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Help me pick a new desktop computer

raccoon city

Supporter
Good morning, Terra Forums!

My nine-year-old desktop computer bit the dust a few days ago when the power went out. :comp:
Time to get a new computer! :boogie:
I'm looking for websites that have plenty of reviews of 2010 desktops. (So far I have checked out cnet.com/zdnet.com, pcworld.com, consumersearch.com and Consumer Reports.) If you know of any other quality websites with lots of desktop computer reviews, please share your valuable information here.

Thanks for your help,
raccoon city
(a.k.a. John)
 
I'm a firm believer in picking out the parts that best suit your needs, and building your own. But I was raised with computers and have been building them since I was 12. My father has a network of 7 homemade computers for interactive gaming.. so that should give you an idea of what I grew up around.
pS.. I just watched the Resident Evil trilogy again yesterday. Love your username. :bigthumpup:
 
I say build your own too, I had an ebay seller who specializes in computers build mine from the parts I chose. This has been the most trouble free PC I've ever owned and is the route I will take for my next one cos nothing compares to the load times for big applications/files. No hassles with software not working (unless it's too old to load which some of mine is) or conflicting bios, no BS, just a nice, fast working computer. It was a spendy beast when I had it built in 06 but nowadays quad cores are not so special.

Infact the only thing that ever has gone bad with this PC was letting it get full of viruses (bad no matter what!) and letting it get dusty inside the case. I'm good about not remembering to blow the case out. I was trying to install a new OS (downgrade from XP64 to XP32) and it kept crashing. Once I blew out all the dust, no problems. Until I let it get caked full of dust again a year later and it crashed on a big 300 gig composing software installation, I blew it out and was able to complete the week long installation no problem. Since I'm talking about it I'm gonna make a note to blow the dust out out tomorrow it's been since Xmas, surely it's time!
 
I bought a new computer in February..to replace a 7 year old machine..
after extensive research, I ended up getting:

http://tinyurl.com/37vn7lo

Im a fairly basic user I guess..I dont care about gaming, so it might not be very "high end" enough for some of you..depending what you use a computer for..
but for me and my wife its perfect..I expect to get another 7 years out of it..

I never used the Macafee security that came with it..(it came with something like 60 day free service, then you would have to buy it..I just ignored it and installed Avast antivirus instead..) it took awhile to get rid of the annoying Macafee pop-up, telling me I need to install/buy/whatever..eventually I figured out how to turn that off, and now the machine is perfect..im very happy with it!

Scot
 
I'm a firm believer in picking out the parts that best suit your needs, and building your own.

massmorels, that is excellent advice. But, I've never built a computer. So I will pay extra for a company-made computer; sure it's a waste of money, but it's easier.

pS.. I just watched the Resident Evil trilogy again yesterday. Love your username. :bigthumpup:

Thank you. I love zombie movies and zombie video games, therefore I am raccoon city. :) Plus "raccoon city" sounds so innocent and friendly... until you're surrounded by zombies and other experimental biological weapons.
 
I'm partial to Macs. They've always performed better for me than any Windows computer I had prior. Very user friendly.


David
 
I bought a new computer in February..to replace a 7 year old machine..
after extensive research, I ended up getting:

http://tinyurl.com/37vn7lo

Wow, Scotty; that computer looks awfully fast and cheap! I guess what I'm looking for is a budget gaming desktop. The best review I've read so far is this one:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/341902/review/micro_express_microflex_75b.html#review

It's way more expensive than your Dell Inspiron, but I think it's more suitable for gaming.
 
I'm going to repost this because I hate Macafee, Spyware Doctor, etc. etc.. Again, this is an amazing free 4month trial program.

Get Norton 2011 Beta.. It's amazing!

http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/...1beta_overview

pS.. I HATE macs. I had to use them in college for graphic computer design. I'm massmorels, and I am a PC.

also, consider picking out parts for a custom and having someone assemble it for you. It's not as hard as you may think. I was building them from bare frame, start to finish, in less than 20minutes. Hey, that rhymed.
 
  • #10
I'm massmorels, and I am a PC.
I never got those commercials, from either side; mac or windows. The slogan makes no sense. I'm a flesh and bone human, not a pc or a mac. It's kind of degrading of them to sum up a human life as a machine.


David
 
  • #11
Norton is by far one of the worst antiviruses out there. Not only does it too a terrible job at catching viruses but it's invasive and takes up way too much RAM IMO. Even after a complete uninstall, your registry will still have Norton in it. And I don't just mean, 'history' or 'footprints' of the program. I'm talking about data that Norton installs without the users knowledge. IME symantec, Macafee and all it's chums are just as useless.

If you're looking for something effective, quiet, and that doesn't use up tons of memory I HIGhLY recommend ESET NOD32 or Kaspersky. Don't waste your time or money on the rest.

+1 I hate Apple
 
  • #12
Install Linux and put a virtual Windows machine on it for your gaming needs. You're gonna need 2+gig RAM for that setup though...
 
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