Computery thoughts

[fairyrune]

When my computer done blowed up I decided that I would be purchasing a new computer after Windows 7 came out.

The release date is October 22, so I figure I'm going to be purchasing me a new compy by the end of the year.

Question is, what do I want out of my new system? All I know for certain right now is that I definitely want a top-of-the-line processor, and room to upgrade the RAM. (I've learned never to buy the maximum amount of RAM when you order a computer. It's way cheaper to upgrade later, and easy too!)

I do take tons of pictures, so maybe I should order Adobe Photoshop Elements or something with my new machine.

THEN there's the question of disk drives. Single? Double? Blu-ray? Light scribe?

Eventually I'll want a more-than-decent video card, but I'll probably do what I did last time and upgrade it later on. That's not to difficult, either, and with the sales that Micro Center has it should be WAY cheaper.

There's still the issue of whether I want a desktop, lappy, or one of those new snazzy all-in-one jobby's that HP has.

If I knew how much I wanted to spend, this would probably be a ton easier.

Comments

[damnitnicole]

Trey and I just spent yesterday evening online, picking out the parts for my Mom's new desktop. We spent about $800, monitor included, and it's going to last her at least 5 years before anything even needs upgraded.

Unless you're a big media collector (i.e., dl'ing movies), one big ass hard drive will do ya. RAM is easy tp upgrade, laptops in general are tougher and more expensive to upgrade.

[mynock25.livejournal.com]

If you can get blu-ray I'd say go for it. Assuming that it can burn every format, one drive should be enough. Unless you start mass producing disks for sale, I don't really see the need for LightScribe (sharpies always worked fine for me, personally) but if you get an HP, it will probably come included anyway. (And HP is making really good computers right now.)

Desktops really are easier to upgrade anything on. If you've been using a desktop, and really do plan on upgrading, go for that. However if you've been used to the portability of a laptop, the adjustment to stationary computing can be frustrating.

[mishmosh.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree with getting an HP. Every computer I've ever fixed for a family member has always been an HP. And the last one I attempted to fix I had to take the hard drive out through the FRONT because of the ass backwards way it was constructed (see this photo (http://allucia.deviantart.com/art/Beauty-and-the-Beast-44593370) to see what I mean.

If you are up to spending what the all in one HP costs, consider getting an Asus desktop package (comes with monitor and printer and desktop). Best Buy sells them, and the entire package price is comparable to the all-in-on HP.

HP/Compaqs come with Lightscribe drives; Gateway/Emachine/Toshiba come with Labelflash. It's just monochromatic laser etching on your disc. You can still use normal blank dvds/cds in the drive if you don't want to use the labeling.

And I don't mean to plug Best Buy or anything, but watch their Sunday ad from the newspaper. The best deals are the ones advertised there...different packages are on sale every week, and for desktop systems you can save up to $200 buying the entire bundle (printer/monitor/desktop) and pretty much everything in stock right now are quad cores with a minimum of 4 gigs of RAM that is usually expandable to 8. A lot of them are actually coming actual video cards now too.

And if you don't mind doing the credit thing, hit Best Buy on the right week and if you spend over a certain amount you get interest free financing for 18 months...so long as you pay it off before 18 months, no interest, same as cash.

Ahhh sorry for the novel.

[(Anonymous)]

**facepalm**