I need to buy a new computer. Any suggestions?  Can afford about $1000.00. Is HP any good? AMD Athlon or Pentium4?

I got mine from these guys: [url]www.ibuypower.com[/url] and have been very happy.

As for processor, I went with a Pentium 4, but any of them are good.  AMD has the 64bit processor out now that is supposed to be the shiznit, but I haven't seen it for under a grand.

BTW, I picked up an E-machine for the wife a couple months ago and that has worked very well for her.  Wouldn't be my first choice for a gaming rig though.

Build it.
Do it yourself.
Roll your own.
Do the deed.
Seize the moment.
Learn something new.
Home project.

If you're not a Luddite, find a local clone shop that's been around for awhile and have something built to spec.

As for AMD vs. Intel, the price/performance ratio is in AMD's favor.  I've been using AMD for home systems since the K5.  Last Intel chip I've used for a personal system (excluding notebooks) was a P90.  Currently have an AMD 2800+.

As for desktop systems my only experience has been on the corporate side, not the consumer so I'm not sure what's decent.

I found this at Sam's Club the other day. It's a HP for $998.75
Model: a345c-b

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
2.08GHz
512MB
160GB
DVD/CD-RW
17" LCD Monitor

Thot I'd add a 3 year warranty for about another $100.

DEFINITELY !!!!!!!!

find a local shop who has a decent reputaion & have them custom build one for you, you can get twice the computer for the same $$$$$

besides you have local support & a far better warranty, mine is three years old & needs upgrading, so after the first of the year i will call my local comp. guys & they will come to my home & do the work or if it requires bench testing they will take it in & bring it back !!!

now that is service !!!!!!!!!

DITY.

as in Do IT Yourself.


if you needed a new AR, you'd build one, wouldn't ya?

Why not learn a bit and have a little fun too?


as for the AMD vs Intel, it's all in the name.
Personally, I'm an intel person. When i buy a 2.0 processor, that's 2.0 gHz. AMD had a tendancy to inflate their names so they appear faster. Also, i have never chipped a core or fried and Intel processor.


Also, if you ever plan on doign any upgrading whtsoever, don't go with onboard. onboard can't be upgraded unless it's got expansion ports.

I bought a used cad station from Pratt and Whitney last year.

how about
dell professional workstation 610
2 x PIII-550 zeons
1GB ram
2x9.1 LVD2 10k scsi drives
intergraph graphics card w/96mb
dual scsi bus w/scsi cdrom and zip drive
$400

the zeon processors are ballsy, and in pairs, work great with win2k. I'm very happy with the performance and stability.

For $1000 there won't be much difference in brand names; just check the specs carefully. The 3 year warranty is probably a good idea; in 3 years you can chuck it and get a new one because you won't be able to upgrade.

There should be some special Xmas day sales.

[size=6]Dude, your getting a Dell[/size=6]

dude, don't get a dell. get something with an AMD processor.You can get something with an AMD 2800+ for around $600 that will out perform most p4 processors

With the grand you have to spend. You can get a hell of a computer.

[url]http://www.cyberpowersystem.com[/url]

DON'T BUY AN HP!  Worst mistake I ever made, and most other HP owners will back me up on that.  They should have stuck to building printers.

Dell is very good, but the best out there is the Micron - damn nice puter.

Plus, since they are in ID, you won't have to pay sales tax :)

[size=5]Do not get a Dell you will be sorry!![/size=5] There was a thread a few days ago about the problems with Dell's customer service.

Dell has awesome customer service. I'm Dell certified though, so maybe i'm biased.

I have owned several Dell's and between my partner and I we have had several gateways.  Gateway sux, as for the Dell, I would buy again.  Only had one problem taken care of in one phone call.  And by the way, I am probably one of the only people ever to teach a class in a Gateway factory with a Dell laptop.  

Buy something locally or buy a Dell.

