Buying a new computer..., ...what do you recommend? Options

[*thesweetescape*]

Okay, be resonable. Obviously, I'm not going to go out and buy and alienware, and no...I'm not building my own either (even though some day I'd like to attempt it.) What desktops or laptops would you recommend that would be a best deal for low price? I've shopped around a little online but I want to know first hand how these computers are running...I can't afford for a computer to crap out on me in a few months...and what I want is pretty basic: internet, word processor for school, cd burner, floppy drive....if possible, i'm looking for a laptop but if i can't find a cheap enough one ($1,000 or under) i'm going to get a desktop....soooo any suggestions?

[mechwarrior1989]

People going around saying eMachines are crap are retarded and should burn in hell. Well not really, but they need to get their facts straight. The only reason people go around bashing eMachines is because they are budget PC's, many people still have their eMachines from many years ago and they work fine. Buying an eMachine is like getting a ATI Radeon 9800pro, it's no longer top of the line, but it's enough to do what you need it to do, in some cases, more than enough. There are some very good eMachines out there and they were recently, months ago rather, acquired by Gateway. Making them the 3rd largest PC maker in the US, I think. So for the best bang for your buck, get an eMachine.

However, there are many other brands out there. Some people say Dell, some say HP (compaq is part of HP), some will tell you to build, and some will say ebay. With so many options ot choose from, what should you choose?

First we must look at your needs, do you need:
High-end for major gaming and video processing.
Middle of the road, for gaming, and other tasks.
Low end for word documents and that type of stuff.

Of course not everyone will fit directly into these three catagories, especially since it isn't worded well, but you must first determain what you need:

Will an off the shelf system configuration be good enough for you, or will you need/want to choose your own parts?

Places like Dell and HP/Compaq are good for if you want to choose your own parts. They will often give you good deals on computers. Not as good as a lot of people get, but for the average consumer, they would seem good.

Someone said that you should get a Dell for gaming and school projects while surfing the net you should get an HP instead. That is the most retarded statement I have ever heard, no offense. You can use a computer that's like 7 years old and still surf the net, that's degrading to HP. Plus you can't just say get a Dell and you'll have a great gaming experiance. No, get a Dell XPS Gen3, and you'll have a great gaming experiance. Most Dells and HP's will be comparable in their performance.

Someone also mentioned how it would seem you get more bang for the buck with a PC rather than an iMac or w/e. Completely not true, it all depends on what you are trying to do, Plus, you cannont merely look at the specs and let them explain all, take for example the AMD Athlon XP 2800+ w/ 2.133 ghz core speed, compare that to a 2.4ghz P4, which is faster? The uneducated consumer will look at the P4 and say, of course it's faster the AMD is so slow. This is completely untrue, it's like looking at the AMD 64-53 processor and saying it's a jillion times slower than a P4 at 3.0ghz just because the AMd 64-53 processor only runs at like 2.5 ghz or something, I'm not quite sure since I forgot. But like these processor's, the numbers don't tell all, Apple's have a much more efficient way of processing data, because of that even a much slower clocked Mac will perform comparably to higher clocked PC, am I condemning PC's? No of course not.

Next subject, Gaming:
If you want to game on your comp, Mac is instantly out, games on macs cost more and they have less games for it period. Don't get a mac if you want to game. Secondly, determain what kind of gamer you are, Hardcore or casual. The Hardcore gamer is looking for maximum framerates and maximum resolution with max settings. They want the get the MAX out of their gaming experiance. This is who the highend PC's are talored to. This sort of gamer could easily plop down 3-5 grand for the lastest and greatest, AMD 64-53, 2gb DDR2 400 RAM, PCIe GeForce 6800 ultra, twin WD 10k RPM raptors in RAID 0, etc. These guys want their computers FAST and will take nothing else. Of course by buying all the latest tech, you just end up wasting money so it isn't exactly the smartest idea.

However, for the casual gamer, you don't need super high framerates, or UBER graphics to get the most out of your gaming experiance. All you need is for the game to run smoothly and look pretty nice and for the comp to last you a while. I won't get in depth with this but I'd suggest: P4 3.2ghz, 1gb Ram, at least 120gb harddrive, ATI Radeon 9600 equivilant or higher.

Marketing Gimics:

Do not fall for marketing traps such as, "Free CD-Burner UPGRADE!!!", "Free upgrade to 80gb harddrive!!", "Free UPGRADE to 256mbs Ram!!"

Unless it's already a good deal and these just add to the deal then don't get it. Don't think, oh this company might not have a better offer than now so I should buy now. No that's the dumbest thing any consumer can do. Plus many of these things come cheap anyways. CD-Burners can often be found for little or no money. Even DVD burners are dropping in price. Many can be found for less than $40 on special sales, well actually cheaper, but I won't get into that. Harddrives are so cheap now that it's crazy. I'm currently sitting on about 700gbs of harddrive space on my network. Free Ram upgrades are probably the best offers since Ram is relativly expensive compared to other easily upgradeable things in the comp, and Free CPU upgrades are always a plus.


A Look at the Brands out there:
Dell: Pros: Good customer support and solid systems. Good prices for many of their systems.
Cons: Customer support is mostly in India is if you can't understand them or they can't understand you, then there's a problem.

HP: Pros: Large company that makes lots of stuff, also owns Compaq, also good Customer Support.
Cons: Slightly higher price than Dell in some cases, not known to be as good Dell for realiability and such.

eMachines: Pros: Budget priced systems with sometimes high end parts. You'll get the most bang for you buck here, well in the big chain stores anyways.
Cons: Not known to be realible and supposedly bad Customer Support. Though they are better now.

Sony: Pros: Nice looking systems, with nice specs.
Cons: Expensive, bad customer support.

Medion: Pros: Low price with good componants.
Cons: Unknown to me, though it will most likely have cons.

Toshiba: Pros: Makes the 2nd best laptops out there, good products at pretty good prices.
Cons: Customer support? I'm not quite sure about Toshiba's cons.

IBM: Pros: Most reliable desktops and laptops out there, drop and IBM and it'll keep on chugging. Very good Customer Support.
Cons: With reliable laptops and good Customer Support, you can expect a heafty price tag.


You can't really ask people what kind of computer you should get since there are all sorts of different opinions. My suggestion though would be to go with one of the bigger companies and get something that you like and that fits. Don't get suckered into paying for something that you don't need. If you have no need for wireless networking, don't get that option for your laptop, if you don't need something portable, don't get an ultralight laptop. That's about it for now.