Commitments take some time...
Oct 27 '00
So, you are thinking about plunking down the cold hard cash on a new ultra fast super duper big time rear kicking Monster PC at just over 2000 dollars this baby has everything... The largest Hard drive more RAM then anyone could ever need, the best of the best in video cards, a 56k Modem, a LAN card, the best sound and speakers you could find a DVD and a CD-RW drive. Not to mention the Flatbed scanner, kick-rear printer and the web-cam. Oh, and everything is SCSI.
Ok, so what exactly did you say you wanted to do with this thing again?
Oh, uh, send some E-mail and research a few things on the internet.
If you are the above PC user then you may have just made a mistake that you are going to end up paying the interest on for quite some time. The average home user has little to no need for anything as monstrous as the highest of the top of the line systems you can find in any computer retailer. Before even thinking about going out shopping you should do a little sitting at the kitchen table with a pad of paper. Why would you do such a thing... I will get to that in a moment.
Okay, the moment is up. The pad of paper is for you to write down everything that you currently use your computer for. I know this sounds silly, but it will help you get a good idea about what kind of needs you have and where your needs may take you. The next thing to do after you write down everything that do now is add a few things that you would like to be able to do.
For example my list, while longer then most people, is the reason that I would spend a sick amount of money on a PC; then again I am pretty sick...
The following is in no particular order.
What I do now...
1. Run Multiple Operating Systems - 5 in total.
2. Write some short stories.
3. Keep track of contacts.
4. Surf the Internet.
5. Play Games - 2D/3D simple (Solitaire) and complex.
6. Scan some photos to incorporate into a web page someday.
7. Educate self in Programming languages C/C++, Pascal, Vbasic and others.
8. 3D Modeling, To learn how to make QuakeIII Levels
and also basic animation.
9. Listen to great music.
That about sums up what I do now, and here is my list of other things I would like to do. This list is something I am getting ready to do with one of my other PCs as of this writing...
1. Serve my own web site.
2. Create a mail server for my friends and myself.
3. Host a small FTP site for the programs that I use.
4. Host a Neverwinter Nights server, When it comes out...
( Http://www.neverwinternight.com for more information.)
As you can see I have a crazy amount of computer activities that requires a very powerful machine(s). Actually my interests do require more than one PC since I can't really host all that server stuff on my main box.
Anyway, the point is that my needs justify spending an insane amount of money on PC in the price range coming close to 4000 dollars for just the tower itself. This price is even after researching the best parts and hunting down the lowest price that I can.
Now, let's look at the usage habits of someone that I know. This list more or less covers everything that this person does with his computer system.
1. Connect to a Major National ISP with a 56k modem.
2. Keep track of scores for bowling league
3. Scan some images of family members for archiving
4. Surf the internet
5. Very light gaming
With the above use this person can get by with a machine for far under 2000 dollars at today's prices. I was personally able to put a price together for him in the 1200 dollar range for a great PC that would even be able to play a few of the more complex games on the market.
Basically what my advice on this is, if your list is very close to the second persons listing of usage then you may need to do a little bit of research before you rush out and have some salesmen push you into a 2000 dollar PC system since your needs may not ever come close to being able to use the machine to its fullest potential. Oh, by the way the person that I was describing was perfectly fine with the first computer he bought 4 years prior and was doing everything except for the scanning and CD burning that he does now.
If you find your list to be closer to the second user's list then you may want to take a look at another one of my epinions about building your own PC and look for a small neighborhood computer shop and ask them to build you a good system around your needs not mine.
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Epinions.com ID:
cnelzie
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Member: Robert
Location: Madison Heights, MI
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 3 members
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