Worth the Hassle? Options

[ryanoman]

What do you guys think... is it worth the hassle to build a computer, install all the drivers, and software, or is it better to go with a Dell, because the Dell has all the software on it, and cheaper?

This is what Kryogenix told me, and it helped me, but when I thought about it, Dell or something else was cheaper.

For ever average user, Dell is a good choice, but just so you know, no matter how good the deal that you see on Dell, they're making extra money off of you, unless of course you're an insider or you read deals sites like me. Anyways, building a comp is probalby your best bet since you get to choose your own componets and you get to do all your own research and you can learn a lot. Plus you can get right in your target range for price, no need to worry about going over. AMD processors are good for gaming, Pentium 4 are good for office work and video processing, for what you're doing, you're doing, you won't notice a difference. When running windows XP you'll want a minimum of 256mb ram, 512 is recommended, I'd get at least an 80gb harddrive that way you don't have to worry about it for a while. You won't need very highend graphics for what you're doing, maybe integrated graphics or a budget card. I'd suggest either a geforce 5200 or ATI Radeon 9600XT depending on your price range. Integrated sound should be fine for what you do but if you decide you need a deticated sound card then maybe go for Creative Audigy 2 or w/e. Since you're doing photoshop, you'll want a CRT (the fat kind of monitor) since they're less expensive and they display colors much more accuratly than LCD's. Try to get at least a 2.1 surround sound speaker system though 5.1 would probably be better if you're going to be watching movies or something but only some motherboards support this integrated so you'll probably have to get a deticated sound card.

[*kryogenix*]

Right. Dell has service/support, but maybe they have MFG. Warenty... I'm trying to stay in the 6-8 hundred dollar range.

If you don't have too much knowledge in building computers, I would recommend just buying a brand name computer. But, if you don't mind spending the time or risking the money (sometimes, you get faulty equipment that you need to send back the the manufacturer for a replacement, which costs $$$, hopefully this doesn't happen to you ), then by all means, build a computer.