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Thread ID: 76410 2007-01-31 10:13:00 Best pc brand? --Wolf-- (128) Press F1
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521137 2007-01-31 10:13:00 I'm thinking of selling my Dell laptop and upgrading to a pc around the $700 - $1400 mark and am wondering what brand to look into?

Any pc brand suggestions that are reliable and have good prices please tell me. Thanks.
--Wolf-- (128)
521138 2007-01-31 10:24:00 It's best to leave it to a trusted computer store (not Dick Smith likes) and tell them to build the best system possible on your budget.

Go to www.qmb.co.nz. One of the many good computer shops.
qazwsxokmijn (102)
521139 2007-01-31 10:29:00 Alienware are renowed as being right up there radium (8645)
521140 2007-01-31 10:30:00 $700 to $1400 is fairly much in the low budget range of PCs unless your looking to build your own box. What do you plan on using it for apart from the standard web browsing, email, music etc?
Will you be doing any gaming on it?
To answer your question of Which brand of PC to get, get which ever brand you prefer.
If you ask 20 people on this forum you will probably get 5-10 different answers based in previous user experience and brand preference because at the end of the day all of the major PC suppliers all run Windows (Either XP or Vista)
winmacguy (3367)
521141 2007-01-31 10:50:00 Brand on the outside of the box is worthless, Its the internal components that matter. For that price most will still be on the budget end of the scale but you can still get a good solid Asus motherboard.

Suggest you go to a couple of shops and see what packages they offer, Or if thats too much trouble, Buy anything from a major brand that fits your budget, No matter which you pick the internals will be unknown.


Alianware will not fit your budget, nor are they will priced, You pay 1000+ for the branding.
Metla (12)
521142 2007-01-31 11:29:00 mac mini Rob99 (151)
521143 2007-01-31 12:13:00 Can't tell you what to buy, but would avoid Mercury like the plague! In the three months my daughter has had hers, she has had the keyboard replaced, still waiting two months later for a new monitor, and the cd/dvd burner doesn't work, so the tower has been away for over a week so far, and now the mercury people aren't answering their help/warranty line. Sounds fishy to me. supergran (108)
521144 2007-01-31 12:17:00 Good suggestions above. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy a major brand than have a shop put one together for you, but in that price range, you can get a shop to put together a great comp for you--just make sure they DON'T load Vista--stick with Windows XP.

And along that line, there are going to be some super bargains shortly in XP loaded computers now that Vista is out.

Of the major brands, I've had good experience with Acer and HP, but look closely at the specs--they vary greatly, and even the same model number can have variations like different graphics cards and different amounts of ram.
RealBigDog (11623)
521145 2007-01-31 20:10:00 Brand on the outside of the box is worthless, Its the internal components that matter. For that price most will still be on the budget end of the scale but you can still get a good solid Asus motherboard.


To explain Metlas excellent advice further.
Dell, HP, etc don't make computers, they make labels that they stick on the outside of the case. Actual assembly is done in countries such as Korea by 3rd party groups. Likewise support.

There are lots of different component manufacturers, some good, some rubbish.
The rubbish is generally what ends up in these PCs that people are deluded into thinking are a "brand".
This is why you only get 1 year warranty.

Go to a number of real PC shops, with good reputations and ask for quotes.
Stick with reliable good quality brand parts.
ASUS for motherboards and graphics cards.
Seagate for hard drives.
Enermax for power supplies.
And so on.
pctek (84)
521146 2007-01-31 21:03:00 Lets say I wanted to get a computer built from PCU. What are the advantages/disadvantages to having one built instead of buying one off the shelf?

I had a go before, and I got this price and specs:

Intel System

$1,188

$13 weekly
(36 months)

Processor
Celeron D 346 3.06GHz 64Bit Skt775

CPU Cooling
Standard Heatsink and Fan

Motherboard
Gigabyte GA-8VM800PMD-775-RH
Integrated Video Adapter, AGP Port, Supports PentiumD

RAM
512MB A-Data 667MHz DDR-2 Ram

Removable Media #1
1.44MB Floppy Drive

Hard Drive
80GB Samsung 7200rpm

Video Card
Albatron 128MB GeForce 6200 TV Out + DVI

Case
MEC GH502 Black/Silver 300Watt ATX2 P/S Mid Tower

Monitor
17in Viewsonic VA702 LCD

Keyboard
Genius KB-10x Black Keyboard

Sound Adapter
Onboard 5.1 Channel Audio

Network Card - Wired
Integrated 10/100BaseT Network Adapter

I don't know a heck of a lot about computer specs, so if someone can build me a better computer on their site or can suggest a computer then please do so. I do a bit of gaming (used too, anyway) on my laptop, Half-Life 2, Counter Strike etc. But mainly I just want a computer than is generally fast and smooth for web surfing and programs like word and stuff.

Thanks.
--Wolf-- (128)
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