Lets say you're put in a situation where you have to buy a PC. You can install any OS you want on it but it must be a PC and it must be in the sub-$600 range. What kind do you buy?
<strong>Lets say you're put in a situation where you have to buy a PC. You can install any OS you want on it but it must be a PC and it must be in the sub-$600 range. What kind do you buy?</strong><hr></blockquote>
As much as I hate saying this, I would buy a Dull (Dell).
It's difficult to beat their prices, even if you build it yourself, and their support is supposed to be excellent compared to other PC manufacturers.
If you decide to go that route. check out www. gotapex.com.
the pc would be for me and it would be used for audio recording...a PC with the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 in a PCI slot will save me a fortune over any PCI mac at any price.
My heart and soul are with the macintosh but I mean if I have a job to get done and the PC and the Mac do it equally as well and the PC can do it cheaper I'm forced to go to pc
Yep, get a Dell if you need a sub-$600 computer. Assuming you don't need a monitor, you can configure one of their 2350 series comps with 1.8 GHz, 256 ram, 30 GB HD, DVD and CD-RW, Integrated graphics/audio, 1 year warranty for $598 before taxes.
Edit: Ah, heh just saw your recent post. If you want a specific audio card, then just build the comp yourself assuming you know how to do it... you should still easily get under $600 w/out monitor.
Edit: Ah, heh just saw your recent post. If you want a specific audio card, then just build the comp yourself assuming you know how to do it... you should still easily get under $600 w/out monitor.
Using a specific sound card is not reason enough to build an entire PC.
It's much easier to install it in a slot of a PC that's already built.
Pippin, there are a myriad of problems that you can run into building a PC by yourself, if you don't know what you're doing. I've seen certain graphics boards that don't play nice with certain motherboards, or certain brands of memory that don't work well with some motherboards, but work fine with others. And then there's always the driver conflicts.
If you do have problems, it's easier dealing with one company instead of a different company for each part. Not to mention, they always try to lay the blame on someone else's hardware being in conflict with theirs.
Just some other things to kep in mind.
If you have to use a PC, make it as easy on yourself as possible.
Yeah, I didn't think that suggestion through... probably the better idea is to get the Dell (or some other pre-configured PC) and buy the sound card separately and pop it in.
I'm probably going to pick up an Alienware box in a few months. They come with a year of free onsite maintenance. While I could put together my own machine, it comes down to this...
1) I just want to take it out of the box and have it work..
2) I don't want to have to spend time troubleshooting the mixmash of components I bought to figure out why something isn't working.
If the Alienware box doesn't work, they'll come make it work. And after paying mac prices for years, the Alienware boxes still seem cheap!
Remember, if you buy a sub-$600 Dell you're going to get components that are cheap. If you buy the parts yourself you can get the best parts.
I just recently bought a top of the line ASUS motherboard with onboard firewire, USB 2, 8x AGP, PC2700 DDR RAM and an Athlon XP 2Ghz. Than I cheaped out and bought a Radeon 9000 for 89 bucks. I used my old CD ROM, super old floppy and 3 year old harddrive. Installed Win2k and everything runs great.
I have a seperate warranty on each component which I guess would be annoying if anything did fail but again, I'd know what was wrong if something did happen.
Alienware is definitely a good system maker, but they're definitely on the expensive side, since they make gaming rigs that are optimized, tweaked and fully tested. I think you even get a performance evaluation binder with what they did and how your system scored on graphics/system benchmarks. You definitely get what you pay for with Alienware, but I'm almost sure they sell no computer under $600.
Someone mentioned board and card compatibility problems as a reason to get a prebuilt PC instead of building your own, but that doesn't wash: Dell and whoever else use the same boards that you can buy yourself, especially at the low end, so compatibility is still an issue. At least with the custom-built PCs you have a shot at figuring out what will work with what before you spend a dime, instead of buying whatever Dell decides to put in the case and finding out after the fact.
The bottom line is that you want a dirt cheap machine to do pro work, which they're not designed for, and unless you get lucky it's not going to be easy. I doubt that anyone has tested the boards in a sub-$600 PC for compatibility with an audio card. If you are antsy about assembling your own machine, it shouldn't be too hard to look up someone who builds white box PCs nearby, and ask them to do it. There are ample resources on the 'net for discovering which parts would work best for your needs, as well.
