How to buy a new pc the right way!

[windude99]

1. Know that no one brand is perfect. (all brands have bad product lines of computers)

2. Know what you are going to be using the new pc for. You don't need a top of the line Core i7 to browse the internet and edit word documents.

3. Choose whether you need a laptop/netbook or a desktop. Laptops are needed when you don't want to take up a lot of space or need a mobile pc.

4. Choose a pc with good reviews.
Bad: 1-3 stars
Good: 4-5 stars

5. Find your pc at the store. I made the mistake of buying a laptop online without ever using it. Worst pc buying mistake (nearly) that you can make.

6. See if you can find a review of the pc you want to buy from Cnet, PCWorld, or PCMAG.

7. Choose a PC that is quiet. You don't want your new pc to be waking you up during the night because it is so loud!

8. Does the PC that you want to buy have a good feel? For example, on a laptop, if you push down on the keyboard some, does it flex a lot? A little bit of flex is ok, but a lot of flex can be a sign that the manufacturer was cutting some serious corners when making your pc. On a desktop, if you push on the case, does it flex or make any creaking sounds. That is an indicator that the manufacturer cheaped out on the case of your pc which isn't a good thing.

9. Does the PC come with a monitor (desktops only)? This is important to some, not to others. My desktop didn't come with a monitor, but that didn't stop me from buying it. Sometimes, you can get a good desktop with a good monitor for a good price.

10. Based on everything above, are you satisfied with using that new PC for a long time. You don't want to be stuck with a pc that you don't like.

11. Enjoy it!

 

[bobkn]

Better yet, don't buy a (desktop) PC.

Assemble one yourself. That's one way to be sure that you get only industry standard components. The only tool required is a medium Philps screwdriver. Some paper towels for cleaning up any stray thermal paste may be handy. A grounding strap may be a worthwhile safety item, although few people use them.

You'll probably have to spend more money than for a comparable appliance PC, but it's more than a purchase - it's a hobby, and (for some) an indoor sport. It's not very good exercise, but you may work up a sweat wrestling around a 20kg PC.

 

[windude99]

Better yet, don't buy a (desktop) PC.

Assemble one yourself. That's one way to be sure that you get only industry standard components. The only tool required is a medium Philps screwdriver. Some paper towels for cleaning up any stray thermal paste may be handy. A grounding strap may be a worthwhile safety item, although few people use them.

You'll probably have to spend more money than for a comparable appliance PC, but it's more than a purchase - it's a hobby, and (for some) an indoor sport. It's not very good exercise, but you may work up a sweat wrestling around a 20kg PC.

Yea, I know. This was supposed to be a tutorial, but it got removed from that section. It was intended for the people that don't build their own systems or who don't know what to look for in a new pc.

 

[M1GU31]

Better yet, don't buy a (desktop) PC.

Assemble one yourself. That's one way to be sure that you get only industry standard components. The only tool required is a medium Philps screwdriver. Some paper towels for cleaning up any stray thermal paste may be handy. A grounding strap may be a worthwhile safety item, although few people use them.

You'll probably have to spend more money than for a comparable appliance PC, but it's more than a purchase - it's a hobby, and (for some) an indoor sport. It's not very good exercise, but you may work up a sweat wrestling around a 20kg PC.

Agree with this post

 

[DeaconFrost]

Not to sound like I'm being rude, but I can take some guesses as to why it was pulled from the tutorial section....aside from the fact the topic is covered very often.

1. Agree somewhat, but there are plenty of brands to avoid completely.
2. True
3. True
4. Reviews are biased (usually) and there's no guarantee they will use a star rating. You don't need reviews, especially on towers, if you understand what you are getting for your money....and understand what components you are choosing.
5. Plenty of people buy PCs online. Again....know what you are getting for your money. Not every has brick and mortar stores near them that sell the trustworthy brands.
6. Those sites haven't been relevant in a decade.
7. Sound isn't important to everyone. Unless you are a kid, the computer probably won't be in the same room as where you sleep. Many people don't let them run overnight, either. None of mine do, except my server.
8. Again, that's why you stick with trustworthy brands. Know what you are buying.
9. True, but that's always made very clear...monitor or no monitor.
10. Sometimes. However, I know many people who bought an off-the-shelf computer, were unhappy with it, and took that opportunity to use some of those parts to finally learn to build their own. Building a computer is actually quite simple, especially if you have a friend who can oversee...which most people do. My wife, before switching to laptops, built 5 towers for herself. The first, I walked her through every step. By the 5th, she was creating her own parts lists and doing the assembly 100% herself.

