Shopping for a new computer

[humandraydel]

My only advice is to build one yourself. About 4 years ago I needed a new computer and was unwilling to pay the ridiculous prices for a Mac. I tried to research PC companies (Dell, HP, etc) and came to the conclusion that they were all junk. You can build a computer for about 50% of the price of a Dell or HP, and probably for about 30% of the price of a Mac. Plus, there are WAY more games for Windows than Mac. Honestly, it's very easy to build a computer - basically plugging about 5 components into a motherboard and installing the OS is all it takes.

[97guns]

I need to keep doing some research on them. Other than word of mouth I don't really know much about Macs, and I've never used one.
.

i also swear by mac, i converted to mac just over a year ago and will not be going back to windows, i was tired of getting viruses, my last windows machine only lasted 6 months before a virus fried the hd. it was a little awkward at first but now its second nature and is quicker to move files around than a pc. i spent $800 on my mac air, no cd drive but solid state hard drive that boots up in less than 10 seconds.

[siggy_freud]

Really depends on the gaming you'll be doing. If you're talking like the SIMS or Facebook games, anything will really do. If you're talking First Person shooters, you'll want to steer clear of MACS. They're nice for what they do, but they don't do gaming all that well. Most thin PCs run laptop hardware, and while it's come a long way, they simply aren't up to the task that PC gear can run.

Macs also limit your upgrade-ability in the future. I built my own PC, and I believe anyone who can work a screw-driver and watch some youtube videos can do it too.

I'm a big gamer, and do a lot of rendering for home remodel stuff, and I spent $1,000 or so on my custom rig. But when it starts to get slow, I can simply replace what I need, rather than buying a new PC.

If you'd like to go the Custom route, Pricewatch.com and Newegg.com are your friend. If you let me know what types of games you're wanting to play, and your relative budget, I could probably spec out a system for you.

I built my first PC about 17 years ago when I was 11. I fumbled through it by pretty much by looking at a built PC, and trying to replicate it. Now they're much easier IMO, mostly because I actually know what I'm looking at.

[ActYourWage]

If you don't have dual monitors, I would consider going the dual route. But be warned, once you go dual, you won't go back! I absolutely love my dual monitors, I'm watching Netflix as I type this message.

[ActYourWage]

Forget about it. It doesn't work that way. Five years is a good lifespan for a computer. Technology changes rapidly and in 5 years, anything you buy today regardless of brand, price, or specs, will be obsolete and unable to keep up with newer machines. That's why I never understand folks who go out and spend top dollar to get a computer with all of the bells and whistles because in 5 years, those are just as obsolete as the cheap ones.

Buy what you need to fit your current usage. Don't overbuy because it won't increase the lifespan. It'll just increase the cost.

Spot on.

[bjl584]

Really depends on the gaming you'll be doing. If you're talking like the SIMS or Facebook games, anything will really do. If you're talking First Person shooters, you'll want to steer clear of MACS. They're nice for what they do, but they don't do gaming all that well. Most thin PCs run laptop hardware, and while it's come a long way, they simply aren't up to the task that PC gear can run.

I've read that the Macs don't handle gaming well. I probably won't be doing any first person shooter type stuff. Probably more strategy games. Simcity 5 is coming up soon, and I'd like to play that. I can run Simcity 4 on my current machine, but I don't have enough horsepower to run 5, especially if I want to do multiplayer online.

I thought about building my own machine, or at least getting something that I can upgrade on my own down the road. I know it's a lot cheaper to build a machine than it is to buy one up front.

[JoeP]

If you buy a computer from a big box store, it is possible that the some of the parts will be non-standard, like motherboard size, case, or memory. This will make upgrading more difficult when the time comes.

If you want to build, I suggest looking at sites like anandtech and tomshardware. Both have forums where people in your exact situation are seeking advice, and a lot of the more experienced members will even post complete parts lists with links and prices.

[rxtrom]

From someone who builds their own PCs, a moderate gamer, and a saver not to mention also looking forward to SC5. Here is my advice.

