mynbmr 225 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 Time to upgrade the computer, does anyone have any thoughts on the best brand eg, Acer or Compaque? Cheers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wom 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 what do you want the computer for? is it just internet and emails, video and photo processing, or gaming? also, if you're into a bit of diy, you could build quite a decent computer yourself ... it's actually quite easy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 Don't buy branded sh*t whatever you do. Assemble yourself or get the store to do it. PB tech in Hamilton on Lake rd are quite well priced now and at know what they are on about. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gotheschu 1 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 Flick me a PM. I've done heaps of builds. All depends on what you want it to be used for... I recently built a computer up but I put Mac on it =D If you don't like Mac its easy to build a computer with Win 7 on it for you for under 1000, including monitor, keyboard, mouse the lot... The branded stuff i.e dell's are useless! Uncle bought a Compaq for 900 and it lagged and look hours to start after 2 weeks. Depends what your budget is but if you pay for the parts Ill build you up one free. Got a good store near by with heaps of parts cheaper than the normal stores. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wom 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 my home theatre pc build for you geeks out there http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1699...mp;l=a6cd0d8e65 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
_Matt_ 42 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 (edited) I would offer to build you something but if you saw my current comp you might have second thoughts haha. but yea. give us a list of things you want it for and one of us can point you in the right direction PC + OSX is the way to go haha. edit: my pc in 2008, man i was cool - Edited September 11, 2010 by _Matt_ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrad01 0 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 I would offer to build you something but if you saw my current comp you might have second thoughts haha. but yea. give us a list of things you want it for and one of us can point you in the right direction PC + OSX is the way to go haha. edit: my pc in 2008, man i was cool - I fully agree with the PC+MacOS thing...I even took it a stage further and got an old Quicksilver G4 for nothing and put the PC guts into it...Can boot Mac OS and poxy old Windows if I have to. QuadCore 2.8 with 8GB RAM and a nice big GeForce card with 2x27" screens runs quite nicely... http://www.quakelive.com anyone? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Eagle 1662 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 my home theatre pc build for you geeks out there http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1699...mp;l=a6cd0d8e65 Nice build. Although im not sure why you need 5870 and 8gb of ram for a home theatre box thou lol, guessing you game too?. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
antil33t 90 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 (edited) QuadCore 2.8 with 8GB RAM and a nice big GeForce card with 2x27" screens runs quite nicely... http://www.quakelive.com anyone?Win Anywhoo. Nothing wrong with branded desktops/machines, Keep away from the "home" biased ones like... they sell at harvey norman ect.. had a look at some HP Compaq 6000's and they're brillant little beasties, Core2Quad, lots of ram... very silent too. Dell Precision (workstation) are good, but their home stuff is seemily crap. Some of the really cheap machines sold at places that build them themselves, are rubbish also. Just keep an eye out on what components are going in. http://yfrog.com/f/7ddscn2936lj/ I still love my custom built beastie though Edited September 11, 2010 by antil33t Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RvT 9 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 For the last 12 years, we have been buying Dells for work & home. We now have about 30+ units in the workplace and they run 24 /7. In that time we have only ever had one that failed on us and was covered by warranty - power supply. You can have your opinions on what is best or fastest but for me it is reliability and value for money.... It cleans up on both counts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cale 36 Report post Posted September 11, 2010 Mac FTW Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tire 10 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 Can also help you build if you go that way Hans. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Top Secret 2 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 +1 to jumping on the bandwagon for building your own. When you build your own, if you know what you want to do ie. silent home theatre, gaming, video editing etc, you can tailer all your own equipment. Plus, in the future when the computer needs to be upgraded or a part breaks out of warranty, you stand a higher chance of actually being able to fix it. Ever tried upgrading or fixing a part on a Dell? Their design means that their hardware works with only their hardware ie. if the CPU breaks, you can't just get another CPU to fit. You need a whole new motherboard + CPU combo. That's if you're lucky enough to have it fit in the standard case. Go custom, every time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wom 0 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 Nice build. Although im not sure why you need 5870 and 8gb of ram for a home theatre box thou lol, guessing you game too?.yea it's also my gaming rigI wanted to be able to play everything on max settings on 1080p Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cliffdunedin 8 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 Personally i would build my own. but if you are not computer hardware minded, imo Compaq are a pretty decent branded computer, plenty of slots/easy to upgrade, decent hardware warranty etc Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apex 693 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 I cant offer any advice, seems we will have different opinions, I personally love my MacBook Pro as its smarter than anything else I have ever used. On building your own, please give it a massive bodykit and paint it yellow! