I bought a Dell Dimension PII 450 a year and a half ago. A month ago, my dad bought an HP with similar specs for about two thirds the price. When I was home at Christmas, I was horrified to find that my Dell outperformed his computer by a factor of about three.
Go Dell (or Gateway). They can hit your price range, and they can afford to use better components because they buy in huge volumes.
Also, if the availability of games isn’t that important, you’re probably safe with an iMac.
Computers are mature enough now that you generally get what you pay for. It’s worth a little more for the quality - the machine will be a really usable machine for longer with quality components, and if you’re willing to go $1200, you can get all you want.
Never attribute to an -ism anything more easily explained by common, human stupidity.
Avoid computer meets, you probably won’t be able to find the people again.
Just get one from a real computer store. It might cost $50 more. As a matter of fact, buy the demo if its for sale. Anything that can happen to a computer or electronic thing happens usually in the first 90 days & those in the store that are on, have made it thru this period.
There is a lot of free software on the net. StarOffice from sun.com is free, & competes with Office very well.
If you’re looking at Gateway or Dell, also look at Micron. I was quite nervous about purchasing a computer sight unseen over the Internet, but have been very happy with mine (knock wood).
id recommend a DELL system. the have cheaper ones in your price range.
we get them at work and ive set many of them up, and they are very reliable
take al ook at their website http://www.dell.com
otherwise you can go to a small local shop and ask them to build one for you, and it may be cheaper but probably less reliable
Judging by the posts, Wrangler’s level of expertise is probably not up to the prospect of building a 'puter system, IMHO. Sure, sticking the parts in the right places is relatively easy, and always has been. It’s getting all those parts to work correctly together that can be a royal PITA. I’ve been building custom systems for folks for years, and yes, I can slap the physical pieces together in twenty minutes or so. Getting 'em all to work – installing the OS, drivers, etc. – can take HOURS.
My advice to the OP: Find someone local and reputable to build you what you want. CHECK REFERENCES. Make sure this person will be there for you for warranty service, advice, and so on.
I shy away from the likes of Compaq, Dell, IBM, NEC, Gateway, etc. because of the generally crappy level of customer service and because of the sometimes near-impossibility of upgrading one of their systems. There’s too much emphasis on their parts on “slick” or compact cases, which require non-standard mainboards, often with otherwise-optional components, such as video adapters, sound adapters, modems, etc., being soldered directly on the mainboard. Sometimes these “components” can be disabled – thus MAYBE allowing you to install an upgrade – and sometimes they can’t. As for repairs, forget it. You buy one of these integrated systems, and the sound card takes a shit, you’re GOING to get a new motherboard. And there is only ONE PLACE that new motherboard can be had…
I don’t know why fortune smiles on some and lets the rest go free…
Thanks TBone, glad i am not running low on self esteem today, that might have put me over the edge! Just kidding, i realize what you mean about the topic, that i probably can’t and i don’t think i want to build one.
I admit i am not a computer whiz by any means. That why i want everyone input about what is what. Thanks for all the responses.
I am not sure if anyone said much about how PIII, celeron, and athlon compare?
Wrangler, I surely didn’t mean any disrespect. I tried to assess your level of understanding/expertise from your posts. Building your own system ain’t for everybody. Hey, I make a pretty decent living because of that fact!
ABSOLUTELY NO disrespect intended.
I don’t know why fortune smiles on some and lets the rest go free…
I second the recommendation for an iMac, or some sort of Macintosh machine. I started out with PCs, (and still use one) but I have done some research and have decided that Macs have a lot to offer. I just got an old PowerMac, which I love. The next computer I get will be a Mac. Macs seem to be more “newbie friendly” and don’t crash as often. And, I am finding that while Macs don’t have as many applications available to them as PCs, they have enough to fill any need.
Barring the Mac idea, go with a reputable local company. My current PC was semi-custom made for me - it’s an AMD K6-2 333 w/ 128 megs of RAM, and a 6 GB HD. (More HD to be added soon.) I also second the idea of a Zip Drive - on either a PC or a Mac.
" Microsoft enters into
contracts with these companies, and takes pirating software
seriously."
Oh, I gotta love that. Microsoft, which got sued big time for ‘pirating’ the MacIntosh, should care about piracy? One thing you don’t say, that even Gates himself said, was that the success of Microsoft Dos in the early years was due to the huge piracy of it. Strange but makes sense. Also, the most pirated software in the world is Windoz. Look how successful it is today!