The PC recommendation thread

[Captain Highwind]

I figured this topic deserved its own space apart from the Computer Issues thread. The place to recommend desktops, laptops, peripherals and accessories.

I have declared my desktop dead, and realizing how slow (500 MB of ram) and out of date it was (I completely skipped over Vista), it's time to just get a new one and make sure Norton is up to date and running before I plug the Internet in or move my files over.

I was originally wanting a gaming computer, but looking at the $1000 price range I'll hold off on that. Right now I'd rather have something that can handle large files in photoshop programs, let me watch streaming video without skipping, and the cooling fan staying quiet, or at least, not trying to fly out the back of the case. I'm getting lulled by the 8 GB RAM and 1TB desktops, and I've decided not to go over $600 (I already have my printer, scanner, and monitor, so I don't need the packages.) Wireless Internet is not a selling point for me. I was also planning on staying with the brand names (HP, Dell, Gateway) and staying away from refurbished.

I've always had HP, which seems to last well in a 5-year period, but was thinking of changing over to a Dell. I had my sights on this, until I read the review section complaining about system failure and immediate returns.

I just found this one today from HP. Not as much ram but 6GB is still good (and expandable!), so I guess if I wanted to update the graphics card later for gaming I could. I might go with this.

I haven't tried Gateway yet, but this is the kind of stuff I'm looking at.

 

[cohenmarioman]

I sugges the Sony Vaio series, either the NW, or the CW. Both have BluRay, and 4 GB Ram, 8 times your old 500 MB Ram. The price however fits this, being $900 and $810 respectfully. For full info on all of Sony's computers, here is the link. I suggest you get the one of the laptops, the desktops are pricey, with 1 TB of storage on the L Series. Unless you are into desktops, then the L Series would be perfect for you, with 6 GB RAM and 1 TB storage, it can handle anything you give it.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

I recommend HP above all else. HP Pavilion Elite series are my fav.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=desktops&a1=Category&v1=High+performance&series_name=HPE150t_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/desktops/High_performance/HPE150t_series
The HPE 150t is very good, it comes with 6GB of RAM (more than enough) Corei5 CPU, 640GB HDD, ATI Radeon HD 4350 512 MB video card, 15 month Norton NIS. All this for $800

I sugges the Sony Vaio series, either the NW, or the CW. Both have BluRay, and 4 GB Ram, 8 times your old 500 MB Ram. The price however fits this, being $900 and $810 respectfully. For full info on all of Sony's computers, here is the link. I suggest you get the one of the laptops, the desktops are pricey, with 1 TB of storage on the L Series. Unless you are into desktops, then the L Series would be perfect for you, with 6 GB RAM and 1 TB storage, it can handle anything you give it.

I will not recommend Vaio for anyone. They are poorly constructed PCs with very bad/cheap hardware.

 

[cohenmarioman]

I will not recommend Vaio for anyone. They are poorly constructed PCs with very bad/cheap hardware.

Are they? Explain more.

Let me join in on the recommendations, I am looking for a Laptop with great battery, quality DVD, possibly BluRay, and 4+ GB RAM. 500 GM Storage is nice too, and a wide, 15+ inch display is a must. And it must have windows 7, no Mac for me, preferably under $1000.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Are they? Explain more.

Let me join in on the recommendations, I am looking for a Laptop with great battery, quality DVD, possibly BluRay, and 4+ GB RAM. 500 GM Storage is nice too, and a wide, 15+ inch display is a must. And it must have windows 7, no Mac for me, preferably under $1000.

Here is an excellent HP laptop:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s.../psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv8tqe_series Its $1200 but it has18.4" display Core i7 CPU, 3GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB HDD, NVIDIA 1GB GeForce GT230M video card, has a Blu-Ray Drive and is capable of playing 1080p videos. Under $1000 wont get you Blu-Ray.

 

[cohenmarioman]

Here is an excellent HP laptop:
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s.../psg/notebooks/High_performance/dv8tqe_series Its $1200 but it has18.4" display Core i7 CPU, 3GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB HDD, NVIDIA 1GB GeForce GT230M video card, has a Blu-Ray Drive and is capable of playing 1080p videos. Under $1000 wont get you Blu-Ray.