Take this SimCity System Requirements, Multiplayer Detailed, More

and get something that is reasonable from here. CyberPowerPC - UNLEASH THE POWER - Create the Custom Gaming PC and Laptop Computer of your dreams

I have heard good things about that place and they are highly configurable. Their configurator might be a little overwhelming with the options but let us know on here if you have Qs.

Good luck.

[Bades]

Advice from a PC and Mac guy.

If you can afford a mac do it. I was a PC guy and high school and built my first desktop myself. I loved being able to do that and then trouble shooting any problems I ran into. Although once malware and adware started to becoming more and more prevalent, I found myself running malware and ad-aware scans almost daily! It was super annoying. I was very anal about my computer being super clean and a couple hours a week was spent on maintenance (usually just running those scans). Basically anytime you open up a browser you're probably getting some sort of malware/cooking tracking crap on your computer.

Then in college I was an Audio Production Major and got a new Macbook Prop laptop (2006). $2,000! Sold that in summer of 2011 for $500 and got another Macbook Pro for $1750. My first Mac was 5 years old which for a laptop is pretty old. It was still a beast, but I run CPU intensive programs so I wanted an update. I've barely have ever spent time doing "maintenance" work on my Mac. My MBP has probably froze up a few times in 5 years. MACS SIMPLY WORK!

PC's are great if you know what you're doing, you need to run scans, and make sure their definitions files are up to date, most people who get viruses even with a virus program is because they don't keep that up to date. Knowing how to keep your StartUp clean is important for how long your computer will take to load and how many programs are running at once. PC's just have a lot of crap that you have to maintain.

Also, Macs are expensive and rightfully so, I've had multiple friends have to get their windows laptops fixed, or hard drives replace etc, they have to ship their laptop or take it to best buy pay a stupid amount of money and they are without a laptop for 2 weeks at times! Macs use premium parts! They are much more reliable. Macs have a warranty you can buy for just a little over $100 (I think) anything happens at all, they will replace. And its for like 3 years too.

I could keep going and going, but ill let you ask questions if you have any

[Bades]

I've read that the Macs don't handle gaming well. I probably won't be doing any first person shooter type stuff. Probably more strategy games. Simcity 5 is coming up soon, and I'd like to play that. I can run Simcity 4 on my current machine, but I don't have enough horsepower to run 5, especially if I want to do multiplayer online.

I thought about building my own machine, or at least getting something that I can upgrade on my own down the road. I know it's a lot cheaper to build a machine than it is to buy one up front.

I run OSX and Windows 7 on my Macbook Pro. Best of both worlds, if you need it. Very simple to do too.

[feh]

Advice from a PC and Mac guy...

Linux on a PC. Best of both worlds.

[siggy_freud]

FWIW I've had friends with PCs and Macs. My PC friends have definitely had more malware and virus problems, but in fairness they don't keep their PCs clean, and get bugs from music and movie downloads more often than not. I haven't ever had an issue with mine, but I run a Malwarebytes scan every once in awhile. Macs can get bugs too, it's just that people tend to write maleware and viruses for the majority of the computer population where it can inflict the most damage, which happens to be PCs. If Macs had 70% marketshare, they'd have more viruses and bugs than PCs.

My GF is a Mac fan, and has had two hard drives fail in two different Macbooks. Other than that, no issues so far. She has a Mac laptop, and a PC.

There is nothing magical about PCs and Macs, or their components. They run the same hardware brands, and the same speeds are available in both systems. That's why I'd never pay the Mac premium. They just don't do anything, in my opinion, that makes them worth 30% more than the equivalent PC. You're paying the markup for the operating system, and shell of the device, nothing more.

[sarah]

Walmart for computers

I have a 4 gb ram/ 1 t of rom computer and it will do anything I need it to. I have found the best deals for PC's is Walmart. The one I've got was $600.00.

