PC question?

[dblue]

my brother is buying a PC and he dont know to much about them. what would be the best PC to get? i have a DELL and it is a piece of sh*t

[pacmania_2001]

Moving to the Computer Forum.

[bazooka]

I suggest building your own.

If you buy any of the computer magazines, they show you step by step how to build one,

They explain it all to you as well.

Check out the November issue of Maximum PC.

[rallynavvie]

OMG Flaystus that FAQ you pinned to the top of this forum better have one of my building guides referenced in it. I'm too exhausted to even look for...

[Faustus]

Little out of date on the CPU stuff now but yeah. Here:

http://www.crystalmidnight.com/modules/xoopsfaq/index.php?cat_id=1#q4

If you've never built a pc before check this:

http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm

[mrtristan]

If you decide to build you own, PC Builder magazine's November issue lists 50 different builds. I bought it at the San Francisco airport, to read on the plane.

[glockjs]

yup, pre made pc's are garbage. you can get 10 times the pc for a 1/3 of the cost. its really all common sense to build one. setting everything up software wise used to be the biggest part of it. but now with xp its a sinch. most the time the manual that comes with the motherboard will tell you what to do step by step

[pacmania_2001]

Depends.

By the sounds of it the person who wants the computer is relatively new to computers and could benefit from the customer/tech support that a pre-packaged computer comes with.

Talk to your brother and find out what budget he is willing to spend on it and what he will be using it for primarily.

[Faustus]

If you need software tech support for the OS then I'd suggest dialatech.com membership for say a year.

If you mean hardware then yeah your gonna want store purchaced individual part makers have really bad tech support usually even worse then the Prebuilt makers horrible tech support.

[northcat_8]

I suggest building your own.

Me too. Although I'm not going to suggest you buy some magazine to figure it all out it's really not that hard, MoBo, PSU, HD, Keyboard, Monitor, Processor, RAM, CD drive and you're good to go. You just have to search around and find the components you want in it.

[bazooka]

I suggest building your own.

Me too. Although I'm not going to suggest you buy some magazine to figure it all out it's really not that hard, MoBo, PSU, HD, Keyboard, Monitor, Processor, RAM, CD drive and you're good to go. You just have to search around and find the components you want in it.

Why not buy the magazine?

There is a wealth of information in there and they are written for people that are beginners.

Even though they are written for the uninitiated, you can still lear alot from them. The only one I do not subscribe to is Pcgamer.

I get pcworld,pcmag,smartcomputing,computerpoweruser and maximumpc .

The person may not know what a motherboard looks like, and he may not have a net connection or a printer handy.

The magazine also lets him know what the newest equipment is and when it is coming out.

[thecoalman]

If you don't want to build it yourself, Gateway and Dell's prices are almost impossible to beat on there cheapest lines, your not going to save anything by building it your self if that's the type of computer your looking for.

On the other hand building a machine with middle of the road or high end components will save you a lot. Try this site for some better prices on high-end machines. www.abspc.com

[bazooka]

The reasons to build it yourself is ability to customize and upgrade.

You know what you have and in most cases it is cheaper.

[thecoalman]

The reasons to build it yourself is ability to customize and upgrade.

You know what you have and in most cases it is cheaper.

Have you checked the abspc link? 0 propietary hardware, my system is no different than if I had built it myself except that it cost me a little more (about $150), but I got a 3 year warranty They send everthing with the system, including mobo manuals....I even got the extra screws.

Very customizable and you can get the complete specs on there site or via a manufacturer link for each component.

[bazooka]

Yes, I checked out the link, but I would still rather build my own.

I am my own tech support as well as tech support for all the other pc's I build for people and I would not have it any other way.

[Treebeard]

Yes, I checked out the link, but I would still rather build my own.

I am my own tech support as well as tech support for all the other pc's I build for people and I would not have it any other way.

ditto, never will buy another pre-built computer in my lifetime.

[stiltman]

I had a Dell and where I worked we all had Dells. I think they are one of the best computers built for businesses when it comes to reliability. I'm talking about the OptiPlex models not the Demension

[rallynavvie]

Those of you who are ragging on OEMs are probably not running legitimate copies of Windows, Office, etc. I'm not accusing, I did that myself. Sure it's easy to beat an OEMs price building a system's hardware, but when you add up legal copies of the OS and apps preloaded then you end up coming pretty close to what it costs you to purchase all of that software seperately. I can honestly say my primary workstation is void of any pirated applications, and it cost me dearly. In fact I spent more on software than I did the hardware for it (which is no small feat). For this reason and for tech support the OEMs have building your own beat. I have a Dell for my internet machine and it still has a warranty. Cooked a hard drive, a new one was at my door two days later. Flaky onboard LAN even got me a free board upgrade from them. At least that's one computer I'm not worried about wrecking, it burns F@H all day and night.

[bazooka]

I am not ragging on oems, and I do have valid software.

I just stated things as I see them.

Prebuilt systems are not built with upgrading in mind.

I also see nothing wrong with learning to build your own system.

[Faustus]

OEM for purchase only with hardware copies of Windows are not that expensive compared to retail price.

[dxj40c]

The prebuilt ones are not upgrade-friendly, and if "you don't know much about them", building one yourself could be tough to configure. A third option is to go to a small computer shop and buy one. There is one near me that assembles computers to sell. Mostly they do gamers computers and home computers but will ask what you are going to use it for and build what you need. The prices are about the same as the 'Big Boys' computers, but the guts are better quality, and upgradeable. There are lots of these small computer shops around.

[Faustus]

The prices are about the same as the 'Big Boys' computers, but the guts are better quality, and upgradeable. There are lots of these small computer shops around.

Same quality if they will actually tell you the brands and models of the parts they are using. The price may seem ok but at the same time they may be using ESC system boards, and broker grade memory with a cheap PSU (something thats very bad to skimp on IMHO)

[Treebeard]

ECS=

Gotta make sure good quality parts are used.
Find a friend or relative to build who has experience.
and buy parts online, not in a retail store (Bestbuy) b/c they will rip you off!!

[Faustus]

Also if you goto a Compusa and see something called a "Compusa Custom Built" run.

[bazooka]

ECS=

Gotta make sure good quality parts are used.
Find a friend or relative to build who has experience.
and buy parts online, not in a retail store (Bestbuy) b/c they will rip you off!!

Ecs boards are not that bad.

I am using a k75APro board in one of my systems and it works very well.

[Treebeard]

ECS=

Gotta make sure good quality parts are used.
Find a friend or relative to build who has experience.
and buy parts online, not in a retail store (Bestbuy) b/c they will rip you off!!

Ecs boards are not that bad.

I am using a k75APro board in one of my systems and it works very well.

Im sure yours works fine, but I think the failure rate of an ECS board is higher than a Gigabyte or DFI board.

I have a budget board also (biostar) and it has never crashed & burned on me.

[Treebeard]

Example of retailer ripoffs.

Bestbuy wants $12.99 for a 80mm blue case fan
I got mine online for $4 free shippin & no tax.