desktop recommendations

[emmasmommy]

well, our laptop took a crap. it's going to cost us about as much to fix it as it would cost to buy a new desktop. *sigh* :crying:

i need some recommendations i know NOTHING about what i 'need' other than enough memory to run cs5 lol

any info you ladies (and aaron of course) have would be muchly appreciated! :thumbup:

[heathergw]

I'm clueless when it comes to that stuff... but Mark is a computer tech and I know he'd be happy to help you find a great deal and the best computer to fit you needs and budget... we've had great luck with the refurbished HPs we've gotten.

[nun69]

we did the same thing and bought a desktop instead of another lappy...but my DH bought everything and this is what we got {I also already had a 2TB EHD}....
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/35-103-065-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/13-131-631-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131631)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/17-139-005-Z02?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/20-145-345-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/27-136-236-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/19-103-849-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/20-148-348-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148348)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/28-102-555-TS?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16828102555)
http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/22-136-514-Z04?$S300W$ (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136514)
grand total roughly $1600 including LR3 and CS5 {studetn editions}.....I already had a case and then ordered a 24 inch monitor from Dell :) my DH put it all together for me :)

[emmasmommy]

i should add, i have cs5 ready to install....just need the 'puter to do it with!

heather, i'd LOVE any info mark might have!

[KristinCB]

:crying: i'm sorry laura

[mummytothree]

We've only own 2 desktops (bought the first one in 1999) and they have both been Compaqs (I think they are made by HP) and we have never ever had a lick of problems with either of them!!! In fact the very first one we bought still works (it has like a 40GB HD :blink:), my dad uses it!!!

Now the one we have now we bought in 2005 and we just had our first problem with it about 3 weeks ago....we were having storms and the electricity went out and it did something to the power source thing that you plug the cord into. Hubby got a part off a used computer and fixed it in 5 minutes....it's just like it was before!!!

I always always recommond Compaqs!!! :thumbup:

Happy computer shopping!!!!!

[MommaTrish]

Can't give you any recommendations cause each time I do my current computer dies a month later. (seriously lol)

[AmyG]

Bought a new desktop last year. Went with an AMD processor as I've had TWO Intels completely and unexpectedly die on me, grrr.

I got the ZT Sytems 1TB, Quad processor with 6GB of memory. It's a behemoth. It didn't come with a monitor so I bought one separately. Only downside is the graphics card is really more of a "watch movie" card vs. a "kill internet dragons" card. I like to kill internet dragons so it's going to be upgraded soon. I have 35GB of photos (scrap stuff is included on that), Zoo Tycoon 2, WoW, PSE9, iTunes, my scanner and camera software, Office Home and Student, tons of Jumpstart games, everyone's cell software, several virus programs and a handful of other things on here and it never slows down. Ever. I never have lag, nothing crashes, it's Heaven. I run Windows 7 64 bit, which I also love. Good luck-I love PC shopping :). New Egg is my fave place for cheap electronics and they have fab customer service.

I am buying, hopefully this month, an external hard drive to back up my PC, mostly just my photos and such. I can get a nice 1TB for about $75 on New Egg. :thumbup:

[nun69]

and Newegg is an excellent place to buy computer stuff :)

[BrattyMeg]

iMac?

Sorry about your lappy :(

[heathergw]

i should add, i have cs5 ready to install....just need the 'puter to do it with!

heather, i'd LOVE any info mark might have!

ok... I'll talk to him tonight after he gets off work...

[emmasmommy]

ok... I'll talk to him tonight after he gets off work...

thanks SO much heather!
off to check out newegg!

[AmberK]

Peter always buys all of the pieces and builds my computer. He is flying to Boston right now but I could ask him later tonight what his recs would be for a new computer.

[ColleenSwerb]

Jordan's built a few desktops from scratch (and that's probably the route we'll go in the future when I need a lappy replacement). If you need even MORE advice, I can ask him too :p

[color of my heart]

iMac?

Sorry about your lappy :(

i'm an iMac girl too. (: they're so worth the money.

however, i'd also recommend newegg. my brother and my father built their current PC desktops using parts from newegg, and my mother got her laptop from there.

[emmasmommy]

I wish we could go the 'build it' route, but to say my dh is computer illiterate is being nice. LOL

I'd honestly love to switch to a mac but, no can do right now :( a new pc isn't even ideal right now but, well, dh knows how miserable his life would be if I was w.o for very long ;)

[aggiefamily]

Yeah you aren't going to like my imac suggestion.

Just make sure you get the fastest processor and graphics card you can. You can always easily add more RAM later on.

[NeverendingJen]

We custom build our desktops through cyberpowerpc.com and they do all the tough work for you. We've gotten some excellent deals on ours, mine is 4 years old and probably has another 4 years before I'll need to upgrade. Jer's from 2003 is still running well as well.

[ColleenSwerb]

That's pretty cool that they build it for you Jen!!

Yes, a good graphics card is key too. We always talk about RAM and HD space, but the graphics card is really important for us too.

[NeverendingJen]

That's pretty cool that they build it for you Jen!!

Yes, a good graphics card is key too. We always talk about RAM and HD space, but the graphics card is really important for us too.

Yeah, it really is. I love that you pick the 'starter package' and then it goes in and lets you customize everything, and tells you exactly how much more or less each change is to the price. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get, but we've purchase 5 computers in 10 years for us and various family members through them because we love them so much. Now that we've gotten used to customizing we'll never go back to premade. His desktop is configured for gaming, mine for photoshopping and such, and it's so nice to have something built just for that.

The ONLY thing I've upgraded on my computer(hardware wise) since purchase was adding more RAM, because I got it right after Vista came out when no one really knew how much RAM it needed. I did upgrade to Win7 last year and love how smoothly it runs now.