I am on vacation but my friend wants me to help her buy a computer. I am tryin to get the most for the money, 1GB ram, 200GB drive, good video graphics, good fast proccesor..... you know. She is not like me so she doesnt' quite understand why she needs a DVD RW instead of just a CD RW. I know.. but still I need to get her the most because it want be long before she will want to record a DVD. I have looked at NewEgg and TigerDirect not imppressed. Holla if you know a killer site with great deals. much apprecitated.
What exactly are you not impressed with? Both places have great selections and the prices are good (although with Tigerdirect you need to be good with rebates). What is your friend going to be doing with this computer? I would recommend generally an AMD system with PCI-express graphics, but the specifics would depend on whether she's using it for gaming (and what kinds of game), video editing, Home Theater PC, or just websurfing, etc. You can save a boatload of money if you build it yourself. If you are looking for good deals on prebuilt systems, check out the forums on http://slickdeals.net and http://fatwallet.com
Thanks for responding, She is not that computer literate, and I know that she will geek out as soon as she gets hers in her apartment. I think more Home Theater style would be best. Windows Media Center should be a must. She doesn't play many games I don't think, more DVD watching and bunring, Web surfing and Office work. I think its best to get as much to start with then you have to keep upgradin like I do. I don't have the time to build it are I would. I just asked about deals because there are some great deals from site to site.
refurb HP desktop for $459 before rebate. Athlon 64 3500+ processor, 1 gig memory, 250GB hard drive, Dual-Layer DVDRW with LightScribe, media card reader, Windows media Center Edition. Still leaves you plenty of money for an upgraded videocard and a nice monitor. http://www.eCost.com/eCost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=667126
Hi! I thought I'd throw my two cents in. I went with HP and I can't tell you how glad I am that I did: first, a few of my friends had HP Pavillions and they were all more than satisfied and when they needed tech support, they said the HP folks were great. But I'm REALLY glad I went with them for a second reason: unlike my friends, the first HP Pavillion was a real lemon...I had to send it back to the shop three times. Even though they were great with the overnight deliveries and all, I got ticked off and sent this letter to the CEO in CA. I never expected anything to come of it but I got this phone call a couple of days later asking all sorts of questions about how the computer would be used; they told me they wouldn't fix it but send me a new one. Rather than simply replace it, the sent a little note of apology and a top of the line Pavillion packed with all sorts of options. Not a lick of trouble with this one. Having ordered directly from HP online, there were no middlemen and no stores to deal with. I think HP makes a good product and I was just unlucky and got a real dog the first time. I was pissed when it happened but if I hadn't bought it the way I did, I would never have gotten the royal treatment that I did...let alone the upgrade from what I originally ordered.
Go to Alienware.com and cutomize your own PC according to her needs. They got some good stuff if you're willing to spend $1,000.
To Dickeyjay: If you are interested in a AMD system then go to zipzoomfly to get a 3700+ AMD "San Diego Core" processor with heatsink and fan for 215.80, 1gb Geil Ultra Ram which has dual channel and BHC chip which many higher end rams have. Plus it has blue aluminum heat spreaders which is another benefit for overclocking ram. It is 80.50. Also zipzoomfly.com has a Geforce 6600GT 256mb DDR-2 with openGL 2.0 support for 109.00. All pricing is free shipping. Newegg.com has NEC 3550A Dual layer burner for 39.75 but sometimes offer better deals with free shipping. Look out for deals. Also you can get 400 GB Western Digital 16mb cache SATA 150 harddrive between 199 and 215.90 if you can them when they offer incredible deals. I don't think anyone should spend more than 155 dollars on a SLI Nforce 4 motherboard when some of the cheaper boards offer the same performance for much cheaper prices. Go to pcstats.com and anandtech.com to compare motherboards and get benchmark scores. You will be suprised by some of them. I was suprised by the 69.99 Chaintech NF4 Ultra single express PCI mobo beat some of the SLI motherboards in many bench mark scores. Ofcourse if you want a motherboard with voltage increases, overclocking utilities built into the motherboard, dual gigabit LAN and other advanced features then you will spend about 179-209 dollars. Only thing you have to do is get your Case and PSU which everyone has thier own preferences and an operating system. I am find with a $90 case and psu combo with ATX 2.02 power connectors and 480watts. It is enough for what I need. Many of what I suggested is less than 814 dollars (if you get Biostar Tforce SLI mobo for 99.99). You still would have enough for some decent speakers and you can get a wireless keyboard and 800dpi optical mouse from walmart.com for 14.88