 

[windude99]

Not to sound like I'm being rude, but I can take some guesses as to why it was pulled from the tutorial section....aside from the fact the topic is covered very often.

1. Agree somewhat, but there are plenty of brands to avoid completely.
2. True
3. True
4. Reviews are biased (usually) and there's no guarantee they will use a star rating. You don't need reviews, especially on towers, if you understand what you are getting for your money....and understand what components you are choosing.
5. Plenty of people buy PCs online. Again....know what you are getting for your money. Not every has brick and mortar stores near them that sell the trustworthy brands.
6. Those sites haven't been relevant in a decade.
7. Sound isn't important to everyone. Unless you are a kid, the computer probably won't be in the same room as where you sleep. Many people don't let them run overnight, either. None of mine do, except my server.
8. Again, that's why you stick with trustworthy brands. Know what you are buying.
9. True, but that's always made very clear...monitor or no monitor.
10. Sometimes. However, I know many people who bought an off-the-shelf computer, were unhappy with it, and took that opportunity to use some of those parts to finally learn to build their own. Building a computer is actually quite simple, especially if you have a friend who can oversee...which most people do. My wife, before switching to laptops, built 5 towers for herself. The first, I walked her through every step. By the 5th, she was creating her own parts lists and doing the assembly 100% herself.

Ha! I agree with number 6. They are the ones that try to review an off the shelf computer when they custom build their own. I kind of wish I cutom built my pc now, because HP has made my experience upgrading my pc difficult and my pc doesn't like ssd's at all. My pc comes on overnight to run backups, do a mse scan, defrag, and sometimes, an automatic disk cleanup. My pc does all of that during the night, then goes back to sleep. I wake it in the morining with all of my stuff completed. I like that feeling. I am probably going to delete this thread (if I can) because it isn't as good as I would've hoped. I could've done better, but this was my first tutorial, so I didn't really know.

 

[Music Guy123]

The above is true, buying online is not always a bad idea though. My friend got a second hand laptop from Norway! It was perfect for him, brilliant price for virtually top of the range stuff, the keyboard did cause a couple of issues though! I am in the UK so don't know what it is like in the U.S. or similar. In the UK, don't buy a ready built pc from the main high street shops, they really do rip you off! I would recommend either building it (as I am about to hopefully do) or if you don't want to do that, buy one online that you can customise, you can get fully customisable laptops as well. I know a couple of brilliant places to buy online if you are in the UK, I won't post them here but PM me if you want help. If you are stuck for parts, go onto a forum, either here I guess or some of the websites selling the PCs sometimes have their own forums. Most of all though, look at reviews, they tell you a lot about a company and the standard of the PCs they sell. Basically to sum what I am saying up, if you are in the UK, don't buy a desktop or laptop from PC world, Currys, Dixons or equivalent, they generally rip you off. I saw one Acer laptop with a 520m gpu claiming it had top of the range graphics...debatable!

 

[DeaconFrost]

I kind of wish I cutom built my pc now, because HP has made my experience upgrading my pc difficult and my pc doesn't like ssd's at all.

HPs are good for what they were intended to do...and nothing more. HP isn't doing anything to block SSDs from your system. Any issues you have are probably related to BIOS settings or lack thereof. The cases are usually non-standard, so with a new case, motherboard, and PSU, you could build yourself a new computer out of those parts.

 

[windude99]

I kind of wish I cutom built my pc now, because HP has made my experience upgrading my pc difficult and my pc doesn't like ssd's at all.

HPs are good for what they were intended to do...and nothing more. HP isn't doing anything to block SSDs from your system. Any issues you have are probably related to BIOS settings or lack thereof. The cases are usually non-standard, so with a new case, motherboard, and PSU, you could build yourself a new computer out of those parts.

I already upgraded it with a 380watt Seasonic psu from the 250watt bestec. I added a second hard drive. I also added the Sapphire Radeon HD5670 512mb which does all I need it to do. I am disappointed because my 2 year old Acer laptop works fine with the Crucial M4, but my HP that I cought last year didn't work with the ssd. I could install Windows and everything on the ssd, but then it would have these lockups at shutdown, and weird issues sometimes at boot up. I dodn't have any of these issues when I had Windows on the hard drive.

 

[Tank997]

Better yet, don't buy a (desktop) PC.

Assemble one yourself. That's one way to be sure that you get only industry standard components. The only tool required is a medium Philps screwdriver. Some paper towels for cleaning up any stray thermal paste may be handy. A grounding strap may be a worthwhile safety item, although few people use them.