I went Gateway around 6 months ago.  400SP Plus laptop.  For around $800 I got a 15.5 inch screen, DVD/CDRW, 512 megs of ram, 2.3 ghz celeron processor, 30 gig hard drive, 2 usb 2.0 ports, multimedia card reader bay, 2 pcmcia ports.  I've been very happy with it... plus a free year of aol which is worth around $300.

I've got 2 Dells...If I had the time I would like to build my own (with my computer expert friends help) but I work 6 days a week and my wife and son always want the 7th day so my time is limited...No problems with either Dell so far and I'd buy another one tomorrow. I do have some issues with them sending customer service jobs to India but thats like saying I'm not going to buy anything made in China,good luck... Still for 1k you should be able to get a real decent machine

Anybody recognize the whitebox notebooks in the two links, Ibuypower and Cyberpower? Ibuypower's Battalion 101C series and Cyberpower's Xplorer M3 series are Asus M3000N whitebox notebooks that are house branded.

The ones I don't recognize off-hand are Ibuypower Battalion 101S and 101E series and Cyberpower's Xplorer X4 series. Anybody recognize these?

I use to work for Hewlett-Packard and now for NewCo. The last notebook HP used engineers to design ourselves was the omnibook 600 with the pop-out mouse. Afterwards, HP used marketeers who designed notebooks using the Chinese laundry list method from the OEM.

The older Omnibook 4000 and 5000 series were made by Twinhead. The newer Omnibook 900 and 4100 series were made by Compal, I believe. I use to try and sell these while working in the field. We had a terrible time of time due to the poor reputation of the 4000 and 5000 series bricks. HP and Compaq notebooks are manufactured by the same Tiwainese company even before the merger.

There are only a few true manufacturers of notebooks (they use in-house design teams with Intel's help on reference designs). Most notable are Twinhead, Asus, Compal, and FIC.

BTW, the backend model of the DELL that gets the PCs and servers into the warehouse is the same for HP/Compaq. It is just the frontend of sales that is different. Dell direct markets while HP/Compaq rely mostly on channel sales. The aftersales model is the same... overseas people who don't speak english well enough.

Another vote for AMD and Cyberpowersystems.
As for AMD inflating their names, they only inflate them to what GH an Intel would have to be to get the same performance. Although I think it is a little sleazy.

Thanks for all the info gents.  I had a Compaq laptop that burned up the mother board.  It's apparently an issue that Compaq is aware of.  As long as it is under warranty, thye will fix it.  BUt they burn out at about 16-18 months and thus ar no longer warrantied.  So Compaq says I can pay to have it repaired (starting at about $800 for a motherboard and CPU).  Not worth it since I paid 1200.00 for it to begin with.  It still hurts to hafta buy a new machine, but I can slave the old hard drive and get my data back.  

Just irritating that Compaq knows about the problems and won't issue a recall or offer to fix it unless it starts to break in the first year.

E-machine and religiously backup or mirror the harddrive.  I had a friend get one and it lasted just under 3 years.  Crapped out, took it in and got a brand new one about 4 times as powerful.

Local clone makers only if you are sure they will be around in a few years to fix things if they break.  I would suggest in any case religiously backing up or mirroring your essential data.

E-Machines = NEC/Packard Bell...

Good for plinking targets, not much else...

Ditto for HiPaq (HP) & Gateway... The only 'half-decent' (and barely) 'National Brand' is a Dell...

What do I reccommend?

Go to the largest of your local PC shops, and buy from them...

Be wary of anything with a warranty over 1 year: if it's got a long warranty chances are you'll need it (one shop in our area is famous for their 5yr warranty... BECAUSE IT'S THE ONLY THING KEEPING THEM IN BUSINESS)...

The advantages of a locally-built PC are many: local warranty service is available (as opposed to getting to know your FedEx guy on a 1st name basis (Dell), or taking it to CompUSA or RadioShack so they can FedEx it for you!!!), and prices are comparable, plus you can actually talk to the people who build/service what you're gonna buy... Also, local shops have a tendancy to use GOOD PARTS, rather than assemble your box from 2-year-old NOS (New Old Stock) parts, toss in the fastest CPU it can handle, and slap a 'bargain' price on it... These machines are generally ACTUALLY FIXABLE (a/o 100% integrated, if-it-breaks-you're-screwed), and are made from [b]standard parts, so anyone can fix them[/b], a/o the proprietary crap found in most major-brand machines...