[QuarterMillionMan]

From my experience, building a new computer was a lot easier than I expected though not with some problems. I had no experience and had a low budget build success. And by low-budget, I mean really low budget (lol). My tech skills was non-existant prior to this build and some of the experts here might find this boring but after reading about other people’s builds on other forums it inspired me to give it a try as well. I’m glad I did. I only use my computer for average use, no gaming or overclocking. I learned exclusively by watching youtube videos (ie, upgrading RAM, applying thermal grease compound to CPU, etc.).

For my build these are my components that I installed in an mATX form factor case (Hurricane case $28 w/blue LED fans);
1) Intel mATX socket 1155 MOBO, BOXHD61SA (supports Celeron, Pentium, Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7), $58 from Newegg
2) CPU-Intel Sandy Bridge Celeron dual-core processor, $51 from Newegg (I went with this economical CPU in the event I would not be able to get my system to boot and possibly scrap my project, it worked so I later upgraded to a Core i5 quad-core, 2500k, $169 from Microcenter). Boots in about 10 seconds from when I push the power on button to my login screen.
3) Kingston 4 GB RAM HyperX Blue, $20 from Frys (now that I know it works I’m planning to max out at 8 GB later)

Initially, my plan was to use all of the remaining old parts from an old Dell. For instance, I’m using the old power supply unit (PSU), however, the old PSU had a 20 pin connector and the new MOBO has a 24 pin header so I got an appropriate adapter for that (I think $8).

The problem came when I intended to use the old IDE hard drive & old IDE CD ROM drive (using IDE to SATA converters, $10 each from Geeks.com). Whenever I booted up I would get this message;

“Intel (R) Boot Agent GE v1.3.65 IBA GE Slot 00C8v1365 PXE 2.1 Build 089 Copyright © 1997-2010. Intel Corporation.
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting Intel Boot Agent.
Reboot and select proper Boot device or insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press a key.”

I was baffled upon getting this error message. I tried everything and every which way. I switched the jumpers on my IDE hard drive trying all different combinations (ie., master, slave, cable select, etc). I went into my bios and thought I assigned boot device priority giving my optical drive primary status over my hard drive. In my system setup this was the order;
1) Optical Drives
2) Removable Drives
3) Hard Disk Drives
4) Networks

However, in my BIOS this was my only Boot device;

Please select Boot device:
IBA GE Slot 00c8 v 1365 PXE 2.1

This is where I got hung up until I decided to try getting a SATA hard drive (WD 80MB, $24 refurbished) & a SATA DVD/CD rewrite ($15 new from NewEgg). Apparently my MOBO didn’t recognize the old IDE devices because after installing the new SATA devices my BIOS now displayed these options;

Please select Boot Device:
IBA GE Slot 00c8 v 1365 PXE 2.1
P1: WDC WD 800JD-75LSA0
P0: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH 22NS90

So I simply chose to boot up from my DVD drive and Eureka it worked. I was running Ubuntu/Linux for my OS at first (free), then Windows 7 ($99 from discount mountain software), and now Windows 8 ($39 upgrade).

[seen]

In June 2011 I built a home theater PC. No gaming, so I was okay with onboard graphics. After waiting for the parts I wanted to go on sale, I put together a Phenom II 3.2ghz quad core system with 8gb 1333mhz ram into a custom stereo media case (I could've gone much cheaper but wanted that hiding-in-plain-sight look so this was the most expensive part, but worth every penny to me) for less than $350. It would’ve been less than $300 if I waited just a week longer for the MicroCenter deal which I kicked myself over afterwards. Granted, I saved maybe $80 by repurposing the HDD and DVD drive from my old PC, but there you go. The cost of building my budget PC. If I threw in a decent graphic card to turn it into a casual gaming rig it would’ve cost maybe $150-200 more.

From a performance perspective, today I use it for movies, central data storage, browsing internet, running a webserver, an sql database, an ssh server, my algorithmic trading client, Eclipse, an XP VM, Photoshop and a few other things. This PC blows through all of it without breaking a sweat.

I cringe a little when I hear people say they want to build a budget system and end up going with Intel. AMD is still the best bang for your buck.