ot/ Best Place to Buy a New Desktop PC System?

I'm in the market to buy a new desktop computer system......Pent 4/1gz/200gb HD/19" flat panel.......etc etc? or? around $1000.00 budget or so......any suggestions?

thanx in advance

I've had real good luck with Best buy for the last couple of years usually buy online with free shipping. Good service after the sale both online and in store.
bought a couple of Hp desktops and a gateway laptop from them.
I buy online so I don't have to wait in line and deal with the teenage salesman at the store, they usually don't know any more than I do but they are convinced they do.

[This message has been edited by mikeathome1 (edited 06-10-2006).]

check out outpost.com
this is Fry's Electronics on line store. Fry's has about 5 or 6 huge stores around our area and also in a few other states. I have known Randy Fry since he worked in his dad's Grocery stores here in San Jose.
They have the biggest, and most competative inventory in our area of several million people.
Bebop

Donny:

I've bought computers in the past from CompUSA, Best Buy and Circuit City, I've had positive experiences with all 3 retailers. I usually shop for the best price and each time I was ready to buy a different retailer had the best deal. A few weeks ago I purchased a Dell laptop from Dell on line. They had a great one day sale. $699 for a Wide Screen, Dual Core Pentium, 80 gig hd, 1 gig RAM with DVD burner. So far the Dell experience has been positive.

Thanx all for the suggestions.........looks like SAMS Club has the best prices so far on packages....but I will check em all!!

Get a Dell, dude.

Donny,

Dell offers one hell of a deal with desktops, but keep in mind when you do need customer service, you'll likely be talking with a guy in India who doesn't under a word of North Jersey.

Gary

------------------
Travlin' Easy

Gary thanx for the tip looks like Sams club has some great deals on complete bundles so far for Fathers Day

Donny,

I don't know if I'm too late or not. You seem to have a quick trigger on the wallet ;-)

But, I've had tremendous success with Dell and in particular their line of refurbished PC's. I have 5 in my house right now and not a problem with any of them. The price/performance of these pc's are better than most other brands/outlets.

Check out this deal with flat panel monitor: http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/products...SDT1&l=en&s=bsd

of course you can add/subtract features to meet your budget.

Hope this helps...


------------------
Al Giordano
www.al-giordano.com

Tyros 2, Yamaha P-250, Korg Triton Extreme 76, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums

Yes looks like some very nice deals on the track that Im looking for ....I havnt pullled the trigger as of yet but will by weeks end........is this Dell Canada?

Best computer I ever got was from a company called ABS. They use all non-proprietary parts. I bought it in May of 1999. I am typing on it right now. It's been connected to the internet from day one -- most of the time broadband -- and I have ZERO virus detection. No Norton, no firewall, no nothin', and NEVER a virus or a problem of any kind. (Of course, I don't open email attachments unless I know all about the file type.)

It's a 350 Mhz K6-2 with 64 megs of memory, so it was already old tech when I bought it. It has Win 98, and when I do a Ctrl+Alt+Delete I see exactly two programs running -- Explorer and Systray -- plus whatever I have on the taskbar.

A couple years later I bought an 850 Mhz HP Pavillion. It's sitting on my other desk. "Windows protection error." I could fix it, I'm sure. But best I can learn from the internet, it will take at least 12 hours sitting in front of the keyboard.

I think ABS still exists. You hear about them whenever some PC mag does a best buy run off. They used to sell mainly AMD (Athlon, etc.) PCs over the internet.

I think I READ Dell is all non-proprietary now as well. Or they were for a while. Stay away from HP/Compaq though.

R.

Make youre own computer,it's easy
and much cheaper,buy the best hardware and you cant go wrong.

Impuls

Ive been using a Compaq laptop on stage & at home for a few years and never had a problem............some of my freinds have had excelleny results with Hp also.......why dont you like them?

I'm also looking onto have one custom made also...I have a week to go before I make a decision and buy one...we'll see!



[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-12-2006).]

Build your own PC?
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/index.htm

Donny, I have had wonderful experience with Dell, it's the only place I will ever buy a PC from now on. I have had mediocre experience with laptops from Sony and Gateway. Dell regularly have great deals, just keep checking in.

Graham

I hear you Graham.....Im hoping for a fathers day sale from Dell this week!!

Thanx for the recomendation

Yes, I noticed that Canada flag. I thought maybe it was because I was using FireFox, then I cleared my Cookies, it still comes up as Canada until you select USA from the combo box.

I fiddled with making my own computer years ago. It is no longer an advantage financially when you start adding up all the parts. Also, it becomes a hassle matching the right components together such as the right size power supply, memory, CPU, Motherboard, then there are the different cases, power supply connectors to the various drives are different lengths.

Nah, I go to Dell and if something goes wrong, they come to my house to fix it!!! Yea, one less thing to worry about.



