I'm tired of my laptop. It's only 2 years old, but it's so obsolete that it runs on steam. I swear, if I see another "Virtual Memory Too Low" warning, i'm gonna go postal. Anyways, I'm looking for a desktop. I'm trying to get something around $1600. For school purposes, I don't need much, just word processing, but I'd like to get into PC gaming, so I need something with a 128 bit graphics card(if it would be cheaper to buy this seperately and have a friend install it, tell me). Anyways, right now I'm looking at Dell and IBM. I'd like to hear your thoughts on how their machines have worked for any of you who have owned one. Please, also recommend other computers if you think it'll meet my criteria.
check out fatwallet.com (hot deals, under forums) they have tons of coupons that you can use towards buying a computer system. It's a hangout for computer geeks, so can learn a lot there. Dell is best for the $$, IBMs are over priced.
If you are not thinking about upgrading the computer in the future & you don't have the time to fixup your machine when there's a problem, then yes getting a brand computer such as a Dell or IBM might be a good choice since they offer warrenty & customer support. But if you want to save money, don't mind some DIY yourself & have some time, then buying/installing the computer components yourself might be the better choice & more flexible for future upgrading. Either way, my suggestions will be: - Go for P4 2.4 GHZ (800FSB) or higher if you want to play some 3D games - Get PC3200 DDR memories instead of the ones at lower freqencies (so that the frequencies of the RAM matches with that of the CPU)
Oh, forgot to add: I'll buy a DELL over IBM anytime... There is a good website doing a great analysis on computer hardware if you are interested: http://www.tomshardware.com/index.html
I was just pricing out some machines for my mother-in-law, and you can get some nice stuff from Dell or Gateway for under 1500. The price includes a 17" flatscreen. I dont have the specs right here in front of me, but if you are interested, I'll post em later today when I get off work.
Don't buy a Gateway under any circumstances. Mine has been nothing but trouble and the customer service is terrible. If you know a good deal about computers, I'd strongly suggest that you build your own. I built my own PC and it's the most reliable computer I've ever had.
Bamaslammer, you beat me to it NEVER buy a Gateway. I swear to God you will be throwing away 1500 bucks. Always mulitiple problems, for some reason about 6 months after buying it, something, can't remember what just melted. I took it to gateway and a month later i got my computer back. From my personal experience i would go with a HP. I've never had any problems. Usually best buy runs some good deals on them. I remember about 2 years ago i'd say now.... i got a 1.7 ghz, with 512 RAM, 80 GB harddrive for 1200. This was when it was one of the better computers. I haven't had one problem yet.
If you build your own, make sure you stay away from generic parts from Frys. Also, you better be a bootlegger, because software can be quite expensive.
You mean generic as in no-name? Because I have bought name brand parts there and never had any problems. also, I would stay away from Gateway...I checked with the techs at the school district, and the reason why they went to Dells is because of problems with Gateway. They claim to have great luck with Dells, support is good when needed.. and so far the machines have worked out of the box and havent needed much work. I personally build all of mine, but thats only cause I cant afford to buy a complete machine. So I build mine from old pasrts and upgrade them as I get the cash.
I would look at Dell, they have incredible deals but there are some trick to dealing with them. My brother is one of the Directors of marketing there and they offer about the same package but they will change one or two things up. For instance, last week I was considering buying one of the systems they are selling for $499. With that package they offered a free upgrade to 15" flat screen. I have a 17" so that does me not good. I spoke to my brother he informed me the deal would soon be changing to what it is this week where I will get a standard monitor, but Dell pays the $125-$150 for shipping and handling. The reason I also say Dell over the others is what you are getting for the price. Others are maybe a few dollars less, but you are not getting a P4. Sorry for the ramble, hope it is useful info.
I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest a Dell. I bought mine less than a year ago, it arrived on my doorstep a week early. I've had zero problems with it. Very reasonable prices too.
I've had good luck with name crand stuff at Fry's, too, and problems with the "value" stuff at Fry's, as well. I bought Dells when I upgraded my computers, though, Two of 'em a little over a year ago. I've had zero problems with either of them, and I'm pretty sure I couldn't have built what I got for less money (but I don't know that for a fact). You do have to watch the deals, though, as they change regularly. I was pricing laptops the other day. One day, the deal was an extra battery (yawn), a few days later, the deal was a CD-RW upgrade and a larger hard drive or something like that. And also, I like techbargains.com, among others, for looking out for current deals, etc.
Strange enough (judging by this thread), I've never had any problems with my Gateway. My friend has a Gateway laptop, and it works fine, and the lab where I work it is based entirely off of Gateway machines, and there have been few problems with those. I'd recommend them anyday. On the other hand, I know several people with Dells and they have had problems - namely with Dell laptops. They tend to oveerheat too quickly, thereby causing system lockups & even damaged parts. Haven't seen any problems with desktops, though.
I had priced some Dells earlier this year and got what I was looking for, but I didn't have the money then. I went back recently, and sure enough, the deal has changed. There was a $250 mail in rebate back in April. I put together an IBM late last night and saved it: ThinkCentre A50p Pentium 4 2.8GHz 800 MHz Front Side Bus, 512KB L2 Cache, 256MB DDR SDRAM, ENET IBM 40GB EIDE 7200rpm Hard Drive 48X-20X CD-ROM Black Internal Drive 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9600 Pro TV-out DVI-D AGP 8X ATX IBM 128MB PC2700 CL2.5 NP DDR SDRAM UDIMM IBM 256MB PC2700 CL2.5 NP DDR SDRAM UDIMM Microsoft Windows XP Home(I can get Professional at school for $15) total:$1,279.00 Level 9 Planar Media 7 3-Piece Speaker System $55.99 USD IBM 48X/24X/48X/16X Max CD-RW/DVD-ROM Combination Drive w/ purchase of select systems $0.00 17 inch ThinkVision C170 w/ purchase of select systems $159.00 Total: $1,543.99 I might be able to get a better payment plan through my dad since they seem to be offering something to small business owners, either way, this looks pretty good. Now, my only question is about the reliability of IBMs.
It's conversations like these that make me realize how lucky I am that I know how to build my own computer. $1600! Ouch! I can get ANYTHING I want for easily less than $500. MAX.
Hey Oski you still at A&M? If you are you should e-mail me your phone number at thegroupers@hotmail.com And we can go have a drink sometime. I go up there from time to time to see old friends and eat at cafe eccel. I got a dell and I love it, but I have used to many shareware programs and now it runs slow because of all the hidden attachments.
I don't know where I'll be living this fall yet, but when I get that worked out, I'll be sure to email you.
