# the best way t buy.



## Aleksey (Dec 31, 2003)

What is the best way to buy a ocmputer?
Dell constanly has advertising that p[laces like best buy aren't good for buying computers, and that it's expencive. in reality however, you could a computer at best buy that would be almost twice as powerful, for the same price dell.com gives you, and what's mroe is that that computer would of a name brand like SONY.

Or is it better to to some place online, and order a fully customized comp straight from a factory?

Or maybe to buy seperate parts and put it together yourself. That would the most customized kind.

I'm getting ready to buy a new machiene, and I'm not certain, because al 3 have drawbacks, and advantages, which make them equal. Or at least so it seems to me.


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## ian (Dec 31, 2003)

I built my current computer, and it was definitely an educational process. 
I remember taking an IBM computer I had, AMD 350 down to the computer shop to get a new hdd installed. The guy at the shop fiddled around with it for nearly an hour and couldnt find a way to add a second hard drive or replace the existing one.


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## AainaalyaA (Jan 2, 2004)

i bought my first computer -- Macintosh
my second was created for me -- i built it.. but trashed it coz it didn't turn out the way i wanted it to turn out.. i discovered that rubber is not such a great idea as a housing
my third was a branded one.. an ibm
fourth was an NEC
fifth were a series of the PowerPCs
sixth is my current one, a Fujitsu-PC
obviously I would only build one if and when the manufacturers can come out with parts that are cheap.. and since I love my nails tooo much, I wouldn't dream of getting into the icky mucky of putting things together unless its Revell or Airfix {you know the model airplanes/ship etc}


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## Rick G (Jan 28, 2004)

If you can provide all tech service yourself, there is no decision, build your own.  If you buy good quality parts and shop at places like "NEWEGG.COM" the price will be less than any prebuilt. Just compare apples to apples.  Using the build approach you eliminate all the negatives, completly know your system and can customize it exactly the way you want it.  Cool cases, lights, cooling, psu, cpu and all the rest.  The biggest advantage is no generic parts, warranty's that are longer (lifetime on good memory) and evry component completly upgradable.
Building a computer is a real fun project.  The longest part of the process is researching the variety of components out there and selecting the ones that are just right for you.  The actuall building of the computer takes about 3 hours plus any software loads you make.  Another great thing about a homebuilt is that no more garbage you don't want cluttering up the hard drive.
If you look at my sig, you can see my system and I have less than $700 in it plus peripherals.


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## [tab] (Jan 28, 2004)

Hi Rick G...

Welcome to CoFo... I see you have the same video card as me


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## Rick G (Jan 28, 2004)

That 440 is really a econo way to go and is the big bottleneck in my system.  I am planning a new computer with AMD and a new high end vid crd.  Hard to believe a vid card is more money than a mobo.


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## [tab] (Jan 29, 2004)

I got mine for the video out... I'm not really a gamer.


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## Rick G (Jan 30, 2004)

Tab
I just wanted a decent vid card at first, I don't do a lot of gaming but when I do I wish I had spent a bit more.
Have you ever visited the forum at the MSI site?  They won't answer your questions if you don't have an MSI board but what a wealth of information from some extremely smart people. I have quite a number of posts there.


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## se7en (Feb 26, 2004)

I got my 2002 Sony VAIO PCV-RX741 desktop (no longer in production) from Circuit City. Total was around $1000.
Then I got raped when I bought my 15" Sony LCD from Best Buy for some $600 
Oh well, I was young, dumb, and inexperienced.
I'd just go to Circuit City and get an off-the-shelf computer. 
I know Dell has some great prices, but remember- You get what you pay for 
BTW, this is my second computer. My first one was a shitty OLD thing my moms friend built for us.


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## Lord Kalthorn (Feb 29, 2004)

Yeah!   I would buy from a shop because; lets face it, they're cheaper!   Its not the same as building your own but you can easily customize a shop brought one to be your baby!   (My Computer is lovingly called Jennifer)

My newest Computer; the one in my Sig, I got for only £1000 the Intel 3.2 HT I was going to get was £900 but for only £100 I got 120MB more Hard Drive and the AMD 64 3200!   Bargainlicious, Cheap as Chips!   That was from PC World.


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## se7en (Mar 2, 2004)

Lord Kalthorn said:
			
		

> Yeah!   I would buy from a shop because; lets face it, they're cheaper!   Its not the same as building your own but you can easily customize a shop brought one to be your baby!   (My Computer is lovingly called Jennifer)
> 
> My newest Computer; the one in my Sig, I got for only £1000 the Intel 3.2 HT I was going to get was £900 but for only £100 I got 120MB more Hard Drive and the AMD 64 3200!   Bargainlicious, Cheap as Chips!   That was from PC World.


320gb HDD


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## Lord Kalthorn (Mar 4, 2004)

se7en said:
			
		

> 320gb HDD


Yeah, very happy with it!   I was amazed at the 200GB offer - coming from a 2 year old Computer with a 30GB Hard Drive; but the 320GB I just couldn't refuse!


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