Will I get software already installed, a monitor, speakers, a warranty, 24 hour tech support etc? I don't know what my problem, is, but I know a home built pc will work fine, but I can't help but compare it to getting a guy down the street to build me a car. Not to mention I couldn't pay 1000 up front, so I make use of the payment plans from comp makers. This is what I did at the HP website: hp pavilion a250y Included Features: (Click on features for more info) Total memory slots: 4 DIMM 3 PCI Expansion Slots(2 available) 1 AGP Port V.90 K56flex modem Integrated 10/100Base-T networking hp pavilion software bundle One-year limited hardware warranty USB 2.0 Technology Premium Minitower Processor P4HT 2.8GHz + Free Corel WP11 Memory 512 MB DDR PC2700 - (2 DIMM) Hard Drive 80 GB Hard Drive (5400 RPM) Primary CD/DVD Drive 16x DVD-ROM Drive Secondary CD/DVD Drive 48x max. CD-Writer Drive Graphics Card 128MB DDR ATI Radeon 9800. Monitor 17 in. hp m703c $50 REBATE Front Productivity Ports 2 USB, 1 IEEE 1394 + ArcSoft,. Sound Card Sound Blaster Audigy - card Keyboard and Mouse Internet Kybd, Optical Mouse Operating System Windows XP Home Edition. Digital Camera None Printer hp deskjet 3650 - $50 rebate All-In-One None Floppy Drive Add. Storage. None Application Software Corel WordPerfect Suite Speakers Altec Lansing 221 2.1 Speakers SYSTEM PRICE : (As low as $44.10/month) $1,469.97
Here ya go: $1618.....although personally, I'd come up with about 3 bills more to get a Soundblaster Audigy and the Klipsch speakers--but that's just me. Anyway, this one has 4.2 Ghz 800MHz FSB, 1 GB of PC-3200 RAM, and a 120 MB HD.....along with your DVD and CD-RW, and a good case, MB, and a great keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Category/Item Quantity Price Accessories Thermaltake Blue Cold Cathode Light | Voice Controlled | Lights inside case w/ cool blue glow (NU=00883005) 1 Standard Mousepad 8" x 9 1/2" (NU=17114107) 1 Standard Cases & Server-Rackmount Raidmax Diamond Series (SILVER) 10-bay 350 Watt USB 2.0 panel window & fan (Zinc plated steel) (NU=11156113) 1 $-40 CD/DVD ROM_RW & Media Lite On 52x32x52 CD-RW Black | Model LTR-52327S (NU=27106197) 1 Standard LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD-ROM Drive (Black) (NU=27131603) 1 Standard Fans & Related Zalman CNPS5700D-CU Pure Copper CPU Cooler (NU=35118104) 1 Standard Floppy Drives & Media Mitsumi 1.44 MB Floppy Drive - BLACK (NU=21104101) 1 Standard Hard Drives Western Digital 120GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache | Hard Drive - Special Edition (NU=22144118) 1 Standard Logitech Cordless Elite Duo Keyboard and Mouse combo (black & silver) (NU=23126115) 1 Standard Multimedia Microphone with Base (NU=36111104) 1 Standard Memory & Flash Media Corsair DDR400 512MB PC-3200 C2 XMS | (extreme memory speed series) (NU=20145416) 2 pieces $128 Modem and Network Devices Aopen Internal FM56-SVV 56K V.92 V/F/D PCI Modem (NU=25131005) 1 Standard Monitors & LCD Display Samsung SyncMaster 753DF Flat CRT monitor (Biege) (NU=24001002) 1 $-546 Motherboards Asus P4C800 Deluxe Intel 875P Canterwood Gigabit LAN 8X AGP (NU=13131449) 1 Standard Processors Intel Pentium 4 2.8GHz 512k 800MHz FSB (NU=19116161) 1 $7 Software Microsoft Windows XP Home with Service Pack 1a (NU=37110013) 1 Standard none Sound Cards & MIDI Devices 1 $-109 none Speakers & Headphones 1 $-93 ASUS V9280TD GeForce 4 Ti4200 128MB AGP 8X TV & DVI-OUT (NU=14121136) 1 $-228 price with option: $1618
Pole's PC is pretty good. I would change the monitor and get something a little cheaper but that's totally up to you. I would definitely check out this website too. I'm writing using one of their computers now. It's good quality and cheap for what you get. Just make sure if you dont' have MS Word to install that you include it in the bundle you order. http://www.gentechpc.com/ They have a good warranty, and I've checked with Better Business Bureau about them before I bought this PC. The customer service isn't 24/7 but it is really good.