Bare minimum for a 'good' PC is $700 monitor-sold-separately. $800-900 is much better... Anything less than that is a 'clearance special' (weather advertised as such or not), and you will be buying a fast CPU plugged into a box made from all the crap they couldn't sell LAST Christmas....

If you're monitor shopping, don't waste the bucks on a flat-panel UNLESS you need the space. There is NO VISIBLE DIFFERENCE apart from the footprint on your desk...

CPU wise, P4s are faster right now in absolute terms (i.e. 'Money is no object, build the fastest PC I can buy'), but the price difference means you'll probably be able to afford a faster system at any given price point if you go AMD. However, VIA and SIS make *TERRIBLE* chipsets, so if you go AMD make sure your motherboard has a nVidia (aka nForce2) chipset. If you go Intel, [b]INSIST[/b] on an Intel motherboard (865PERL) to match your Intel CPU... We're assuming here that my earlier advice has been taken and you're buying from a storefront shop...

Remember: CPU, Memory, Video Card is the 'trinity' of PC design. If you get a P4 3.4ghz with DDR-200 memory and 'Intel Extreme' or 'SiS' motherboard integrated video, you'll have a system that runs like it's a 1.4ghz (no joke).

Second, if you can't build it yourself, buy local. Clone builders are a dime-a-dozen, but they all build the same stuff... This leads to better boxes, and interchangable parts, the only thing you won't see (most of the time) is the annual Christmas-season 'Clear the Warehouse' special featuring a bargen price on the latest, greatest CPU (in a system composed of 'leftover' parts)...

Or you can check E-bay and get a new mobo for well under $300, pull the proc from your dead laptop, and install it yourself...

AMEN

I did. Never been happier with a computer! Cost $750.00 total with some of the best components.

Used for business and pleasure.

Replaced an HPiece of shit!

Ive ran HP computers there ok If you do a little work on them, I love my vaio Mine uses
a

P4 2.5 GHz Cpu
1 Gig of DDR ram plus another bank for a 512Meg of ram.
2 90 meg drives
GeForce4 MMX 440 tv/out
A cyber power battery backup unit.
Plus firewire IEEE ports For digital video editing.
pioneer DVD/cd rw+r burner. burns DVD's too.
running XPhome.

Check out this custom builder:
[url]http://www.wolfpcsystems.com/home.htm[/url]
I bought one from him off Ebay and have been very pleased,  service was impeccable,  worked in my budget and delivered a quality product for less than I could have bought the parts.

If you're not into building your own, I'd give Dell a look. I've known 10-12 people who have owned Dells and ALL are happy with their experiences with Dell.

I personally would stay away from HP/Compaq. They're OK, if you don't get a bad one, but if you do, you'll have a hell of a time with it. Gateways are supposed to be good, but their tech support seems to be 50/50. If you want to save money, Emachines might be worth a look, but ONLY if money is a concern.

I also agree that you can get it built locally, which has the advantage of local support if the thing breaks. I'll make a hell of a difference between having to send it back to the manufacturer.

I think I'm going to look into the local build first. Anyone think I could get one built around my old laptop harddrive(perhaps slaving it or the new harddrive to it)?  That way I've already got a operating system, maybe just upgrade it from XP home to XP Pro. Plus I would still have all my data.

E-Machines are junk.  You should be thinking in terms of ATX industry standard.  The only company that has stuck to these standards has been Gateway.  I've heard a lot of good things about Dell.  I bought a Gateway laptop 8 months ago and it has been rock solid.  Absolutely no problems.  I remember some smuk on this board who said I would be sorry with my Gateway decision.  Be carefull when buying locally.  There are a lot of Russian shops out there and they love to cut corners.