Looking to buy a new computer, advice wanted

[LastDyingBreath]

hai guyz...

Nasanna's laptop is slowly but surely dying.  Those of you who've raided with her before get to experience the joy of 5 minute load screens every wipe.  Now she's getting random hardware failures and apparantly she needs a new battery, even though it's run under AC adapter power 95% of the time.  While I'm not opposed to getting it fixed, it seems to me that spending a little more $$ and getting her a new one might be the better option.  Her laptop was never really high performance anyways, and it'd be nice to get her a kickin' rig.

I happened to notice in a Staples ad that they're advertising an Acer notebook for $450 ($449.98, actually.  /finger at retarded marketing ploys).  The ad in its entirety reads:

Acer notebook
Includes AMD Athlon 64 X@
Dual-Core Processor TK-53
1 GB ram
120GB hard drive
14.1" (massive upgrade from 14" FFS) display
SuperMultiDVD drive
5-in-1 Card Reader
Integrated Webcam
Windows Vista Home Premium

I don't care about the webcam, I'm not entirely sure wtf a 5 in one card reader is, and meh @ vista.  However, it seems like a hella bang for the buck.  $450 is definantly affordable, but the "too good to be true" alarm is ringing in my head.  I would guess that this price is made possible by using cut-rate components wherever possible.  I looked around for reviews of the computer but they were either blatant fellatiatic advertisements or people talking about listening to music on one (buy a freaking ipod nubs).

any computer savvy folks out there with an opinion?

It should also be noted that nas doesn't actually take her laptop everywhere, a desktop would work just fine and probably get us more bang for the buck.

[LastDyingBreath]

A side note:  Dell will let me have

PROCESSOR Intel® Coreâ,,¢2 Duo Processor E4600 (2MB L2 Cache,2.4GHz,800 FSB)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium - English
MONITOR 19 inch S199WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor with TrueLife
MEMORY 2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 320GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE Dual Drives: 48X CDRW/DVD COMBO Drive + 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT-DDR3
SOUND Sound Blaster® X-Fiâ,,¢ XtremeGamer (D) Sound Card 
MODEM & WIRELESS Internal PCI 802.11g Wireless Network Card

for 1.3k.  Much more costly but at least it's a company I've delt with before.

[Kothnok]

I doubt that laptop mentioned could even play WoW (lacks 1Gig RAM, no mention of video and sound subsystems).  You're much better off getting the desktop.

[Arcdelad]

upgrading laptops are a pain in the ass too...you could get a nice 256 MB Geforce 8500 for that desktop thats ready to rock with the next direct x release for like $120 or less even

check out:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8520941&type=product&id=1186007060390

MELONNI: You need to buy this too... (she is using on board graphics, which dont even let her go into any Tempest Keep due to the bridges...)

[Nixphire]

I've always had good results from New Egg
http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=10&name=Desktop-PCs
On the left you have different pricing options depending on what you want to spend.
1 gig isn't bad, but the more the marrier. I also noticed that it doesn't mention anything about video card. Sound isn't always a must, unless you pvp a lot. Damn rogues!

MELONNI: You need to buy this too... (she is using on board graphics, which dont even let her go into any Tempest Keep due to the bridges...)

Self pwn?

[Shadowwolf]

http://www.widowpc.com/store/build-gaming-desktop-iz2sli.php?systype=18&fsb=71&ccc_pics=true

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&series_name=d4996t_series&a1=Usage&v1=High%20performance

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_420?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=bundlestab

All are good options. I suggest going with a pre-made brand name like the above links unless you want to do your own repairs if components go bad. One rule of thumb I like to stick with on buying a new PC is get something you know will last and grow with you for at the very minimum 2 years, if it can go 3 it will have paid for itself, but 2 years is realistic in the home PC marketplace.

Dont buy a PC from an electronic superstore is another rule. They tend to mark up what your buying a lot to profit, especially this time of year. You will get a better deal going directly through the manufacturer during the holidays. Shortly after the holiday, if you can wait, you might be able to find a deal at one of the superstores on the mass shipments they didnt sell they want to move. Sometimes youll see adds for 400 off or something because they want to get the items out of their inventory to make room for newer models. At the same time, no offense to anyone that might work at BestBuy or Circuit City, most of the people who work in the computer depts there dont have a clue what they are doing. Ive been kicked out of many many of those stores for working with uneducated customers better than the sales associate who is only doing and saying what he was told to move specific items his supervisor told him to and selling the customer something worthless or what they dont need.

Price something and config something online and post here before you buy, we can all put input on any changes and stuff then.

