I'm looking to buy a decent home computer. The family is not much into the super graphic games, but would like to burn CD"s/DVD's, etc. Budget is about $700. Do I go for a Dell cheapy, or go to a computer specialist here in Austin? Thanks in advance.
My Dell crashed on me about 6 months ago after 3 years of more or less trouble free service. I initially took it to CompUSA for repair, but those morons didn't have a clue what they're doing. A month, two motherboards, a complete hard drive reformat, and three network cards later, they still couldn't find the problem. Finally got p.o.'ed enough to just scrap it and buy a new system. Since I really just needed a CPU and not whole new system (w/ monitor/printer/keyboard/speakers etc.), the Dell deals weren't that great for me. I ended up getting pretty kick-*** basic unit from Laboratory Computers here in Austin. I initially had some problems with it due to what turned out to be a faulty hard drive, but it was really nice when that happened to be able to just take it in and be standing there with the technician while she booted it up so I could show her exactly what was happening, as opposed to talking on the phone to some guy in India who you couldn't understand. Anyway, Laboratory was really good about getting everything squared away and even upgraded me to a bigger hard drive for free. Having said that, I actually ordered my mother a pretty decently equipped system from Dell over the weekend for right at $700 with tax. It came with a flat screen monitor, a printer, 10% off, and free shipping. Since she needed the works, that seemed to be a better option than buying all that stuff separately. I don't know if they're still doing that deal or not but you might check their website. The basic system started at $539 and I added a few little upgrades here and there. I guess what I'm getting to is that if you need a whole system, with monitor and printer, etc., I'd probably go with Dell. If you've already got all that stuff and just need the CPU, I'd go with somebody local, except stay away from CompUSA. Hope this helps.
Go to hp.com and customize what you want. Sorry Dell lovers, but HP can beat any deal Dell can make. You can get a very solid system for $750-800... AMD AthlonXP 3000+, 512MB RAM, 80GB HD, DVD/CD Burner, DVD Drive, 128MB NVidia Video Card A similiar Dell system with only a 64 MB video card will run you $1200 (yes, I just checked)
