Looking for a new PC

[texasdoc_2002]

I am in the market for a new PC. I do not want to build one right now and I am not a big gamer.

I already have a monitor and other stuff.

I saw this one a new-egg... what do you guys think:
The Link

 

[idigTexas]

I know you said you didn't want to build one yourself, but you'd save $200 if you bought the exact same components from newegg and assembled them yourself.

Is having it preassembled worth it? I'm sure someone on here would do the assembly for $100 and a sixer.

If money's not really an issue, then I see nothing wrong with the system. It's got plenty of juice to do the basics, and it would even be fine for large portion of games that are out (as long as you didn't run at maximum resolution with all the bells and whistles turned on).

 

[SouthernGent]

Fry's is selling one for $99 this weekend.

 

[sessamoid]

If you're not a gamer and you don't need massive horsepower for video or image editing, then spending a grand on a computer is a waste of money. Given your needs, I'd spend perhaps $500.

If you don't need windows, I'd suggest a Mac Mini since you already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.The Link

If you must have Microsoft, then Dell has some computers in that range, too.

 

[EJC]

I agree...if you not a big gamer, then $999 if too much money to spend on a system.

Best Buy has a something close to the Newegg PC you're looking at but it doesn't have the Nvidia 5200 video card and it has only 512MB of RAM....The Link
($630 - $50 rebate = $580)

512 MB of RAM should be plenty for the casual computer user. A decent video card can be had for $100 these days if you needed one.

 

[hornian]

I second the emachines link. I've ahd one for about 6 months that I bought from Best Buy, and I've had no problems whatsoever. I'm not a gamer, so the 512mb works fine.

 

[dustin_c1]

Nobody is even close when it comes to low-end computers. Dell beats everyone right now. Apple, eMachines, HP, Compaq...everyone.

My girlfriend's parents just got a P4 2.8Ghz system with a 19-inch(!!!) LCD monitor for $609.

If you want a higher end computer, you best bet is to build it yourself or go through a custom builder like ibuypower.

Look for coupon codes on the Internet for Dell. They are dumping flat panel LCD screens right now. You can build a system with the 20-inch screen for under $1,000.

 

[zzzz]

A quick search shows ibuypower fares well in "official" reviews but there are a fair number of less-than-flattering user reviews.

 

[texasdoc_2002]

Thanks for the responses.

I already have a 19 inch LCD display, so I do not really need another one.

Also, I do not need a super power machine, but I do a lot of graphic/image realted stuff and lots of powerpoint. I mainly use powerpoint and adobe photoshop.

What kind of graphics card is needed for this type of stuff?

I am also looking for a big hard drive since I save lot of CAT scan and MRI images for work purposes.

 

[dustin_c1]

Photoshop code doesn't make special use of the GPU in you graphics card. Most any card will work for you. If you work with large files, you'll want a minimum of a gigabyte of ram. You'll probably see some improvement at any increase in RAM up to 2 gigs. (Even folks on Apples report no improvement over 2 gigs. There is no noticeable difference between 2 and 4 and even 8 gigs, even when batch processing very large raw files). If you only do minor graphics work, 512 is enough memory.

Serious graphic work actually does require super-power machines with dual-core opterons far ahead of anything else out there.

 

[sessamoid]

If you're doing any significant amount image editing work, the Mac is the obvious choice. The whole graphic design and advertising industry uses Macs for a reason. If you're only doing web-sized graphics then 512 or 1GB is enough memory. If your doing stuff for print, then you ought to know already that more memory is better. 1 GB minimum, 2+ GB preferable.

Keynote >> Powerpoint. I've done a fair amount of lecturing with Powerpoint. I think it looks like ***.

Graphics cards all do 2D adequately these days, which is all you need. The more expensive cards mostly are designed to play 3D games faster, which is overkill for your needs.

Saving CAT scans and MRI will take up a lot of memory, as these images are very high resolution. If you're doing that then I'd seriously look into a Mac of some kind so you can run Osirix. Osirix is a free (and open-source) DICOM/PACS workstation program that does pretty much anything that any of the expensive commercial DICOM packages do. It's capable of doing 3D CT, MRI, and PET reconstructions, multiple overlays in 2D and 3D, etc. For the price (free) it can't be beat, and more than makes up for the price premium you'll pay for Apple hardware.