My wife's got one and she loves it (a Vaio PC). I know this is a dumb question, but what does Vaio mean if anything?
That PC was actually $2,500 before I modified it, and it came with an LCD. I added a much better value monitor in my config.....the monitor is actually a negative $546 (off of the original $2,500)
Also, that PC came from www.nutrend.com which will occasionally garner a top five in www.pcword.com 's reviews. I recommend nutrend to everyone looking to get a new PC, but for myself, I build my own. Unlike Darkhorse, I can't build one for $500 though....I can spend that much on speakers. I used to find that "rolling" my own was a way to save money, but it seems that the economies of scale that the big guys enjoy along with much tighter margins has really wittled that down to next to nothing. I may save a bit, but nowhere near enough to justify the time spent searching for the right components at the best price and the few hours of time it takes to build one. I just do it because I enjoy it.
I'm not really an audiophile, but I do want a good soundcard incase I go for some real good seakers later on. At HP, I just found out that I can get a student discount. They took about $90 off the price, not bad. I'm gonna keep shopping and see if I can find more student discounts.
Word processor for home can be run on pretty much any P4 machine on the market these days. If you are thinking about going into gaming, the two things you really need to spend money in is ram and graphic card (unless your a sound freak, then you might want to get like 200 speakers and stuff). For the next regeneration games like Half-Life 2, you need a high end video card, ATI 9700 pro and up. In GeForce terms, that would be about a 5700FX card IIRC. For the money, ATI is better IMO. Ram, your need Dual 3200 DDR, at least 512 (2 sticks of 256). If your shopping on Dell.com, those should be minium requirements for a good gaming computers. Pricewatch.com is a good place for price guild. Newegg.com has superb support and fast shipping if you decide to buy.
I think I'm gonna go with the HP, I get a nice student discount and I included a printer as well. My only problem is the lack of some options, particularly with the ram. I can only choose from 2 versions of 512 mb DDR or 2 versions of 1 GB DDR. I guess I'll go with the gig since I'll need at least 512 mb. I think I'll call to see if the computer will have extra slots for me to upgrade, then I can go with 512 and add a stick whenever I find something on sale. I guess now I just have to call my pops and clear it with him. Thanks for the help dudes. I don't know if you hardcore guys will be down with my HP PC, but at least my printer is badass.
i dont keep up with hardware but ive been researching for the past 2-3 weeks for my new computer. i'm planning to get the parts by the end of this month: Lian Li PC-6070 = 178 Enermax EG365-VE 350 watts = 54 Abit IS7 intel 865PE = 109 P4 2.4GHz HT 800MHz = 175 Zalman CNPS6500B = 28 Corsair ddr400 pc3200 256 (2x) = 118 WD 36GB Raptor 10K rpm = 139 ATI Radeon 8500 64MB = 65 Hercules Fortissimo = 46 NIC built in = 0 NEC 16X = 32 NEC dvd-r 4x cdr 16x = 149 floppy = 8 cables = 15 ========================= total: ~$1,116 i'm really excited about my case and the WD Raptor HD, i might spend the extra money and get 2 hard drives and put it in a RAID 0. I've read reviews of the WD Raptor in a RAID 0, and the speeds are pretty sick.
The HP is a good computer, I think some are just a little worried about store bought systems. I just want to stay away from the days of integrated boards, because they lack the ability to really upgrade. I build my own, and it's a lot easier than you might think. But if I was to buy, I'd go Dell. Although, dream-system-wise I'd go for one of these. The only pre-built comp I'd think of getting... http://www.alienware.com/gaming_main_desktop.aspx
You should hard set your virtual memory on your existing laptop to twice the size of your RAM. I bet you see far fewer virtual memory errors. If you are interested, let me know whick OS you are using.
<b>movement</b> Don't spend the money on the RAID. The speeds are fast, but in real world applications, you will not notice. If you do a lot of video or audio editing (not MP3's) you will enjoy it, otherwise it isn't really worth the money.
Sorry for the triple post, but if you are looking for a cheap prebuilt PC or laptop www.tigerdirect.com usually has some good deals. i haven't bought from them, but have refered others and they have had good luck. They have just been bought by yahoo I think. Newegg and pricewatch are good too (as stated previously), though pricewatch takes a bit of work these days. I have spent a bit of money with Gameve.com as well, and been very satisfied.
I'm right there with you. It makes me cry at night. That's why I build my own. Although it used to be a much bigger gap, it can still be cheaper to custom build. Also, you can get it piece by piece....allowing for the recovery of funds.