Well, 900 gets you an NW Vaio BluRay, but you said it was cheap hardware. I guess I will look for others opinions as well, seeing as 1200 is 300 too much. Thanks for the thought though of getting an HP.

EDIT: In addition, I need easy to use keyboard, a feature I see in Mac Books and Vaios, and not seen in that laptop you linked to. I kinda need an easy to use Keyboard for what I will be using my laptop for, college work and leisure.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Well, 900 gets you an NW Vaio BluRay, but you said it was cheap hardware. I guess I will look for others opinions as well, seeing as 1200 is 300 too much. Thanks for the thought though of getting an HP.

EDIT: In addition, I need easy to use keyboard, a feature I see in Mac Books and Vaios, and not seen in that laptop you linked to. I kinda need an easy to use Keyboard for what I will be using my laptop for, college work and leisure.

How is the keyboard on the HP not easy to use? its a full size qwerty key board.

 

[cohenmarioman]

How is the keyboard on the HP not easy to use? its a full size qwerty key board.

I am not exactly sure what makes it hard to use, but I think it has to do with the way the keys push, with only the middle of the key responding to the push, instead of the whole bottom of it. Kinda like if I was to type fast and the e in the got cut off due to my ring finger hitting it in the edge of the key, not responding the center of the key, meaning I mistyped everything after it. Hope that helps. On the Vaio and Mac Books, the keys are like a stand alone keyboard in that they are buttons where the whole key is responsive, and even the slightest edge is responsive. Again, I do not fully understand what makes it harder, but it takes a lot longer to type papers, that and any other laptop with "those" type of keys.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

I am not exactly sure what makes it hard to use, but I think it has to do with the way the keys push, with only the middle of the key responding to the push, instead of the whole bottom of it. Kinda like if I was to type fast and the e in the got cut off due to my ring finger hitting it in the edge of the key, not responding the center of the key, meaning I mistyped everything after it. Hope that helps. On the Vaio and Mac Books, the keys are like a stand alone keyboard in that they are buttons where the whole key is responsive, and even the slightest edge is responsive. Again, I do not fully understand what makes it harder, but it takes a lot longer to type papers, that and any other laptop with "those" type of keys.

Every keyboard on every HP laptop are different. If you had a bad experiance with 1 single HP laptop keyboard, does not mean they are all bad.

 

[Mynd Hed]

Keyboards can be a really personal thing, too: depending on the way you type and the size of your hands and just plain personal preference, what might be a really good keyboard for one person might be terrible for another. If at all possible, I highly recommend shopping for laptops in brick-and-mortar stores so that you can try out a little "quick brown fox" on the built-in keyboards before you take the plunge. Even if you ultimately wind up buying online to save money, it's very nice to be able to see and touch and mess around with a machine of the same model first.

If you're looking for a desktop, and especially if you're on a $500-$700ish budget, you might consider building your own. At that budget, you can get a LOT more machine for your dollar that way. It's really not that difficult if you're at all technically inclined. If you've ever opened up a desktop to swap out a hard drive or video card or whatever, you're already halfway there. As long as you do your research, it can be a very positive experience, and that way you know your machine inside and out if/when something goes wrong down the line.

The only downside to doing it that way is that you don't have any kind of system-wide warranty or tech support, but let's get real: when's the last time you were ever actually HELPED by tech support?

 

[cohenmarioman]

Keyboards can be a really personal thing, too: depending on the way you type and the size of your hands and just plain personal preference, what might be a really good keyboard for one person might be terrible for another. If at all possible, I highly recommend shopping for laptops in brick-and-mortar stores so that you can try out a little "quick brown fox" on the built-in keyboards before you ultimately take the plunge. Even if you ultimately wind up buying online to save money, it's very nice to be able to see and touch and mess around with a machine of the same model first.

