Car Audio Central - Ultimate Car Audio Forum and Community

I am currently in the market for a new pc. Problem is my lack of knowledge in current hardware. I am not going to buy until I feel solid about my choice, I want the best pc possible for the buck. I am looking to spend up to a grand on monitor and pc. Windows Vista appears to be on most of the new machines I am finding, is it still to early to get Vista? I would think that there are a lot of bugs that need to be worked out. I have even considered a Mac, anyone have experience with a Mac? So far I have checked on Dell and Gateway, and have found a pc at each place that seems to fit the bill. It appears the Dell would be the better deal, what does everyone think? This computer will be used mostly for school, and web browsing. Does anyone have any recomendations? Thanks for the help.

DX430S
http://gateway.com/systems/series/529596912.php

Performance Multimedia
http://www.dell.com/content/products/fe ... l=en&s=dhs

Vista is ok right now. Just make sure you've got the 32 bit version. Most stuff doesn't work with the 64bit right now, and wont for probably 2 years.

The biggest difference between it and XP is the fact that it needs more power to run itself.

That is good to know. I believe it is the 32 bit on both the above machines I am looking into. What exactly am I looking for in a pc as far as build quality is concerned. My pc now is about 6 years old and runs like absolute crap. I understand that technology evolves rapidly, but I am concerned that it will become outdated very quickly. Am I safe to keep my considerations away from place like best buy and wal mart?

If you're cool with doing it yourself, you can a knowledge of the parts. Price wise, the pre-built systems are very competitive, since places like Dell and Gateway get their stuff at bulk prices. You may end up spending slightly more building it yourself, but prices for individual parts are still quite good. http://www.newegg.com for some parts.

Thanks for the link. I have comtemplated building myself, just wasn't sure how advantagious that would be for me.

It's not really that advantagious, except that you built it yourself.

Plus the Dell/Gateway likes use their own motherboards and memory that may not be as good as a retail packaged/designed board...

Thats always been my concern

That's true also. They usually use cheaper parts to keep costs down, although most are probably about the same or negligibly less performance-wise. But you never really know.
One nice thing about buying from a supplier is that you usually get SOME kind of warranty. So if something dies, it'll get replaced.
I prefer to build my own, but I'm also not cost-conscience either.

Ryan from Ohio wrote:Plus the Dell/Gateway likes use their own motherboards and memory that may not be as good as a retail packaged/designed board...

Thats always been my concern

That is a good point I had not thought about. I will look further into that.

One thing I really dislike about Vista is it's use of DRM.

I've only read bit about here and there, and from what I read, I really don't like it. But maybe someone else can shed more light on it.

http://www.techweb.com/wire/software/167101037