You are here: Home » Blog Management » Business & Marketing Strategy » Social Media » Can you help me buy a desktop computer?
Dec
21

Can you help me buy a desktop computer?

I hate computer shopping.

Saturday, I spent 6 hours looking at computers (in stores and online). My hubby and I compared models, read reviews and pretty much drove ourselves crazy.

You would think knowing what you want in a computer would make it easy to buy, right? Wrong.

I built out the computer I wanted in so many price ranges, from $800 (lowest end, but still would work) all the way up to $4000 (Alienware**…drool!, but way out of my price range!).

The problem was the mid range…there were about 8 different computers I could build out that were between $1200-$1600 that would all work flawlessly, but I don’t know which would work the best in the long run. I have always had Sony Vaio laptops – which I love – but Sony doesn’t do tower desktops, only all-in-ones, which my husband doesn’t like because you can’t change out video cards in the future! So, I don’t really know any other manufacturers (there were some companies I had never heard of..Lenovo?) Secondly, all these computers were ones that were “recommended” by tech people in stores…and I don’t usually trust people I don’t know with that much of my money!

So that is where all my amazing readers and followers come in – I know I have many of you who are great at computer/electronics shopping (not my forte!) and would love to lend your thoughts and opinions on what is best for the pricing. Plus, I trust you not to steer me wrong. Below is the list of needs we have for a computer, and before you say it, no mac suggestions please, I love windows, and I love PC’s. So please, PC suggestions only!

Here are my needs:

  1. I need it to run the entire Adobe Creative Suite plus tweetdeck, email, firefox, music, etc at the same time with no lag.
  2. It also needs to work for serious gaming – Sims 3, Civilization, Call of Duty, etc
  3. I don’t edit movies now, but am planning on adding video blogging, so it needs to be able to handle video well.
  4. It needs to have over 750GB of storage for my client files, documents, etc (prefer a terabyte if I can).
  5. Needs to have a video card that can be upgraded in the future (but should be an awesome one out the gate too).
  6. I need a monitor over 20″ that is clean, organized and takes up minimal desk space.
  7. Do not need a mouse, keyboard, etc…have all that.
  8. I don’t care the manufacturer, as long as the video card, processor and memory are going to seriously kick butt.
  9. Needs to be under $1400 for the tower + monitor.
  10. Finally, I would love to buy one that has a zero interest for 12 months (or more) so that I can pay it off over time…

Your turn…what desktop computer should I buy and why??

**If any of you happen to know someone who wants to test an Alienware system on an amazing female blogger, I wouldn’t be opposed… ;)

No related posts.

Category: Blog Management, Business & Marketing Strategy, Social Media
Topics: ,
  • http://twitter.com/gorillamonk Gorillamonk

    First place I went to (with the financing specification) is DELL. I’ve been getting great results with DELL’s lately, so I don’t mind recommending them.

    http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dxdwpp2&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=desktop-studio-xps-9000

    The XPS9000 series can go UP to 24gb of RAM…which is ridiculously overpowering your system. 8 Gigs should have you doing all your work and then some without slowdowns.

    I always recommend having a backup harddrive, so a TB on my internal is a no-no. I have a 72GB running my OS and 3x500GB for storage. Music, Movies and misc.

    The last thing that gets a little difficult is the monitor. You do a LOT of digital art work, and you may want something with a higher dpi or refreshrate. That takes a little more research and money.

  • http://olivers14.wordpress.com Oliver

    Kirsten,
    I recommend the DELL Alienware Aurora Desktop. http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/alienware-aurora?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19
    You can almost go with the standard configuration.
    I would recommend to upgrade your video card to 2GB but this would add another $500 to the cost of close to $1400. Another thing I would upgrade is memory. It comes with 3GB but for an additional $50 you can double the memory, which I highly recommend. If you can go even higher do it!
    Also you mentioned that you will store client files. My recommendation would be to store them on an external drive. You can get 1TB or 2TB external USB drives fairly inexpensive.
    I think this setup should do it for you. Of course you always can do better and you can configure this one to the max and pay $4000 or more. What I like you can build on this one for years to come. Maybe one day you want to upgrade/exchange the video card or improve the sound system or have a stronger power supply
    I think it is a good system from a reputable vendor.
    If I can assist you any further let me know.

  • http://www.influxx.com adam

    You are a PC person then, I take it. i was about to recommend an iMac which has the monitor built in and has great video capabilities. You can install Windows on an iMac of course and run it as a PC, but that would be expensive. You would get a Mac for the price of it too though.

    But, in this case, I would also say a Dell looks good. A known brand with good customer support. Also, Lenovo is IBM brand for personal computers. Very good machines.HP make some okay machines but I have not heard anything of their customer service and to me they look a little plasticky. I have had a bad experience with their printers so that may taint my opinion.

    I was told recently by a PC guy that Gateway were fairly decent. I always dismissed them as cheap and nasty but I guess they pretty reliable these days. He also told me that most systems these days use the same drives, and components and whatever so it really comes down to the company and the plastic it comes in.

    Hope that is more than no help at all :)

    good luck
    -adam
    .-= adam´s last blog ..Flashback to 2005 : Christmas Card =-.

  • http://www.wrightcreativity.com Kirsten Wright

    Thanks so much for all the great suggestions! I definitely have a lot to think about still, but this narrowed down my search a lot! I hope that you all have great Holidays!!

  • http://www.wrightcreativity.com Kirsten Wright

    I think I have it narrowed down to either a Dell Studio XMPS 9000 or an HP e9270t series…they are about equal in power and pricing (built out the way I need them)…now it’s just deciding who has the better offer in stores maybe…

  • http://www.r4-ds-card.co.nz/ dsi r4

    I think you should buy the laptop in place of desktop laptop is really very nice and Compaq and easy to use.

  • http://twitter.com/DellNVea Dell NV EA

    Hi, Kristen!

    This should do the trick for you: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.a…
    Has 12 mos/ NI on it as well….

  • http://twitter.com/RemoteHlpExpert Remote Help Expert

    I'd say Dell between those two. But if I had it my way, I'd have to agree with Oliver and the Alienware desktop.

«
»