.1.1.14.1.5.1.1.5.0

sully

[sully]

1. Flat panel monitor. We do not have a large desk space so we need a monitor that is flat and does not take up a lot of space.

check. the imac has a widescreen flatpanel monitor. they're crisp and kickass.

2. Something that works well for gaming, recording music, storing and editing photos and watching videos- I play a lot of games online. Our laptop was too slow to process the music and graphics. I doubt I will be doing much recording on this computer but it would be nice to have. I watch a lot of movies on the computer so I need something that will work well for that.

nooooo problem! included with any new mac purchase is ilife; it has itunes, iphoto, imovie, and garageband. garageband is a pretty kickass recording program. it's not protools, but it's pretty powerful and you can do a hell of a lot of things with it. it also has modeling and effects built in. you can do lotsa stuff with it.

Basically, I think that means I need something with a fast processor, quality soundcard and video card, and a lot of memory right?

you can get by pretty well with the stock 512mb. that said, more memory is always a good thing, regardless of your computer. never buy ram from apple, though. 18004memory.com has screamin deals on ram.

3. Cd/DVD burner would be nice.

check!

[quiksilver]

Get a Mac. I just got a refurbished MacBook (the black one) directly from Apple for $1299, and I love it. It has an Intel processor and will run the Mac OS and Windows. I've had many, many computers over the years, both Mac and Wintel machines, including some really nice ones (e.g., Titanium PowerBook, several IBM ThinkPads, etc.), and this is the best computer I've ever had.

[IrfaanSE801]

I would also recommend the Macbook. It runs Windows now too, which will take care of your gaming. I was a hardcore PC user and just switched over to Mac, and the transition is easy as hell. It's so simple and easy to use the OS, but you'll have to look around for certain things that you know where to find in Windows, but you'll find em in no time (I'm still the newbie at the OS X) Great price, dosen't crash, and is small enough with a 13" or so widescreen. Or you can go Dell which I used to do also