I'm looking for a new computer

shimmyz

shimmyz

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My computer is on it's last leg and I need a new one. I don't know much about computers so I'm looking for some advice. I'm looking to buy something in the $750 price range. The new computer will be used for the following.

-surfing the net
-downloading audio/video
-photoshop (I'm hoping to learn to use it)
-video editing (I might look into this in the future)
-watching and burning DVDs

Thats all this computer will be used for. I won't be using it for games.

Which operating system should I look for... XP home or XP media?

How big of a hard drive? How much RAM?

Who has the best deals?

Thanks, Josh
 
dude get a dell. i have a gateway in the garage, it is ok for there but i have had problems with it. just picked up a dell XPS lap top for me and a dell 310 for the wife.wifes was abour 675$ 17" lcd and a printer. no complaints love them. my 2.5 cents:D
 
I like to build my own.

Buy a case for 49 bucks and fill it with what you want and can afford.(2 or 3 fans in the case)

motherboard...I like Asus...80 bucks
prosessor...buy the fastest one you can afford.
windows XP Pro
biggest HD you can afford,or 2 medium ones.
HP DVD 640 burner 79 bucks.burns everything and will also burn a pic right on the top of it(kinda cool)
use yer old mouse and keyboard if ya want.
get ATI all in wonder card, watch tv,say radio,external plugs to accept different media.
Lots of RAM
Fairly fast grafx card to process yer media nice and qwik.

thats about 500 worth there. You can probably re-use yer case and MB if there not ancient.

If you build it yerself,you know what ya got. Stay away from "Pre Loaded" operating systems,puts you at the mercy of the bastids that sell you the PC. (you dont get the operating system on disc,just loaded on yer new toy) whick will suck when yer new baby goes down at night or on a holiday weekend.

Rubb
 
if you're going to be doing video,

get XP multimedia edition.  

You cannot get a big enough hard drive.  A good DVR will use about 225MB per minute at full resolution with lossless compression.  In addition to the raw footage, you'll need space for editing.  You'll probably want to store the edited version in 1 piece for computer format and chapters for burning DVDs.  

Processor speed and RAM depends on how much time you are willing to spend waiting.  I have a 3 GHz processor and 2 GB RAM. It takes about 4 minutes to convert one minute of raw footage into a publishable format (wmv or mpg)



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Stay away from Dell. Go with HP. And if you have the wherewithal to build it yourself, that's not a bad way to go. But only if you know what yer doing. Caution is the word of the day here.

--Wag--
 
(Wag @ Mar. 24 2006 said:
Stay away from Dell.  Go with HP.  And if you have the wherewithal to build it yourself, that's not a bad way to go.  But only if you know what yer doing.  Caution is the word of the day here.

--Wag--
Click to expand...
Interesting. I've had HP, Gateway, and Dell computers. The one that went up in smoke in the shortest time was the HP. The Gateway is 10 yrs old and still running. I bought the HP to replace the Gateway and gave the Gateway to my Dad. I'm now using the Dell since the HP gave up the ghost.
 
i jusr replaced my gateway and my hp lap top with dell
 
Don't fret the brand name. Look for what's inside. I work on all brands everyday, and they all go up in smoke for any number of reasons regardless of the name on the outside. If it's a hard drive's time to die, it going to die regardless of the HP, Dell, or Sony name on the outside of the case.

Just follow some simple rules and you should be OK. Stay way from the words Celeron or Duron. 1024 MB minimum. DVD+ or - RW DL drive. XP Media Center is more gimmick than necessity. Everything you describe can easily be done on any version of XP. Harddrive as big as you can afford. (SATA a must). Dedicated video card, (PCI Express with minimum 256MB onboard.)

Like RSD said, if you can, building your own to spec is great, but obviously most don't have the background or desire to go that route. Good luck.
 
Building your own is not practical anymore. I was doing that for what... 15 years now... Dell+Compaq make very good qualty workstations nova days. and affordable. That is what i install to my clients. Less then 0.1% failure..
Dell, IBM and ..... surprise surprse... SONY makes best computers now.
Stay away from Gateway, E-machine, etc... they use generic components... a.k.a crap.

IBM and SONY waaay owerpriced....
Check this out.... http://www1.us.dell.com/content....n&s=bsd

If you don`t like it then PM me I`ll hook you you up on killer deal.
smile.gif


Dell 3.2, 1 gig of RAM, TWO SATA drives, DL DVD burner, 15 LCD, XP Pro, all software you mentioned...
 
You guys are great! Thanks alot for the input!
Vic, I will be sending you a PM tomorrow. Thanks again guys. Josh
 
Guys,

There is an internet shop in Los Angeles - www.allstarshop.com - that has great pricing on computer parts. I have used them alot to build computers and you can build a great machine in the $500 price range. Check them out - great prices - great service. I have been using them for a couple of years to build computers for home, work and friends

Kent
 
I'd get a Dell, had a Compaq before which went up in smoke in twoo years.
Get the biggest hard drive you can get and most RAM you can afford, at least 1GB.
 
My concern with Dell is the poor customer service. HP has given me better after sale service than Dell or Gateway over the years.

Anyhoo, other than the service, there really isn't a lot of difference between them all. I have a Sony here at the house which I got because it had a great price at Costco last Christmas. No problems with it whatsoever.

So far!
biggrin.gif


--Wag--
 
I bought my mother an Acer T315 from tigerdirect.com for $399. All I can say I was totally impressed with that machine for such a price. You may want to look there. For home, I try to stay from proprietary machines like Dell & HP.
 
Not Only Get a DELL, Get a refurbished DELL.

SAVE a ton of money, still under warranty!

I've bought about 5 over the last 5-6 years, never had a single problem.
 
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