Theres also a good buyers guide here if you wanted to piece-meal a system yourself.

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/MVGSBG/article.php/3714091

[Darkstar]

Haha, ya i know about them bridges.  I work around the problem areas for Mel in Tk thou 

As for systems....that laptop i wouldn't suggest.  The desktop is alright, thou Dell can be a little overpriced for gaming rigs.

Of course, I had my system custom built.  Found that for what I could have custom build, was alot cheaper than buying a Manufactured computer from dell, best buy, or even circuit city.  New Egg is a great place to get system parts, cheap and reliable.  You have to know someone that can construct the computer if you buy the individual parts thou, that is the downside.

That Dell system is not bad, and you get a good monitor to go with it.  I'd shop around first thou, see what computer stores in your area can offer you.

[fiere redfern]

Here's the break-down of what I have in my Toshiba laptop (http://www.toshibadirect.com):

TOSHIBA CONFIG SYSTEMS

SATELLITE A200
HARMAN KARDON SPEAKERS
INTEL WIFI LINK 802.11 A/G/N
NO BLUETOOTH
CORE2 DUO 1.66GHZ T5450
NO INTEGRATED DISK CACHE
ATI RADEON HD2400 W/128MB
160GB HDD 5400RPM, SERIAL-ATA
NO 2ND HDD
15.4" XGA TRUBRITE (1280X800)
2048MB (1024MBX2) 667MHZ
VISTA HOME PREMIUM 32BIT
DVD SUPERMULTI DRIVE SLIM

**these two apparently come standard with toshiba laptops - I didn't see options for either one**
FINGERPRINT READER
INTERGRATD 1.3M WEBCAM

that came to a total of about 1.1k - a bit cheaper than Dell (also because I didn't go for ALL high-end stuff). I'm also a bit iffy about using Dell laptops - the ones I've used in the past have seemed flimsy or only useful for the basic operations (Word, Outlook, interneting). Their desktops on the other hand are very solid - mine's three years old now and aside from a memory card and video card upgrade that I'm looking at (just because higher quality is available for cheaper... 2gb mem sticks on newegg for 60 bucks!) it runs like a dream. iirc, it cost me about the same as my laptop did, too.

[un4]

Heh, I play with 512 MB RAM and whatever POS vid card came in the machine six years ago...

[kajunlady]

It might be just me but i have grown found of hps (hp pavilian media center) is the kind i have it wasnt that bad in price either 1.4k
come with (what i remember anyway)
5000+ AMD athlon 64x2 dual core processor
2048mb memory
400gb hard drive
NVIDIA  GeForce 6150 LE graphics
+ added stuff hubby did

i have no idea what any of that is so if its kinda bad let me know

although i am getting the one i have always wanted for tax time..hehe alien ware computers not only cool design but an awsome pc that i feel will be well worth the money..

[Telfurion]

Alienware often gets a horrible rap from "gamers" that think they know something about computers but instead just think its cool to go on forums and trash talk alenware.  They are good computers, maybe overpriced, but I have friends that say the customer support is awesome and that are really good at getting cheap parts for you if yours mess up.  Personally though, check out the Dell XPS desktops, amazing computers (need to get one myself)

[Nixphire]

[Lord Entropy]

I have a Dell Inspiron 9300 laptop that I've used for a couple of years and works fine.  If you decide to go the laptop route, get one with a dedicated video chipset - the one listed in your original post likely uses system RAM as video RAM.  That's a double-performance hit for you.  Even a low-end chipset will work fine, but you'll have to turn off some of the bells and whistles in wow. If you can afford it, spring for 2G of ram - it was a big performance boost for me and it's more cost-effective to get more ram on a laptop up front.

Good luck!

[LastDyingBreath]

Inspiron 1520
SYSTEM COLOR Jet Black
PROCESSOR Intel® Coreâ,,¢ 2 Duo T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB/4MB cache) 
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Home
DISPLAY Glossy, widescreen 15.4 inch display (1280x800)
VIDEO CARD 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8600M GT
MEMORY 3GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 at 667MHz 
HARD DRIVE Size: 120GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM) 
INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE CD writer / DVD player (Combo Drive)
WIRELESS NETWORK CARDS Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Mini Card
INTEGRATED WEBCAM Integrated 2.0M Pixel Webcam
BATTERY OPTIONS 56Whr Lithium Ion Battery (6 cell)
SOUND OPTIONS High Definition Audio 2.0

what I'm currently considering.  A little more money than I want to spend (1.5k)but it looks like a real solid rig that will last awhile.

input?  thanks muchly for the previous replies by the way