buying a computer ...?

I am researching about buying a computer. i haven't actually decided, but want to gather as much info about it as possible from people innthe know

 

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make sure it has a cd burner for backups

 

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Buy one that does what you want it to do, NOT what you tell it to do!!

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Baron Max
(Ph.D. in POWER ON/POWER OFF)

 

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For what purposes / tasks do you need it? Everything follows from that.

 

Get your criteria right and then ask your question. Consider 1) What you want to do with it, eg gaming, graphics, music, video, word tasks? 2) What your budget is?

 

From your condescending comments duendy I assume you are not interested in playing computer games. This means you can save some money and not get a top of the line model.

 

Or he could get a mac.
I'm not even suggesting a Linux install

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I would never go for a top of the line model. You pay through your ears for it and in 4 weeks it is yesterday's news.

A laptop could be an option if you are often on the move and do not play games. There are gaming laptops but they are usually quite expensive and still not as fast as their desktop equivalents.

Why a CD burner if you can get a DVD burner for only a little bit more. Get a nice one. A quiet one preferably. And thanks to some anonymous guy I know nowadays how I can backup my (cough) movie DVDs, make them region free, compress them to put on a regular DVD+r disk. I also have lots of data and pictures so a DVD burner is good.

As for processors. I always go for cheap and not fastest. I intend to have a computer for 2 years or so. Do I really want to spend 200-300$ more right now to have a computer that is a few percent faster? Technology will have progressed so much in 2 years that both cheap and expensive processor are relatively slow. I don't need the best of the best.

graphics card: I would certainly like the best one available, but the best one cost almost as much as my entire computer. I make a compromise with the intention of possibly upgrading later on (or not). I don't go for the budget one. I don't go for the fastest one, somewhere in the middle or lower middle. If you don't care abotu graphics you can get an intergrated graphics card on the motherboard.

Sound: I don't care much about sound. I just listen to music occasionally, listen to games. So I use onboard soundcard. Cheap! As for speakers I use a decent 2.1 sound system. For less than 50$ you can get quite a decent sound coming out.

So if you are just interested in surfing the net and such you could get a system with integrated video, sound, and lan. If you are doing some light gaming, get at least a dedicated graphics card. If you want a top of the line machine, do not ask me.

A laptop is convenient. A dell is easy. Home build is a bit more complex.

so what you need?

 

yeah...one of the things that has put me off is.....the cost of broadband.......and the excelaration of technology, as spuriousmonkey points out. youthink that if you buy someting nowit'll be outta date soon...!

i want it for internet, includingbeing able to see video/film s...mp3s

advice i was given by one of the techicitns from my service povider was: go to a regular retailer and ask lots of questions regarding what i want, and themn go to a specailist maker of computer, UNLESS there are prticularly good bargains at the general computer store. wll, it sounds esy to him...!

i have heard tat you can get computers that fit to TV and thats the way it will go. but that that is very expensive...?

so a quation. where do you see theimmediate future rgrading computers. should one wqiat a few months, a year?...is somethin about to happen in the filed ...what what? spill?

also remind us of the lingo if yanwill

ie., i need good memory which is ...?

etcetera

also aswell as your kindly intelligent homey advice. are there specific help agencies online you can --in UK--ask fr advice too?
but keep it comin if you will. i need to make me mind up soon

oh yeah. i dont like computers where you are too close to screen. can you get em where keyboard is farish away from screen. and do they have zoom facilities......?

 

do you mind if join the thread to aska question?i am going to buy a laptop for music production.i have a soundcard already but am not the most computer literate person in the world.was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

 

What do you mean you have a soundcard already?

Is it one made for laptops?

 

http://creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=204&product=9103

i have this one.,its external,unless im being a complete retard

 

£390.00 will get you a perfectly descent, perfectly functioning, very pretty machine from Woollies. Out the box, ready to rock, including VAT. That's with XP, DVD/CD Burner, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers plus software.

Shop around places like Curry's, Dixon's, PC World etc, under £400.00 is the sort of price range your looking at for what you need right now and more besides. Whatever buy d, it's obsolete as soon as its on the shelf, so go lower entry level end, there's plenty of poke under the hood and its hassle free.

Investing £40.00 extra in a cordless mouse and keyboard will sort out your distance problem - don't faph around with a TV hookup, a PC monitor is far, far higher resolution and much eminently better around.

 

Duendy

If you don't want to sit close to the monitor, you're going to need a BIIIG screen.

Kenworth

If you are serious about music production check out the forums on music related sites like soundonsound.com or mix, etc.

 

Get an athlon 64 CPU and overclock it

 

I recommend
512MB Ram
AMD Athlon 3200+ processor
160GB HDD
Graphics doesn't seem to be an issue with you, but make sure it isn't onboard (that is, built into the motherboard)
Don't get the TFT monitor taht comes with any package, they usually blow and you'll save a lot of money as well, which can be put towards a bigger CRT monitor, or a graphics card with one of those ports that lets you plug it into a regular TV.

 

CRTs are nice, but they are so fucking big on your desk. I really like them, but space is a consideration.

 

CRT's have better colours though. If anyone wants to get a good colour LCD, then it costs.

 

From what I remember of a College Course, they had one particular preportion to the qualification that dealt with the "Hypothetically build a personal computer". Simply you had to use a bit of logic when it came to building one, Afterall it's all very well stating you want the top of the Range graphics card but can your Motherboard cope and is it a well known board etc.

So with that in mind I would suggest looking for a motherboard type first, Then you can adjust your CPU/RAM to what it can handle, work out which power supply it needs and then slowly build up your fittings for your requirements.

 

my suggestion would be to wait untill 07 if at all possible.