Here are my criteria:
I don’t want to pay more than $2000, including CPU and monitor.
I mostly use the computer for non-action games (The Sims, Civ II) and the Internet.
I’m not interested in doing a lot of tinkering around with the machine. I’m not a tech-head. Therefore I want a computer made by a company that has decent tech support.
I think that’s about it… does anyone have suggestions?
Do searches on the web for companies in you area that provide internet computers. They will run you about $700 for a computer and monitor, with upgrades to large and better compontents. Upgrading to a 19" monitor is a very big plus. The type of computer I mentioned would likely have intergrated video and sound. You might want to upgrade the hard drive to something large than the basic unit. Add about $300 for the two mentioned upgrades. As for tech support a local computer store can save you money over the name brands at a large retailer, and have great support. You need to ask them while looking. They even know what they’re talking about most of the time, since they put the systems together in back.
If you are in California, you should try to get a flat screen monitor that doesn’t use much electricity. You can get some nice computer stuff from tigerdirect.com & they are pretty nice with tech support.
Local computer shops are also excellent only if you know how to talk to them, otherwise you can get ripped for a lot of dough. Sometimes people pay me about $100 to come with them to the store & use my discount there & talk to the guys.
The best advice for someone about to upgrade their computer is this:
“Don’t buy, Build”
If you scour the internet for deals you can find some superfast equipment at rock bottem deals
end result? - faster computer & more money left over for sim games
My brother is in the process of building a computer that, when finished, will be faster, bigger, and better than anything else on the market. - Total cost? - $900 - $1000
Sigh. This always happens when I ask for advice about buying a computer online.
I appreciate your comments, guys, but I tried to make it clear that I’m not interested in building my own system. I don’t want to scour the Internet for the cheapest parts and cobble my own machine together. I want to buy a package deal with a good service plan. I know that this means I will pay more. I accept that. It’s worth it to me to be able to pick up the phone and call a help desk when something goes wrong.
Anyway, I do appreciate the comments. If I were interested in building my own machine, you guys would be the first people I’d ask for input.
I think I’ve decided on a Dell 4100, though.
There are some Macintosh models that would fit your criteria. I recommend the Mac to anyone who doesn’t have an unavoidably imperative reason to get a PC instead, and who isn’t firmly committed to the Wintel platform. This is a good time to get one of the remaining 500 MHz G4 desktop boxes, as they are trying to clear the inventory. You should be able to score one for somewhere in the vicinity of $1500 or less, and get a decent monitor with the remainder.
Actually, AHunter3, your suggestion is so good that we have already taken you up on it!
My boyfriend just got himself one of those G4s, and loves it. We keep two computers around, one PC and one Mac, and that way we’re able to play any game we want to and run pretty much any piece of software we want to. It also makes it nice when checking web sites on multiple platforms, but that’s not the main reason for it.
I actually slightly prefer Macs to PCs, but he is a rabid Mac fan, so he gets the Mac, while I just stick with upgrading my PC every so often.
Too bad, I was going to recomend the Gateway Select 1200CX - 1200 Mhz Athlon, 128 MB SDRAM, 40GB HD, Rewritable CD drive, 17" monitor, 32MB AGP 3D card, 56K modem/network card. $1564.
I have two suggestions if you are going to purchase a Dell or a Gateway.
Buy a brand name monitor somewhere else (CDW, PCZone, etc.). The quality of their in-house monitors leaves something to be desired. Monitor quality is somewhat subjective. If you’re not looking for extremely high quality (and price), check out the ViewSonic GS790. It has a smaller footprint than other 19" monitors. I buy them for all my clients (except the designers).
After you get the machine, carefully check out the applications that are running all the time in the background and consider unloading some/all of them. Besides the performance hit, there is the potential for conflicts and crashes.
I write this on a Gateway sitting on top of my old Zeos. I’m way too lazy to actually build one…
Gateway? Sure:
Straight from Gateway’s Factory in South Dakota, is the Gateway 500se factory recertified AMD K6-2 500MHz system Just $349.99 Plus: Free Speakers or Free HP Apollo 600 dpi color printer!
This is a tasty machine. Gateway means quality, and these systems are straight from Gateway’s recertification center in South Dakota. Okay, so here’s the specs: AMD K6-2 500MHz processor, 64MB high-speed SDRAM, huge 10GB hard drive, 40X CD-ROM, 3D video, 56K V.90 modem, 104+ key Gateway keyboard, Gateway mouse/mousepad, superby crafted Gateway mini-tower case and full 90-day Guarantee. And that’s not all, you also get Microsoft’s Windows Millennium operating system, plus Microsoft Works Suite 2000. It’s legacy-free, so there’s no floppy drive. And finally, you get your choice of a FREE pair of Boston Acoustics stereo speakers (the best in the business)—or—a FREE HP Apollo 600 dpi color printer when you buy a Gateway 500se! Don’t miss this one!
TigerDirect wins again. ALthough doesn’t seem to have a monitor.
Well, based on the suggestions here, I did consider the Gateway, but ultimately I went with the Dell, because I think their service plan looked better, and also, I got the machine I wanted for slightly cheaper.
The specs, for the curious:
Dell 4100
Pentium III 933 MHz processor
40GB Ultra ATA-100 hard drive (7200 rpm)
128 MB 133 MHz SDRAM
17" monitor
32MB NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 4X AGP graphics card
8X/4X/32X CD-RW drive
3.5" floppy drive
SB Live! Value digital sound card
Altec Lansing ACS-340 speakers with subwoofer
3COM 10/100 Fast Ethernet PC card
Lexmark Z32 printer (came free as a special offer)
I’m pretty happy with this. The total was $1268. We got free shipping which was also part of the special offer.
My old machine had a 1.6GB hard drive and a 166mHz processor. I couldn’t even play the Sims! So I’m very excited about the new machine. 