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Recommendations for a new computer

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Thanks, all, for the information, definitely gives me more to think about, and I am still on the fence as to build or buy but will have to take a look at $$$ for both options.

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Thanks, all, for the information, definitely gives me more to think about, and I am still on the fence as to build or buy but will have to take a look at $$$ for both options.

Don't just look at dollars, look at what you are getting for the dollar.  What I mean there is you might not save money but you are going to get better component and maybe faster components if you build it versus buying.  While you might stick with say 16 gigs of RAM, the ram you build with will likely be faster RAM, the same goes for hard drives and the likes.

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Don't just look at dollars, look at what you are getting for the dollar.  What I mean there is you might not save money but you are going to get better component and maybe faster components if you build it versus buying.  While you might stick with say 16 gigs of RAM, the ram you build with will likely be faster RAM, the same goes for hard drives and the likes.

Thanks Howard, I will be looking at what I get for the $$$, and I definitely want something that lasts.

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+1 for CyberPowerPC. Last year I priced out the parts for a gaming desktop from the usual suspects such as NewEgg. I found the CyberPowerPC site running a sale. I selected a low end and changed out all the parts to name brand for what I was going to build from Newegg. I got a better PC from Cyber already assembled and cheaper.

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+1 for CyberPowerPC. Last year I priced out the parts for a gaming desktop from the usual suspects such as NewEgg. I found the CyberPowerPC site running a sale. I selected a low end and changed out all the parts to name brand for what I was going to build from Newegg. I got a better PC from Cyber already assembled and cheaper.

Thanks SW9, I will take a look.

 

Anyone else have any experience with CyberPowerPC?

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Add an external monitor if you don't want to use a 15" Laptop screen and you're good to go:

 

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/lenovo-y50-laptop?ref=deal_newsletter#lenovo-y50-59421858

 

 

Alternately - a little bit smaller, a little bit lower on the specs.

 

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/lenovo-y40-laptop?ref=deal_newsletter#lenovo-y40-80-80fa001cus

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Add an external monitor if you don't want to use a 15" Laptop screen and you're good to go:

 

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/lenovo-y50-laptop?ref=deal_newsletter#lenovo-y50-59421858

 

 

Alternately - a little bit smaller, a little bit lower on the specs.

 

http://www.dealzon.com/deals/lenovo-y40-laptop?ref=deal_newsletter#lenovo-y40-80-80fa001cus

Thanks Krdshrk, I will take a look at these as well.

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That's not the case anymore - at least, not with Dell or HP's I've used in the past 4 years.  Especially on the Business PC line, not as sure about the consumer lines.

And how.

I've transplanted drives from dc7800 series machines into 8200 elite boxes and within minutes it's recognized any differential hardware and downloaded/installed the needed drivers. it's a beautiful thing.

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And how.

I've transplanted drives from dc7800 series machines into 8200 elite boxes and within minutes it's recognized any differential hardware and downloaded/installed the needed drivers. it's a beautiful thing.

 

Cheaper and worse quality parts, especially PSUs. Limited expansion ports, many OEMs have 1 or two PCIE and maybe 1 PCI, often they don't have any PCIEx16. Often worse driver support, particularly for on-mobo devices. For high end computers the cases often lack appropriate cooling. 

 

If you are planning on using the computer for any length of time I would also recommend not using the drivers that Windows downloads automatically. They are often generic drivers for that type of device and will not always support all features of the device. They can also cause stability problems with certain devices. If an OEM machine download drivers from the OEM's site, if retail product go to the manufacturer's site for drivers. 

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Cheaper and worse quality parts, especially PSUs. Limited expansion ports, many OEMs have 1 or two PCIE and maybe 1 PCI, often they don't have any PCIEx16. Often worse driver support, particularly for on-mobo devices. For high end computers the cases often lack appropriate cooling. 

 

If you are planning on using the computer for any length of time I would also recommend not using the drivers that Windows downloads automatically. They are often generic drivers for that type of device and will not always support all features of the device. They can also cause stability problems with certain devices. If an OEM machine download drivers from the OEM's site, if retail product go to the manufacturer's site for drivers. 

As of how recent?  I haven't seen that at all with the Dell PCs we get for our clients.

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and you thought building an AR15 was confusing...

 

I'll stick with my flip phone and IMAC running snow leopard

Building my AR was a walk in the park compared to this.  And I am definitely not shy of technology, hell I teach a senior level programming course at a local university!

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Building my AR was a walk in the park compared to this. And I am definitely not shy of technology, hell I teach a senior level programming course at a local university!

There is a learning curve, but on the hardware side your simply plugging things into the mother board. Being that I have done both, building an AR is actually more difficult.

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Krdshrk, that was my experience with them up until ~6 months ago. I don't deal with end users anymore though.

 

 

 

 

Building my AR was a walk in the park compared to this.  And I am definitely not shy of technology, hell I teach a senior level programming course at a local university!

 

As far as building the machine, it's actually pretty easy. Once you select your parts assembly is essentially big expensive and somewhat fragile legos. All the various parts will only fit in the slot they're supposed to go in and if you have to use more than a little bit of force you're doing it wrong. How to properly apply thermal paste is almost as bad as debating religion so I won't go there, same for OSes. After that just install your OS, drivers, and software that you need. I built my current desktop in about 45 minutes, cable management could use some touchup but I don't see it anyway and temps are fine. 

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you can use a site like pcpartpicker.com. i built a higher end video editing box that has made me very very happy with video editing. After years of under-powered laptops, i over built and don't regret the extra expense at all, the machine doesn't even sweat when I render an hour of old 8mm transfers.

 

here is my build from last fall. it took me about 90 minute to build the box and another 30 minutes to load the OS and it worked the first time. back in the day when I was going to computer shows and building systems from scratch, they never went this well. I would guess this is easier than an AR-15 build (which is on my to do list, but I have been putting my $ in classic wood for the past couple of years.)

 

If you are editing video, the SSD is a must, even if you buy the smaller one as a cache drive. it will speed video editing unbelievably.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/ReadDude/saved/#view=yVqNnQ

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