If you're looking for a desktop, and especially if you're on a $500-$700ish budget, you might consider building your own. At that budget, you can get a LOT more machine for your dollar that way. It's really not that difficult if you're at all technically inclined. If you've ever opened up a desktop to swap out a hard drive or video card or whatever, you're already halfway there. As long as you do your research, it can be a very positive experience, and that way you know your machine inside and out if/when something goes wrong down the line.

The only downside to doing it that way is that you don't have any kind of system-wide warranty or tech support, but let's get real: when's the last time you were ever actually HELPED by tech support?

I have tried out the Vaio keyboard, and it works for me perfectly, nice and spread out, especially the NW Series.

 

[Captain Highwind]

If you're looking for a desktop, and especially if you're on a $500-$700ish budget, you might consider building your own. At that budget, you can get a LOT more machine for your dollar that way. It's really not that difficult if you're at all technically inclined. If you've ever opened up a desktop to swap out a hard drive or video card or whatever, you're already halfway there. As long as you do your research, it can be a very positive experience, and that way you know your machine inside and out if/when something goes wrong down the line.

I was thinking about just doing that with the HP I found above. Although those Elites look absolutely delicious... >.> I just hope it doesn't reject a new graphics card when I buy a better one down the line for gaming; I've had that luck before. (I'm not crazy about the shared video memory, so a gc purchase will happen.)

The only downside to doing it that way is that you don't have any kind of system-wide warranty or tech support, but let's get real: when's the last time you were ever actually HELPED by tech support?

From what I've heard from Dell customers, not likely.

My computers die well after the warranty expires anyway.

 

[purplehairedwonder]

Bump because I'm currently in the laptop market. I was promised a new laptop for my college graduation and I've been assigned to pick out the computer I want. I'll start off saying I'm not interested in a Mac and my budget wouldn't allow for one anyway.

I asked my brother, something of a techie, and he recommended (some of this meant nothing to me since I'm no techie, but I take his word seriously) for my purposes something with at least a Core i3 processor if not Core i5, at least 4GB of RAM, as much hard drive space as I could afford, and something 13" or so since I'm heading to grad school, but I'd be willing to go a bit bigger. The budget is about $800. I have this laptop in my sights at the moment, but I'm open to suggestions since I've never computer shopped on my own before. I've got a Dell right now and am not interested in repeating that experience.

 

[cohenmarioman]

The one problem I have with HP, and many other brands of laptops is the keyboard is harder to use than a standard stand alone keyboard. I would take a little getting used to.

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Bump because I'm currently in the laptop market. I was promised a new laptop for my college graduation and I've been assigned to pick out the computer I want. I'll start off saying I'm not interested in a Mac and my budget wouldn't allow for one anyway.

I asked my brother, something of a techie, and he recommended (some of this meant nothing to me since I'm no techie, but I take his word seriously) for my purposes something with at least a Core i3 processor if not Core i5, at least 4GB of RAM, as much hard drive space as I could afford, and something 13" or so since I'm heading to grad school, but I'd be willing to go a bit bigger. The budget is about $800. I have this laptop in my sights at the moment, but I'm open to suggestions since I've never computer shopped on my own before. I've got a Dell right now and am not interested in repeating that experience.

HP make some of the best computers right now, including laptops. That is an a good budget laptop. 2 things though since you are able to customize the hardware you want in it on HP site, stick to core i5 and stay away from Intel Graphics, they are ****. Chiose the NVIDIA ones. 4GB of RAM Dimm modules should be plenty.

 

[The Guitar Slayer]

HP's are spiffy. Minus some driver issues with mine that were fixed with a hard drive wipe and a clean install, my HP HDX 18 has held up since I got it 18 months ago. There is some wear and tear on the keyboard and casing, but it hasn't blown up on me like my 2003 Dell; that one had a lot of issues with fans and the heat sink overheating. It lasted 5 years, but it was definitely suffering a painful and long, lonely death.

Then again, I blew $2000+ on both laptops, as they have to survive a lot of wear and tear and keep fairly current; I'd say five years or so if you're a power user or gamer like me. People who just need the laptop for Word and email and forums could even get one of those itty bitty ones.

