Your mission: Find me the best cheap computer, please

[woofay11]

Hey everyone, first off thanks for taking the time to read this post. As the title says, im looking for a computer. Here is a little background on my situation: skip to the next paragraph if you dont want to read this. im a college student/ small time gamer, and about to leave for my first year in college. I just heard the news from folks back home that my comp crashed, and i know its the motherboard. We are just going to get a new one because this one has been giving us problems since day one. This will be for my mom, and she is only going to use it to check email and read internet stuff.

So here is what im looking for, the best build quality and performance for $500 or less. I can't settle for getting an absolutely crappy $200 comp even though that would work in this situation. Something with good, solid, and current techlnology that will last a while is ideal. I would like a large 200gig HD, 1gig memory, and a nice DVD burner too. I wont be needing a monitor,mouse or keyboard. Do i need dual core or 64-bit, that, along with the rest is entirely up to you. So all you in the know, please asist me and find me the mighty little computer that could

thanks, Peter

 

[^Mike^]

i got a great computer (in my signature) for 360 bucks including tax came with a LCD monitor too!! some people think as acer as an off brand but it's not it's a computer company starting out, they are selling computers very cheap I love how good they are and they don't have those stupid "if you remove this your warrenty will be terminated" on the case. I got this computer in a local Circuit City ad for back to school stuff thats why it was so cheap.

My advice is to pay close attention to your local ads for Best Buy, Circuit City, and other vendors (if you have those stores). Also look for ads that say pay an extra 50 bucks and upgrade your such and such.
bottom line - look for local ads

 

[karling07]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16883102664

50$ over but nice PC, not 200GB hd, 160GB

Honestly though you could customize your own PC for even less money and better parts (Like SATA II and better GFX, etc)

If you're interested in building your own PC, post back and I'm sure you can get plenty of help from everyone here

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Here you go. It's the best I can see that balances performance and the money you're willing to shell out:

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/entdt_e310?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

 

[PerfectSK]

I really think DackOfDoom's link was great. It's worth it I think, but here's another.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...t&productCategoryId=cat01172&id=1149040473935

Emachines may be cheap, but they're good computers. (BTW, Gateway bought Emachines so thats why the Emachines and Gateway comps looks familiar.) For basic tasks like web surfing and stuff, you could get an even cheaper pc, but this will last you for a while and then some. It even has an open pci express slot in case you want to upgrade your graphics down the road. Hope I helped, g'luck.

 

[woofay11]

hey everyone, thanks for your suggestions. I'm going to look at them right now. I wish i had the knowlege and time to customize one myself, but i just dont have the power captain, i dont have the power.

 

[woofay11]

so now that i've gotten some feedback, once again i will leave it up to you, the community. It's between PerfectSK's Emachines in the red corner, and DackOfDoom's awesome machine thingy in the blue. I suppose what it really comes down to is quality, what one would you buy? i am still accepting other competitiors if you would like to test your fighter against theese mighty machines. ok well ill check back in the morning to see who won. peace

edit: oh btw the reason im ruling out the dell is that i dont have time to deal with all the bloatware as i wont be home to greet this new mechanical baby.

Peter

 

[Jamxx]

I'm going to have to say PerfectSK's is the better option. That other one does have some "random reboot" issues and the eMachine's specifications are slightly better than the ABS's. And, it is from BestBuy, which means you have the potential to just go and pick it up (assuming you are willing to pay tax on it instead of shipping).

 

[woofay11]

anyone else want to leave some feedback? i'm on the brink of ordering this emachine, just want some more confirmation. thanks

 

[woofay11]

ok so i read some reviews from zdnet or something and they say that that the emachine PerfectSK recomended was outperformed by this backtoschool computer,back to school 2006 . I'm so confused, i dont know which way is up or down, is this company actually good? thay do offer a 3 year warranty standard and it semms like a nice computer.THey are also customizable, so if this is a good company, what is the best config for the price. Damn they always get me with the little extras, i already got a yellow case with a green light it int for only 10 bucks more or something. Also i could really use some more computers to compare and contrast, so comon people show me waht you've got!