Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 - $259 Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3500320NS 500GB 32MB Cache - $99 4GB (2x2GB) Ram DDR2 800, any brand name will work - $60 Asus P5Q, pick any of these - $100-$140 ENERMAX PRO82+ EPR525AWT 525W ATX12V Ver.2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE, made in Japan and their underrated. 525W but probably goes up to 600W - $110 AMD Radeon HD 4870 or Nvidia Geforce GTX 260 - $250 Lian Li cases are nice because their light weight, but I always seem to buy Antec. I like their designs for some reason. You can find them on sale at Fry's/Newegg for around $70 for a case that retails @ $120-$150. - $70 $948 before speakers/kb/mouse/monitor.
Prices are slightly higher + tax. When Fry's has a sale, usually no one can beat them. Their sales on HDTV's, games, computer parts are insane. They w**** out the stuff at nearly wholesale cost just to piss on their competitors.
You can put together a powerful system with $1300. Are you including a monitor, mouse and keyboard in your budget?
Try returning a TV at Frys with ONE dead pixel and see what they say. IMO it's worth the extra premium (which isn't even that much more) buying electronics from Costco just for the 2 year extended warranty alone. The 3 month return policy seals the deal. I've bought all my computers from Costco and couldn't be more pleased. My mother board on my HP laptop got fried 13 months after purchase. Called up HP and they said my warranty expired and I would have to pay 130 bucks to repair it. I took out my Costco receipt and he shipped me a box overnight. Within a week my laptop was up and running again.
Technically, they don't have to return the TV because of one dead pixel. I'm not sure what the standard is, but IIRC it has to have at least 6+ dead pixels before it's considered defective. I've never had a dead pixel on any of my Samsung products so that's not even an issue for me. Regardless Costco is great for warranty issues. If he wants a laptop, then yea, Costco would be the way to go because most laptops are so cheaply built. If it's a Desktop, custom is the way to go. You get a lot more value, reliability, and exactly what you want.
I built a HP laptop computer last year through Costco, the computer ended up not working a couple days after I got it. Returned it right back to Costco with no questions asked. Not sure if it's the cheapest route but the fact that Costco has their own warranty on top of the manufacturers, and I think Costco adds another year to the manufacturer's warranty at no extra charge, I personally think its a great place to buy computers and electronics in general.
On the frys website they have this PC up for $500.00 * Model Number: HP a6567c Refurbished * CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, 2.4GHz * Memory: 4GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM * Video: Nvidia GeForce 9300GE, 256MB * Hard Drive: 640GB, SATA, 7200rpm * Card Reader: 15-in-1 Memory Card Reader * Optical Drive: DVDRW DL RAM Drive * Network: 10/100/1000 ethernet connection * Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit * Warranty: 90 day limited warranty How good is the quad core really? Im salivating just thinking about it. But i dont game on the pc, i just like having a powerful computer.
Black Friday is awesome! Go to Fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net and build your own PC from holiday specials. You can pick some items up for half price. You might even get an item for free, when you combine a manufacturer's rebate with a store deal. Even if you don't get the early bird specials, the regular deals can be quite good. There are some really good hardware deals in those forums.
I was looking at that same special. Thought it was a pretty sweet deal. I'm not sure about the quad core, but what do you guys think about the "refurbished" part? Yay or nay?
The question on custom Built Computer . . .esp if not from a Manufacturer is the Cost of Software - This is where I think the pricing equals out Software bundles versus Buying them and installing them One the one hand u don't get a bunch of useless crap you did not want but on the other you pay more for the crap you want I am thinking of building me one. . . but I have to weight the software advantages Rocket River
Good point about the software. If you are a college student, you can get a huge discount from school. Often, the college will have a deal to get software cheap. MS Office suite, Windows, and Antivirus can be several hundred dollars.
I have no idea. I haven't used the 64-bit edition of Vista. My sister got Microsoft Office real cheap from Tulane University. I don't remember the price though.
If you actually want a PC, then go for it. If you want a decent computer, come by the Apple Store in the Galleria on Wednesday; I'll be sure to wear my Artest shirt or Cougars jersey under my store shirt.