------------------
Al Giordano
www.al-giordano.com

Tyros 2, Yamaha P-250, Korg Triton Extreme 76, Roland VK8-M, DW Collectors Series Drums

I like the Pentium 4 & HP front access configuration to all the gooodies eg: 9-1 card reader, audio, dual drives etc etc ..

Go for a Dell, can't build them as cheap as they sell them. Go to the small business section and look under GREAT DEALS. They are winners! Use your name for business if needed.

Good Luck

C_K]

Donny .... I got mine through DELL and when I had a problem I thought their service was first rate ... even called back to make sure everything was OK ... yes, you do speak with people in India, and some can be difficult to understand, but even there, if you ask to speak with someone else, you will ...
Go DELL .....
t.

Tnanx everyone for the great advice seems the consensus is DELL all the way......
I'll go back to heir site now again and check it out...

Hi Donny,

Checkout this article from PCWorld on Dell Service: Readers Rate the Manufacters

I've owned several Dells, and have been very happy with the PC build quality, but have noticed their telephone service & support to have fallen sharply over the last few years, with considerably longer (60-90 min and longer ) hold times, foreign country language communication problems, plus frequently passing the buck by not accepting responsibility for problems, claiming the problem is not with Dell, but the software or hardware manufacters instead. After years of buying Dell, I decided to buy my current one (a custom built PC) from a Mom & Pop store instead. The main advantage I found is that I got exactly the PC configuration & hardware components I wanted, and at a price slightly less than Dells. The other advantage is that service & support is quick & immediate, allowing me to drop my PC off and have it back the same day. The risk of going with a Mom & Pop store is that with the big guys (Dell, Gateway, Sony, etc) continually taking business away from the Mom & Pops, their out of biz demise appears inevitable, meaning no more service & support. Because of this, I'm still not sure where I'll be buying my next PC from: Dell, Gateway, Costco, Frys, CompUSA, Best Buy, or a Mom & Pop store.

Scott

Scott I hear ya ....my last PC was custom built from a Mom & Pop store ....& yes your correct service cannot be beat...& its not loaded with all the BS programs and stuff you'll never use....it only has what want installed with all quality parts & after 3 yrs it still runs great.....I have givin it to my daughter to use and that's why I need a new desktop ......as we speak I have the same mom/pop store working up a package price on a new custom built one now which I will probably go with being I bought a few from him already & Ive always been happy....besides its 10 min away from me also incase I need service

[This message has been edited by Dnj (edited 06-13-2006).]

The issue I had with them a few years ago -- guess it was almost 5 years ago now -- was that they loaded lots of their own software onto the operating system. It automatically "did you a favor" by watching your every keystroke, and reporting any problems to hp. This slowed down the system tremendously and used up system resources (Win 98 dayd), so people complained they couldn't run many programs on the taskbar.

I bought one anyway, cause I liked the price, and thought it looked really cool, and thought I could clean out the system easily enough. Turned out to be far more of a hassle than I expected. And then a year later it died. Not sure if my cleaning had anything to do with it.

All this was just before HP and Compaq merged. I haven't kept up. Maybe they're all better now.

Rick

+1 on the PC World article.

Here is the desktop ratings from Jan 2006: http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,123409,pg,8,00.asp

And 2005: http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,118514,pg,3,00.asp

I admit I was amazed. Emachines scored near the top both years. Emachines used to be a joke! ABS and Dell are mediocre. HP and Compaq almost dead last.

Rick

My music desktop is an Emachines. I never actually intended it that way, as at the time I bought it, I simply was looking for a cheap desktop.... but two years down the road, today all it does is music ( vst instruments and effects, along with a few hosts ), and it never sees the 'net or any non music software.

Although it's been very beefed up with 2+ gigs of ram, and a couple of mid level soundcards and midi interfaces, it's a very simple Athlon 2.4 ( 1600 mhz in the real world ), and it works without any issues, even with today's currently demanding Vsti's, fx, and hosts.

It's certainly a better performer than my old Toshiba laptop was ( also a music only machine with a P4, 2.8 gig processor, 1.5 gigs of ram ) and compares reasonably well vs my new music only laptop ( 1.73 Pentium M with 2 gigs of ram ).

Sometimes specs are a little tricky. My new laptop seems to do about twice as much cpu intensive vst / music program work vs the old one, and unlike my previous laptop, which felt like it was always about to start on fire, this one barely ever gets warm to the touch


I use my older HP ( 800 mhz and 1 gig of ram ) as my normal net, non music software, and printer host, and for what it is, it serves me well for that, but over the years it has had a few issues.

AJ

In the end I just went to the local mom & pop store and had a Desktop custom made to my specs. I pick it up Monday..

Thanxk You for all the great advice & opinions I realy appreciate it!!