everyone come in and help me pls

[Daneth1000]

witch is the most popular brand oof computer?? dell/alienware/gateway/compaq.. so on etc links or pls tell me

[Panama Red]

What kind of help do you need? Most popular isn't necessarily the best. Of the one's you've listed Dell has the best reputation and probably sells the most. Parts are often proprietary and non-upgradeable though. Alienware are overpriced and gaudy (imo) and designed to capture the gamers that can't/won't build their own.

[blue60007]

Well around here most people build their own... Generally I find with off the shelf computers, which ever one is the best deal is the best computer.

[tomster2300]

Originally Posted by blue60007 Generally I find with off the shelf computers, which ever one is the best deal is the best computer.

That's not necessarily the case. There can be some decent prebuilt systems, you just have to do some researching. When buying an off the shelf pc you should always look at the fine print.

3 ghz processor, 512 mb ram, 80 gig hd, 17" flat screen monitor all for $399.99 ? Must be great! - Whoa there, before you jump on something like that first do some research on the specific components inside. What kind of processor is it? (Celeron, AMD, Intel), what's the ram speed? (most of your "deal" desktops are pc2100 or pc2700 - speeds most gamers stay away from), hd rpm? - 5200 rpm, 7200 rpm? Monitor response time? - Is the monitor even designed for what you plan on using it for? Integrated graphics? (do I plan on gaming? If so, how much...should I go for the dedicated graphics card?). Is this company one which tends to cut corners on quality? Is that the reason the price is so low? Is this thing upgradeable? Do I plan on upgrading it?

Mainly, make sure the pc suits your needs. If you're happy with it just turning on and running MS Word so you can write your papers, then you'll be fine with choosing that basement bottom deal. But I don't recommend ever just randomly picking a pc because it's cheap without giving it any thought whatsoever. Remember, it's usually cheap for a reason, and you will end up getting what you pay for in the long run. Believe me, I've had and seen my fair share of "amazing deal" computer self destruct...and it isn't pretty.

[blue60007]

Forgot to mention, that only holds true for basic uses - internet, email, and solitare - for the very reasons you just mentioned. The average PC user won't notice much difference between a 3.0Ghz Celeron D and a 3.0GHz P4 (of course a gamer would)

[glc]

A $300 computer will serve probably 90% of the public quite well. It will fall flat on its face gaming or heavy multitasking or heavy multimedia processing. It will do homework/office work, web surfing, e-mailing, music playing, video watching, and IM'ing as well as anything.