You'll probably have to spend more money than for a comparable appliance PC, but it's more than a purchase - it's a hobby, and (for some) an indoor sport. It's not very good exercise, but you may work up a sweat wrestling around a 20kg PC.

a lot of people cant do this. I always get pissed when i hear really experienced PC users say to novice PC users (usually in an elitist tone) to "just build one yourself". There is A LOT of knowledge that goes into buying individual components and assembling them to form a perfectly working PC. Most likely you will need a lot of troubleshooting knowledge also. Most regular people just dont have the know-how.

 

[Music Guy123]

a lot of people cant do this. I always get pissed when i hear really experienced PC users say to novice PC users (usually in an elitist tone) to "just build one yourself". There is A LOT of knowledge that goes into buying individual components and assembling them to form a perfectly working PC. Most likely you will need a lot of troubleshooting knowledge also. Most regular people just dont have the know-how.

This is what forums are for

 

[pparks1]

7. Choose a PC that is quiet. You don't want your new pc to be waking you up during the night because it is so loud!

I do find quiet computers to be extremely important to me. While this might not be important to everybody, it's certainly an important consideration. Years ago, I built computers with cheap cases, crappy power supplies, etc. They were always loud. Now, that I can spend more money on quality components, it's very doable to get a high performance PC with little noise.


In response to some other posts, I don't think building a computer is necessarily the right choice for everybody. A hardcore enthusiast, sure. But lots of people just want to get something, have it running and not worry about drives, installing software, etc. I don't think there is anything wrong with this approach...even if it's not "always" how I do things. Yes, I have purchased assembled computers as well as built computers. I've built more than I have purchased over the years, but I've done both and don't necessarily regret either method.

 

[Tekno Venus]

All this talk about building your own PC is great except when you have a laptop (like me! ). Then you really can't build one yourself unless you are very skilled.The only things you can really do are RAM and HDD upgrades. The rest is possible but much harder than on a desktop.

I want to add an SSD to my laptop but I can't really afford it and Dell have decided for me to upgrade my HDD I have to almost completely disassemble the whole thing!! See this:


For a laptop it is best to buy an off the shelf brand. The site I use to get laptop reviews is Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News - Notebookcheck.net as they seem unbiased and have lots of detailed info.

 

[Music Guy123]

I am sorry old fellow, I couldn't disagree more with regards to buying a laptop of a shelf! I would always get a custom one from now on! I know a good company that does them at a brilliant price, I think they cover Europe for postage wise. So aren't any use in the USA.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Well Like Tank posted earlier it is easy for someone Like us Experienced users by the way 20+ years for me on pc knowledge started in Highschool on a friends Mac

Then buying my first packard Bell in 94 /16mb ram 133mhz cpu cd/rom and a 33.6 modem i was flying back then

Anyway My point is I understand it is frustrating for someone who has an idea of how this stuff works to relate do it yourself to someone that is asking for help

Honestly the best way to get Computer know how is to do Hands on old Pc's in the Garbage anything that you can get your hands on to provide you with a TEST DUMMIE if you will

Im sure most people who have bought computers over the years have a few sitting around collecting dust that is when the Oppertunity to figure out how this stuff work arises

But it is always up to the person some people are just plain lazy and rather pay for someone to fix there problems insted of tackling them

As long people don't want to be bothered on building or for that matter on proper how to use it you will always have a need for Computer techs etc

Let's face it people that like to do there own projects are RARE breeds these days it's all about the easy lazy way for most people

sad thing is more Headaches come from taking the easy way instead of the road intended

 

[seavixen32]

It's all very subjective of course, and not everyone wants the bother of building their own computer.

As one who just wants to buy a computer and use it right away, I use my local computer store. Why, you might ask?

Well, their after-sales service is second to none, as is their no-quibble exchange or refund if you're not satisfied.

If I buy an iMac from Apple, I get a year's warranty and charged the earth if I want a longer one. If I buy an iMac from my local store I get a free three-year guarantee and a price match with competitors.

Same with a Dell or HP, a year's warranty from the manufacturer, two years from my local store.

It's a no-brainer for me.

 

[Tekno Venus]

I am sorry old fellow, I couldn't disagree more with regards to buying a laptop of a shelf! I would always get a custom one from now on! I know a good company that does them at a brilliant price, I think they cover Europe for postage wise. So aren't any use in the USA.

That's a good point. I didn't think about those sorts of companies when I posted. I was thinking more about assembling them from scratch. Companies like Cyberpower and pc specialist are a good call but were too expensive for me