This fall I'm heading off to university, and will need a new computer. Since I'm not sure what the best buys are right now, I figured I'd ask around here to see what you guys think is the best buy for my money.
My budget is about $1000 US, though that is a little flexible. That budget must also include the monitor!!! The computer will be used for schoolwork, internet use, and playing some fairly graphics-intensive games.
Below I will list everything that I can think of that I need help with, along with a list of questions. If you can help me with a few of these or even just one, I would be extremely grateful. I'm not computer illiterate, but please assume I am for the purposes of this conversation, since I probably have way less knowledge than most of you do
Processor: ??????
Motherboard: ?????
Memory: I was thinking about 1 GB RAM or so, if that's financially possible. I'm not sure what is the best though.
Graphics Card: For this I have no idea, any suggestions very welcome.
OS: WinXP Home. Unless you want to try to convince me otherwise.
Drives: CD-RW, probably a DVD drive too, plus a 3.5" floppy.
Hard drive: Nothing fancy, probably somewhere around a 60-80 GB hard drive would do. Not sure what the best is though.
Case: ??? Only need to worry about that if I'm building it myself, right?
Power supply: ???? No clue.
Monitor: Whatever fits my budget
Now I'm sure the list above is not comprehensive, and if I've missed anything, please be sure to point it out. Like I said, I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to computers. Now for some specific questions...
1. For the Processor, should I go with Intel or AMD?? What are the pro's and con's of both?
2. Memory; I know there's different types of RAM, I'm just not sure what is considered the best. For example, SDRAM, DDR SDRAM, etc ad nauseum.
3. Is 1 GB of RAM going overboard for the types of applications I want to run on it?
4. Graphics card, what brand is the "best" in your opinion. Should I go with a 128MB card or spend a lot more money for a 256 card?
5. Optical drives; is a DVD drive necessary, or just something good to have. Same question applies to a DVD burner.
There will likely be more questions than those above after you guys answer a few of my initial questions. I hope they all make sense, though I'm betting some of them don't since as I said before, I'm not an expert!
Oh and in case you're wondering, I'm not sure whether I want to buy a pre-assembled computer, or build it myself. I'm going to be starting another thread on that though, so...if you want to answer in it too, that'd be great!
Thank you guys so much for the help I know you will provide
OT: Help buying a new computer
Threaded Mode