Thinking of Buying a New Desktop Computer

[Jamie76 0]

I dont know what you have for an office suite program but stay away from the Microsoft Office Outlook that comes with Office 2007. I have had nothing but problems with it. I would rather use Windows Mail, but my internet service providers mail service (msn) will not work with it. Outlook 07 is always shutting down because of errors, freezes up, and puts mail in to the junk folder even though I have told it numerous times the mail is not junk. Works fine for a while then, just like that, the e-mail is back in the junk folder.

[William33 110]

Thanks Everyone!!

Collectively, you have provided some good insight for our purchase plan. Thank You.

[wioombeen 0]

Build it yourself. A lot of the money you spend on say a dell or any other brand name is the costs that the workers are paid to put it together.

I am not proficient at this so I always have to have help from a geeky friend to help, but you will get a better system for half the price.

[William33 110]

Build it yourself. A lot of the money you spend on say a dell or any other brand name is the costs that the workers are paid to put it together.

I am not proficient at this so I always have to have help from a geeky friend to help, but you will get a better system for half the price.

Good point, one which we considered before consulting with a "geeky" friend from work. At the end of the day, we have had great results from Dell, with no warranty work required. The "geeky" friend would need compensation if the home built computer failed; and rightly so. Too risky.

With that, we are willing to pay the extra $$$ to get another Dell.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

[Jamie76 0]

Build it yourself. A lot of the money you spend on say a dell or any other brand name is the costs that the workers are paid to put it together.

I am not proficient at this so I always have to have help from a geeky friend to help, but you will get a better system for half the price.

Good point, one which we considered before consulting with a "geeky" friend from work. At the end of the day, we have had great results from Dell, with no warranty work required. The "geeky" friend would need compensation if the home built computer failed; and rightly so. Too risky.

With that, we are willing to pay the extra $$$ to get another Dell.

Thanks for the suggestion though.

When you get down to it, sometimes building your own vs buying can be a wash. When you build your own, you also have to play around with it to make sure all the components work well together...if not, it can be a real hassle. You are also paying a premium on parts if you build yourself because big companies like Dell buy in volume. The only time I would recommend building your own is if you really wanted to customize it.

[Dan J 277]

if your doing photo type stuff.... One Word....

MAC

As someone that does not like MAC's much, I would agree here. It can do video and photo great. better then any PD base system.

just my two cents worth

Yogi

This used to be the case, but isn't really true anymore. The only reason Macs are still used a lot in graphic design and video editing, is that most of the people in the industry are more familiar with a Mac. But there isn't really any technical benefit to using a Mac. Adobe makes all their software for both platforms. As do many other companies.

[Nanusia & Lukaszek 0]

Personally I'm not a Dell fan. My work laptop is a Dell, and I can't tell you how many times it has been serviced.

At home I have a Toshiba laptop, can't say its the best, but ok. When I got it serviced (during warranty) I asked the guy doing the work which computers he has the most warranty work. He said hands down Dell. He said 60-75% of the computers he fixes are Dell's. Of course he said he barely ever gets to see a Mac for servicing.

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

Get a Intel core duo CPU, its the best bang for the buck right now.

1 GB of RAM if your running Windows XP or 2 GB for Vista or if you have extra money.

Not quite true, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4400 is a better performance value for your $$

It performed better in all benchmark tests against Intel Dual Core.

Test results show, any AMD dual-core CPU will serve you better than its similarly priced Intel equivalent.

And you save money going with AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4000 ,4200, or 4400

SOURCE: Dual-core desktop CPU bout: AMD vs. Intel

[britbird 4]

If you buy a Dell, try to get it via their business site or a University associated site. The service is way way better than that for home consumers.

Also, if you have any service related issues and use their online system be sure to save the conversation. That has come in very handy in the past when they have said they will do something and then don't deliver.

Also with Dell check out their outlet store. Generally you want to steer clear of computers that come up time and time again in the outlet, it suggest that the model is a bit ####### (more for laptops than anything else).

Computers designed for business users tend to be more durable than those for home consumers, so start with them. If you are going to be getting a flat panel screen be sure to do your research. CNET are fairly helpful for such things.

[Dan J 277]

Get a Intel core duo CPU, its the best bang for the buck right now.

1 GB of RAM if your running Windows XP or 2 GB for Vista or if you have extra money.

Not quite true, AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4400 is a better performance value for your $$

It performed better in all benchmark tests against Intel Dual Core.

Test results show, any AMD dual-core CPU will serve you better than its similarly priced Intel equivalent.

And you save money going with AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4000 ,4200, or 4400

SOURCE: Dual-core desktop CPU bout: AMD vs. Intel

Pentium D is not the Core 2 Duo.

[russ 1]

This used to be the case, but isn't really true anymore. The only reason Macs are still used a lot in graphic design and video editing, is that most of the people in the industry are more familiar with a Mac. But there isn't really any technical benefit to using a Mac. Adobe makes all their software for both platforms. As do many other companies.

Still true. It is mainly the software though. Macs have much better color calibration. This is very important for video and graphic artists. It is actually quite difficult to get the color temperature correct on a lot of PCs (it is usually too cool by default).

For a consumer, the "freebies" for photo and video editing are much better than what you get with a PC. iMovie works very well, and iDVD is very capable for DVD authoring.

In terms of hardware, I think Apple does a much better job putting things together. They make less than 10 models of computer, while Dell makes thousands. Windows needs to support millions of unique configurations, while Apple's OS X is very well tested with their own hardware.