I had an HP Pavillion desktop about ten years, and it was pretty spiffy, minus a sporked hard drive two years into its existence. Aside from building my own, I'd probably go with them again as well. Get something with at least 4 GB of RAM, if not more, and a 2.x+ gHz processor. Drive space and peripheries are personal preference things, but I would say go for a Nvidia card if you intend on doing any gaming -- I <3 mine for Warcraft and Medal of Honor.

 

[Domestic Frizz]

Newer HP's are the best. Gateway also has ethical issues surrounding its employees. (Discrimination and such.)

If not HP the other good ones are Sony and maybe Toshiba.

 

[BonyT]

HP's are spiffy. Minus some driver issues with mine that were fixed with a hard drive wipe and a clean install, my HP HDX 18 has held up since I got it 18 months ago.

I have an HP HDX 18 as well. It's an awesome multimedia machine. I got mine at a time when both my old laptop and my TV were going bad at the same time, and I certainly didn't want to get into the expense of replacing both at once, so things like the HDX's internal TV tuner and Blu-ray player/burner were important to me because I watched all my TV and movies on the HDX for a while--and with that big beautiful true 1080p screen, it's fantastic for both. I also like that it's got a full-sized keyboard with a full number keypad as well. Not important to everyone I know, but it's one of those little touches I appreciate.

Of course there's a reason it can have that generous keyboard: Namely, because the thing is a HOSS. I mean it's a big honkin' machine. It's definitely a desktop replacement, so yeah, you can certainly tote it anywhere in your house that you'd like (although you'd still want it plugged in pretty much full-time, especially for things like watching Blu-rays)--but a companion for travel the HP HDX 18 definitely is NOT. (But heck, my Motorola Droid is a gem at handling all of my computer needs on the road anyway--not to mention being loads of fun--so that part isn't an issue for me.)

Btw, don't know if Mac is an option, purplehairedwonder, but I'll just throw this out there anyway: Everyone I know with a MacBook Pro absolutely LOVES it. I mean everyone. I have a nephew who's a computer genius, and since he got his first MacBook Pro, he says he'll never go PC again. You pay more for the same capability with a Mac, but you get some perks for what you pay: no virus danger ever with a Mac, and they apparently simply never crash; plus, Leopard is generally acknowledged to be the superior OS to anything from Gates & co. I guess it really makes sense when you think about it though: I mean with Apple, you've got just one company making all the hardware, and the software. Everything's bound to be much easier to make seamless, from both performance and security perspectives. But with PCs, a thousand different companies make the various components that go into it, and ten thousand provide software. In all that bedlam, there are bound to be holes where things just don't perfectly mesh--again, in both performance and security terms. I mean, how many patches do we all download for our PCs, right?

I was seriously leaning Apple when I was about to make my purchase; but the MacBooks at the time didn't have any Blu-ray or TV tuner capability, nor could you get a 1080p screen (I don't know if all of that holds true today or not though), and as I said, those capabilities were especially important to me at the time. But if they're not for you...the Macs offer a lot. Anyway, just something to think about.

 

[purplehairedwonder]

Btw, don't know if Mac is an option, purplehairedwonder, but I'll just throw this out there anyway:

I mentioned it before, but it's not an option considering my budget ($800), but I'm not interested in getting one anyway. I've just never been comfortable with how they run--just a personal preference.

I think I've decided on this computer, a smaller version of the one I linked before. I can upgrade it enough for my uses and it's about the size that I want.

 

[BonyT]

I mentioned it before, but it's not an option considering my budget ($800), but I'm not interested in getting one anyway.

Oops! Sorry, my bad--I'm afraid I just glanced at your post too quickly; I should've read it more thoroughly. Anyway, I think HP is a great name to choose for PC. I've loved mine so far. Looks like you've picked a perfect size for balance between portability and still a good-sized screen for viewing.

EDIT: Ooh--just remembered--you should give a call to the HP toll-free #. They sometimes run specials that aren't advertised anywhere. For example, when I got mine, the salesperson told me about a much cheaper deal than was advertised on the site on Microsoft Office Suite; it was a "student package" or something like that. Anyway, can't hurt to check.