Hi,
If I like to buy a new pc for my kids.
Should I buy HP or Dell?
I'm in a similar situation with my brother. He has asked me (several
times) to shop for a low-end computer. It's really hard to beat the
entry-level price from HP/Dell/Gateway, but I'm not going to make that
recommendation.
Instead, I'm going to suggest that we build a system. It will cost a
bit more than an entry-level Dell ($800 vs. $600) but we will end up
with a machine more suited to his needs, with a much better upgrade
strategy. Don't skimp on the case and the power supply, as it may well
be the only parts you won't want to eventually upgrade.
When you by an entry-level box you are essentially rolling the dice. A
quick anecdote along those lines: My nephew bought a low-end Gateway
refurb. The price was a steal, but it came with only 256MB of RIMM
memory. To put 1GB of memory in that machine now would cost $450; for
DIMMs, $125.
One of the biggest bummers about going it alone and building your own
system is the operating system cost. Right now, if you want Windows,
it's going to cost you about $90. Personally I would probably still go
with XP, but you can get Vista Basic for about the same price. If you
go with Vista, though, I would recommend Premium, or whatever a notch up
from Basic is called. If you want to go with Linux, you can get a
variety of options for exactly $0.
Something else about Vista and low-end systems: I see a lot of machines
with 512MB packaged with Vista Basic. That is the minimum system
requirement. Maybe it will work well enough, but I have yet to see a
Windows release where using the minimum RAM requirement was a good idea.
Coupled with reports that Vista's "sweet spot" is about 4GB, I'm a
little uneasy about those systems.
As for building the system, that's not really difficult, as long as you
have purchased parts that work happily together. Nearly anyone can do
it if they put in a little research. What's more, you'll be perfectly
educated to service the machine in the future if you have a problem, or
want to upgrade.
Happy Hunting.
