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I'm going to buy my husband a pc for his bday next week and I am having a tough time deciding what kind to buy. For those that use a pc what model do you use, and what spec's should i look for. I currently use a mac so i'm not too pc savvy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
If possible find a local computer store that you can trust and have them build a computer that will do what you want. Find somone who asks you what you will be doing with it and explains what you need and why you need it, not somebody that points to the computer section of Walmart or Heaven forbid you call on the phone because they advertised a low end system (the old bait and switch) Every time you UPGRADE the call center makes more money. You are probably not talking to a system builder employee especially with Dell. My nephew worked for a call center selling Dell so I learned a few things. If you are dead set on buying a national brand Dell has been one of the better systems but that may change now that they are closing their North Carolina plant and probably moving production overseas, only time will tell. Don't plan on getting good support from any of the national brands unless you have a lot of patience or speak Indian. Plus if the system is out of warranty just have a local tech fix it or plan on buying a new system. I just had a Dell 3 Gig system given to me because the guy called Dell when his hard drive went out. They told him it wasn't worth fixing and sold him a new $1600 system. I would have fixed his for $200.
Just so you know, I used to build & repair computers for a living until E-machine and low end Dell (which you amost never buy except at Walmart) made them a throw away item. Now I use my 5 computers to make signs and shirts and sublimation. It's more fun anyways!
i use a dual core dell 3000ghz processor 2 gb ram i think more ram works better with photoshop cs4 had it for 2 years no probs i dont think a cheap lap top is good for software speeds
Im using a hand me down Toshiba from like the late 90s since my hp **** on me. Im a designer and run all the newest programs, it works for me if i could afford something nicer I don't know if i would make the switch, it work s fine for me, i would much rather spend the extra cash on some product. I know Gateways and dells last I also have a dinosaur gateway i still use. dont buy hp mine died a couple months ago and hp didn't do crap. I use mac at work and am up in the air over the two. Mac looks good in pictures and stuff and setting on your desk haha. Mines not that aesthetic especially with the big honking wireless card sticking out the side.
My opinion Gateway or Dell. More ram helps, you dont want those stupid messages poping up in photoshop. Oh and an extra hardrive.
build him a custom pc for his needs. You can get the pc parts at newegg.com. Or if you live by a Micro Center go there and they help you choose the parts to build the pc. They also have good prices too.
What is he going to use the computer for...browsing...light graphics... video editing or 3d rendering etc?
Does he want a desktop or a laptop?
How much do you want to spend?
thanks for all your input. He is into music production, and many of the programs require alot of ram and take up a large of amount of space on the HD. I was interested in you opinions because in the t-shirt biz many ppl use graphic editing software which is similar in size/and ram needs as audio production software. I had a dell and hated and its actually dying as we speak takes over 5min's to boot up. Every since I made the switch to a mac I've been in heaven but I know that alot of ppl can do similar things on pc's so i was wondering what ppl used.
When I buy rather than build I have bought Dell for the simple reason I worked at a company that leased hundreds of Dells per year and we rarely had problems with them. The Dells I've personally owned have been trouble free.
I have had to stay on the cutting edge of PCs since the original IBM DOS machines came out. In my other industry, computer controlled integration/automation, we have to use the latest cutting edge, all too often bleeding edge equipment. We need number crunching power and graphics power in that industry. In the last 7 years three brands have stood out for us in the areas of reliability and power for the price; Dell, HP and Gateway. All three brands have been very good for us. Yes here and there you get a lemon, but our experience was that those brands have less lemons than the others we tried out.
I am about to buy a new computer for my self. I will be using it for graphics design primarily. It would also be a great computer for music production and recording. I know because I also do that for a hobby. I run Reason 4, Tracktion 3 & Pro Tools. I will be running two 22 inch monitors on it, this would be great for music production to.
I am going to buy an HP Pavilion Elite e9280t series. I am going to install 24GB of RAM to start, and a second 7200 RPM hard drive for use as a scratch drive.
Probably any dual or quad core with a good large hard drive and at least 3-4 gigs of ram. For music production he needs a much better full duplex sound card and probably a break out box for mic/ midi etc input output, your local guitar center can help you with that.
A specific graphics card is always a bonus and there are several different price points for selection.
Nobody quite sold the replacement pc I actually wanted, so I just took a couple of hours and built my own. It's far easier than most people think. As Maplins were having a sale, I even built a second tower for back up, which is now stowed away in the loft, for some rainy day in the future.
for those that use a pc, what kind do you use 