Does it make sense to buy product that is over-priced and underperforming? Why reward ineptitude? How does that encourage improvement in the brand. Apple does what is does because it knows that a small group (the current group) of users would buy a rebranded vic-20 if Steve put it in pretty plastic and said it was better. Or, maybe not so much? 2 years ago we could have counted on flamage (even deserved flamage) but as these responses indicate, even the fiercest devotees are waning in their resolve.
Comments
I found the lowest prices for each part at this site:
<a href="http://www.pricewatch.com"; target="_blank">http://www.pricewatch.com</a>;
But thats just me, and I knew what I was doing.
Would this PC be for you or someone else?
<strong>Lets say you're put in a situation where you have to buy a PC. You can install any OS you want on it but it must be a PC and it must be in the sub-$600 range. What kind do you buy?</strong><hr></blockquote>
As much as I hate saying this, I would buy a Dull (Dell).
It's difficult to beat their prices, even if you build it yourself, and their support is supposed to be excellent compared to other PC manufacturers.
If you decide to go that route. check out www. gotapex.com.
They post deals daily for Dell.
My heart and soul are with the macintosh but I mean if I have a job to get done and the PC and the Mac do it equally as well and the PC can do it cheaper I'm forced to go to pc
<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
So one for build it and 2 for Dell?
Edit: Ah, heh just saw your recent post. If you want a specific audio card, then just build the comp yourself assuming you know how to do it... you should still easily get under $600 w/out monitor.
[ 12-16-2002: Message edited by: MCQ ]</p>
<strong>
Edit: Ah, heh just saw your recent post. If you want a specific audio card, then just build the comp yourself assuming you know how to do it... you should still easily get under $600 w/out monitor.
[ 12-16-2002: Message edited by: MCQ ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Using a specific sound card is not reason enough to build an entire PC.
It's much easier to install it in a slot of a PC that's already built.
Pippin, there are a myriad of problems that you can run into building a PC by yourself, if you don't know what you're doing. I've seen certain graphics boards that don't play nice with certain motherboards, or certain brands of memory that don't work well with some motherboards, but work fine with others. And then there's always the driver conflicts.
If you do have problems, it's easier dealing with one company instead of a different company for each part. Not to mention, they always try to lay the blame on someone else's hardware being in conflict with theirs.
Just some other things to kep in mind.
If you have to use a PC, make it as easy on yourself as possible.
1) I just want to take it out of the box and have it work..
2) I don't want to have to spend time troubleshooting the mixmash of components I bought to figure out why something isn't working.
If the Alienware box doesn't work, they'll come make it work. And after paying mac prices for years, the Alienware boxes still seem cheap!
Apple computers still looks best though.
I just recently bought a top of the line ASUS motherboard with onboard firewire, USB 2, 8x AGP, PC2700 DDR RAM and an Athlon XP 2Ghz. Than I cheaped out and bought a Radeon 9000 for 89 bucks. I used my old CD ROM, super old floppy and 3 year old harddrive. Installed Win2k and everything runs great.
I have a seperate warranty on each component which I guess would be annoying if anything did fail but again, I'd know what was wrong if something did happen.
So far, drivers have never been an issue for me.
<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />
They're on the more expensive side, but damn do they build good machines. Top quality components and a great warranty.
Besides, Michael Dell is a tool. Do you really want to support that guy?
The bottom line is that you want a dirt cheap machine to do pro work, which they're not designed for, and unless you get lucky it's not going to be easy. I doubt that anyone has tested the boards in a sub-$600 PC for compatibility with an audio card. If you are antsy about assembling your own machine, it shouldn't be too hard to look up someone who builds white box PCs nearby, and ask them to do it. There are ample resources on the 'net for discovering which parts would work best for your needs, as well.
Good luck.
[ 12-16-2002: Message edited by: Amorph ]</p>
<strong>Funny, isn't it, how many "Mac" users recommend Dell? Hahaha...</strong><hr></blockquote>
What's so funny about that? The original poster wanted cheap; Dell sells cheap. It's called trying to be helpful, and answering the question.
Notice the numerous other posts which say something to the effect of you get what you pay for.
Seriously, though, someones asks for PC buying recommendations. What do you expect--flames about how PCs suck and to buy a Mac?
That'd be as helpful as incessantly whining about the Mac price/performance ratio.
What I'm lookin at right now is to get:
Athlon XP 2600+ 333FSB
100 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB
512 MB PC3200 DDR RAM
nForce 2 MCP-T mobo (this is the hard choice...which mobo to get?)
52x24x52x Lite On CDRW
16x DVDROM
Sky Hawk black all aluminum case w/Q window & red light
Plus or minus a few things Im looking at around 900 for that system.