Computer Geeks/Studs

[CypressTrout]

OK, I know there are plenty of computer gurus on here, so speak up & help a brutha out. First off, I know next to nothing about PCs, how they work, etc. I just know that I use them a lot at home & at work. The computer we bought about 8 years ago is about to go in the trash pile . It is an iMAC and I guess through years & years of browsing useless websites, it is jacked up. Memory became an issue a while back & I added an additional 128m chip which apparently is now used up. So...I'm buying a new PC. The wife & I don't use the computer for much other than e-mail, browsing message boards, internet,music, video, etc. I want to buy something that we can have for an extended period without becoming totally obsolete & not upgradeable. I would also like to click on something & not get an error that there is not enough memory to open or that the thing can't translate. So..............brands/specs/insider knowledge/what to look for/to avoid/anything that can help is appreciated. Thanks, Kevin

[sturmgeist]

What's your price range? I can find you something good within most any price range. The one thing you want to make sure to do is STAY AWAY from Best Buy and/or other dept stores. Save yourself a lot of money and open up a wider selection by purchasing from an online vendor if you have the means. I recommend Newegg.com, anything you buy from them gets to your house within 2-3 days, and their return policies and customer service are out of this world.

[el-jefe]

www.newegg.com has some good desktop pc's for good prices. You can also build a computer from scratch but that requires a little effort and time and for what you save, its not much if any more for a package deal but then again you can build your own custom machine that will do just what you want. If you download/upload music and video then you will want to have a large hard drive or multiple hard drives that are at least 7200rpm. a gig of ram will keep your pc running fast. Dual core is the way most pc's are going and allow you to do multiple tasks without lagging out.
another option for what you are wanting out of your computer is a laptop. There are a lot of good deals out there on lap tops and they will do what you want especially if you get an external hard drive to save your down loads to. The only drawbacks to a laptop is their durability. but then again for 500 bucks for a computer that will last 4-5 years, your desktop won't last more than 10 yrs and the cheapest "good" desktop Ive seen is 1200 bucks (thats got a good upgradeable motherboard. Now I would think the cheaper laptop would be the better deal, that way you can stay up to date with the technology every 4-5 years instead of every 10 years. Even though the computer is upgradeable, it seems they come out with something betterevery 3-7 years , a different platform or what ever that makes everything else seem obsolete and then your stuck.
Another + for the lap top is that you can go wireless and get online anywhere in your house(front room, back room, bath room, wherever you want) as well as being portable to take on vacations and upload digital photos and check email etc...
Ive had my dell laptop 4 years now and it still runs good. I had to put alot of the photos I had stored on the hard drive on disks for storage and cleared up half the hard drive. Thats why I suggest the external hard drive by the way. other accessories that i suggest are an extra battery and a power inverter for your vehicle. youll need a wireless router and a wireless card if ones not already built in.
Unless you are gaming or doing things that require some serious graphics acceleration and cpu usage, you don't "need" a badass desktop.

I hope you are feeling better, we missed you at the tournament. Ruf-Dog took 1st in int.

[sturmgeist]

He wants something he can upgrade for a few years, a laptop is the worst for that sort of thing. If you're on the go and need to take a computer with you, laptops are great, but if you want a computer for home use, it's ridiculous to think about a laptop unless you just want to pay MORE money for something less powerful, fraught with inherent problems(cooling, power supply, etc)

If you want to get the most bang for your buck, get a barebones system from Newegg or TigerDirect, some of them have virtually everything but an operating system, some of them have just a few components, which lets you choose just what you want to add to the system. It's cheaper than a package and lets you choose what operating system you want to load onto it.

I buy computers based on the exact same requirements you put forth. I want something affordable with enough upgradeability to give it some legs.. I've had this computer, a Cisnet rig with an AMD Athlon 1700 cpu, for several years now, and it's showing no signs of slowing down. I paid maybe 300 bucks for it new. 300 bucks can get you something substantially nicer now. Stay away from brand names.