Suggestions On A New Desktop

[Tylerr]

For Christmas I plan on buying a new desktop. I've thought of building my own, but I don't really find it necessary for what I'll use my computer for. I'll mostly just be surfing the web, listening to music, maybe a little photo editing with Photoshop, and using Adobe Dreamweaver (Web Design). I may also play minecraft or another game like that, but I won't be playing Call of Duty or Battlefield so I have no need for a crazy graphics card or anything like that. I'd like at least 4GB of ram and around 500GB HDD.



I would like to get a tower for anywhere under $475 if I could. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


Here are some that I've been looking at:
http://www.staples.c..._source=message


http://www.newegg.co...N82E16883155197


Also I've been looking at monitors, I'd like to get one for under $150. Any suggestions?

 

[Jesusfrk611]

I personally don't like Dell products in general, so I would say do not get a Dell computer. But other than that I can't say because I don't really know what's out there in the prebuilt world that's any good anymore. I build all my desktops now. Just look around Newegg, find the specs you want for the price you want and read reviews on it. The one with the most bang for the buck with the best reviews is what you should probably get.

As for a monitor, same idea. Look on Newegg and read reviews. Right now there's plenty to choose from around that price range I'm sure.

 

[foothead]

My typical response is to avoid DELL like the plague, but wow, that first one really is a good deal (at least as far as prebuilts go.) You'll have to spend at least $100 more to get similar specs from any other brand,most of which aren't all that much better.

Never thought I'd say this before, but buy the DELL.

 

[Jesusfrk611]

If I bought prebuilts I'd spend that extra money to not buy the Dell... But that's just me. They generally use proprietary hardware which means if something goes out, it's time to pay Dell for some new hardware rather than just getting on Newegg and getting a replacement part. For what you would pay Dell for that part you might as well replace the whole computer. I hate that all prebuilts have Chinese junk power supplies as well.

 

[foothead]

I have a few Dells lying around. The parts aren't all that proprietary, it's just the motherboards. Dell uses typically intel-branded, BTX/mBTX motherboards. These really are not too hard to acquire if they break, but that's almost besides the point here. The OP is buying a prebuilt, which strongly implies that s/he lacks the knowledge to build a computer, which typically is far less than that required to troubleshoot hardware problems. If this computer breaks, it's either going to warranty service or a computer store, which will probably buy the OEM board no matter what to avoid software/compatibility issues.