it depends how much you wish to spend on it, how good it should be (you don't need nor want top of the line for Word) and if you're OK to build one on your own <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If you're interested in building your own, the system guides at www.arstechnica.com are good. If you're interested in building your own, but have never done so and are scared by it, post in the forums at arstechnica. Very knowledgeable people that live to answer the questions of nubs to DIY system.
For a solution where someone else builds it, Dell is good. Just make sure you know the exact components you're getting. Stay away from celerons, any of the chips on the 400mhz or 533mhz bus, IDE hard drives, that sort of thing. Just be an informed consumer. I support our computers at my place of work, and we run mostly Dells. The build quality is pretty good.
An alternative to dell is <a href='http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/default.asp' target='_blank'>Cyber Power</a>. The name is stupid, but they're cheap, and I've got a couple friends who have bought systems from them without issue.
Personally, I build my own, cobbled together from random sales, deals on used stuff, so on and so forth. I get significantly more computer that way than I could for the same amount of money dropped into a package deal.
<!--QuoteBegin-kavasa+Oct 4 2004, 11:35 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (kavasa @ Oct 4 2004, 11:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> An alternative to dell is <a href='http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/default.asp' target='_blank'>Cyber Power</a>. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> wow, that site has amazing customizing ability. thanks for the url
i had <a href='http://www.unitedmicro.com' target='_blank'>united micro</a> in mind, but i think cyberpower will work best for me
Buy high quality cheap parts, put them together(takes 1-2 hours). Swoosh, new computer at a nice price. And total customization/ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> 1-2 hours?
It took me a whole weekend to get it up and running. That's including troubleshooting, as my sound card was stopping the video card fan from spinning, the RAM not working, not having a very good CPU cooler, i'm still not xconvinced the video card is in fully, cutting myself on a hard drive(don't ask), my AWFUL wiring skills.
Then it took 3 hours to get the software running.
Although if i were to make it again, it would take me much less time, i was pretty much putting stuff where i hoped it was supposed to be and hoping for the best :/
I think its just you then, I tore apart 2 machines and rebuilt them both and installed XP and ALL the drivers in 4 hours. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Well the actual longest part is getting the stuff out then back in. If you count processors, those motherboard pegs, cleaning off the residual paste (not on new computers) etc etc, it can take a bit more than 3 hours. I guess.
Especially it seems our good friend here isn't exactly that familiar with such activity.
My first computer I built took a week (Mostly troubleshooting, bent pin on the CPU X( ) The second took about 2 hours, most of which was hooking up the fans and trying to get it looking nice inside My third took about 30 minutes, then an additional 20 until I was surfing the internet on it.
Comments
Customize, control, and game with really low prices.
Alienware for bloated computers with subpar parts at a repbulicans price range.
Even if your not british, it still has its own little "choose components and save to account/site" thing which is cool.
For a solution where someone else builds it, Dell is good. Just make sure you know the exact components you're getting. Stay away from celerons, any of the chips on the 400mhz or 533mhz bus, IDE hard drives, that sort of thing. Just be an informed consumer. I support our computers at my place of work, and we run mostly Dells. The build quality is pretty good.
An alternative to dell is <a href='http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/default.asp' target='_blank'>Cyber Power</a>. The name is stupid, but they're cheap, and I've got a couple friends who have bought systems from them without issue.
Personally, I build my own, cobbled together from random sales, deals on used stuff, so on and so forth. I get significantly more computer that way than I could for the same amount of money dropped into a package deal.
Buy high quality cheap parts, put them together(takes 1-2 hours). Swoosh, new computer at a nice price. And total customization/
Great PCs.
If your're not a builder, I also recoomend Falcon West.
wow, that site has amazing customizing ability. thanks for the url
i had <a href='http://www.unitedmicro.com' target='_blank'>united micro</a> in mind, but i think cyberpower will work best for me
Buy high quality cheap parts, put them together(takes 1-2 hours). Swoosh, new computer at a nice price. And total customization/ <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
1-2 hours?
It took me a whole weekend to get it up and running.
That's including troubleshooting, as my sound card was stopping the video card fan from spinning, the RAM not working, not having a very good CPU cooler, i'm still not xconvinced the video card is in fully, cutting myself on a hard drive(don't ask), my AWFUL wiring skills.
Then it took 3 hours to get the software running.
Although if i were to make it again, it would take me much less time, i was pretty much putting stuff where i hoped it was supposed to be and hoping for the best :/
Especially it seems our good friend here isn't exactly that familiar with such activity.
The second took about 2 hours, most of which was hooking up the fans and trying to get it looking nice inside
My third took about 30 minutes, then an additional 20 until I was surfing the internet on it.
The airflow probably isn't that good either. I've got a 120mm outlet fan on the back, and an 80mm intake one on the top.
I still have space for 2 80mm ones on the side, and an 120mm front intake.
I might get round to tidying the cables, getting some glowing fans and putting in some cathodes. MIGHT