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mrad01 0 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 I cant offer any advice, seems we will have different opinions, I personally love my MacBook Pro as its smarter than anything else I have ever used. On building your own, please give it a massive bodykit and paint it yellow! +1 on the Macbook Pro (esp with a SSD drive in it) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
polley 916 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 +1 to jumping on the bandwagon for building your own. When you build your own, if you know what you want to do ie. silent home theatre, gaming, video editing etc, you can tailer all your own equipment. Plus, in the future when the computer needs to be upgraded or a part breaks out of warranty, you stand a higher chance of actually being able to fix it. Ever tried upgrading or fixing a part on a Dell? Their design means that their hardware works with only their hardware ie. if the CPU breaks, you can't just get another CPU to fit. You need a whole new motherboard + CPU combo. That's if you're lucky enough to have it fit in the standard case. Go custom, every time. I have fixed and upgraded many dells and compaqs, using standard parts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bravo 35 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 I'm going to disagree with you all. I've built my own PC's, and for me, it's definitely the best option. But for someone who has to ask what brand is good, dealing with the issues of hardware compatibility, etc that can come with a custom build, I'd stick with a known brand. You can't beat a mac for out of the box ease of use, but Windows 7 is amazingly good, and a well-built pc with Windows 7 makes it hard to justify the cost of a similarly performing mac. You pay a bit more for a brand name, but unless you are an advanced user, or own a business and employ a PC guru who can sort you out with a well-priced custom build with the support to go with it, then forget it. I'm typing this post on a Sony Vaio notebook - my first ever "brand name" pc straight out of the box, and it's an absolute gem. Compare it to cars - you don't tell someone who is looking for reliable daily to build a turbo-charged e30. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grant 4 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 I'm going to disagree with you all. I've built my own PC's, and for me, it's definitely the best option. But for someone who has to ask what brand is good, dealing with the issues of hardware compatibility, etc that can come with a custom build, I'd stick with a known brand. You can't beat a mac for out of the box ease of use, but Windows 7 is amazingly good, and a well-built pc with Windows 7 makes it hard to justify the cost of a similarly performing mac. You pay a bit more for a brand name, but unless you are an advanced user, or own a business and employ a PC guru who can sort you out with a well-priced custom build with the support to go with it, then forget it. I'm typing this post on a Sony Vaio notebook - my first ever "brand name" pc straight out of the box, and it's an absolute gem. Compare it to cars - you don't tell someone who is looking for reliable daily to build a turbo-charged e30. Agreed. I'd just go to whatever store you want to buy your PC from, tell the salesperson what you want to use your computer for, what your budget is, and then compare the systems that meet your requirements. I also agree that Windows 7 is a huge leap forward for windows. When I bought my current laptop a few months ago, I went to my local Best Buy and expected to walk out with a Macbook Pro (I had never used Windows 7). By chance I had a play with a couple of the Windows 7 machines, and ended up walking out with a Toshiba laptop running Windows 7. I have no regrets at all, and am more than happy that the Toshiba cost about 1/2 what the Macbook Pro was going to. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Apex 693 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 Also, and this might sound obvious, but shop around, I saved $400 on the HP package I use for work simply by playing three major retailers against each other, in the end I scored a large monitor upgrade also. Im not sure how this would work in Huntley so it may be worth a drive to Hamilton. Agree with Bravo, and love the analogy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
E30 325i Rag-Top 2956 Report post Posted September 12, 2010 Compare it to cars - you don't tell someone who is looking for reliable daily to build a turbo-charged e30.*Cough*, this is bimmersport, whatever the question, the answer is a turboed e30 On PCs though, you are spot on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
$toffz 0 Report post Posted September 13, 2010 PB Tech for the win, like said before depends on what you want it for. Built a $600 box to play SC2 with and it gets a 5.9 rank in the Windows 7 system check. For $600 I got. Dual Core 2.9GHZ (Cant remember model, pretty sure AMD chip) 4GB Ram 1GB Video Ram Soundblaster 'something or another' has 5.1 LAN Card 250GB Hard Drive DVD-RW drive Cant remember what cache it has but i was mightly impressed (which is easly done though ). As they put it all together it came with a 12 month warranty. OS will set you back a couple hundy if you dont have one already or dont like using dodgy pirates.... Dont need to spend the Earth if you're only doing average joe stuff.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
