New computer - what to get? - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

theman · 12-07-2003, 18:37

O.K. this is to all of you computer gurus out there with the inside knowlede on what is the latest and greatest.

Could someone suggest to me what is the best bang for your buck computer system available for ~$2,000.00 give or take.

Is ebay a good place to buy computers, or is that place a rip off?

Maybe you run/work in a computer store and could do me a deal, or maybe you know of a few places where you have been to in the past and they have helped you out.

Thanks in advanced.

Casper · 12-07-2003, 18:45

Dont touch Ebay for computers. Your best bet is to get someone to build one for you. There are a number of us who build our own computers on here and I'm sure most of us would be happy to assist.

If you are in Melb and interested in me building you one to spec, just drop me a PM, happy to do it.

honer · 12-07-2003, 21:54

Yes don't touch eBay computers !!! And stay away from Harvey Norman and those shitful places

Dellboy999 · 12-07-2003, 22:04

Always better value if you build it yourself (well 99% of the time there are some cheap deals out there), I build my own computers, but the question of what to get, always get the fastest CPU you can, as much ram as practicle, then the rest depends what you want to do with it, play games, word process, watch TV, burn DVD's - - lotsa questions you need to answer :0)

Jason

ianmcginley · 12-07-2003, 23:01

If you are looking for a name brand computer - now it does depend on what you are going to do with it, but for that sorta price I don't think u could go past the Apple eMac.

http://www.apple.com.au/emac/specs.html

$2000 you get all the software (os, appleworks suite, imovie, idvd, itunes) + dvd burner + 17" monitor.

I reckon they are great value for money

honer · 12-08-2003, 01:55

Macs make baby jesus cry

Ambrose_1 · 12-08-2003, 01:58

Apple Mac's kick arse, they are soo cool i love my one it will probably compare to my brand new one while this on is a G4 and is older, Apple Os's are quite ahead of Windows imo

the_wheel_man · 12-08-2003, 03:08

i agree with honer

and imho u should get an amd

flavze · 12-08-2003, 03:23

IT Warehouse do some good deals if ya got one around ya anywhere.

pauljh74 · 12-08-2003, 03:38

*CPU - AMD Athlon XP. The Intels seem to be faster than supposedly comparable AMD models, but the AMD is cheaper and better value and performance for the money
*Brand name 400 MHz DDR RAM (Kingston, Corsair)
*Graphics card - the momentum seems to be swinging to ATI graphics cards now - the latest GeForce FX, I think the cooling fans are a bit noisy - that will drive you nuts in the long run.
*Hard drive - Seagate, Western Digital - get one with 8MB cache. 120 or 160 GB drives are the best capacity per dollar at the moment. After that the prices go up more.
*Sound card - In my opinion, I've always stuck with Creative Labs - the Audigy 2 model has full DVD sound quality.
*As for the motherboard, one with the NForce2 chipset seems to be best for Athlon XP processors currently

For PC and parts prices in Melbourne - the Age newspaper's Green Guide on Thursday has a few ads from computer vendors.

I personally wouldn't touch brand name PCs like Dell etc. You will pay extra for a PC with every price shortcut possible. Whereas if you custom build your machine, you can end up with a quality machine for similar money. Most vendors will advertise the good brand name parts, and not mention the crap brand names of the parts that make up the rest of the machine.