I need to get a new computer.My hp pavilion 8660 keeps locking up.I have had several computer people look at it including HP tech support nothing has fixed the problem which seems to be inherant to this model talking to other owners. This problem is getting worse and I can't stand it any more. Does any one have any sugestions on what to buy? don't want to go down this road again. HP SUCKS!

I can build you a new one its so cheap now days
if you dont sell the old one the Hard drive, Cd rom ,memory
cpu and floppy can be reused. I use quality Intel motherboards
and use a good case power supply or I can point you to the parts you need . The best bang for the buck is a intel 815 motherboard and a p3 1ghz or higher with 512megs ram
good for everything except Heavy Video editing

Check the Dell site their deals are hard to beat. I almost didn't build my new one myself with some of the deals they offer.

Look at Gateway. I have been SUPER happy with mine.

Jon

I just bought a new Dell. They are kind of like buying a pizza. They advertise the cheese pizza then sell you the Meatlovers Special. I called for a $799 pc, and ended up with a $1200 purchase. It goes something like this "would you like a modem?", "programs?" etc.

I've had it for over a week now, but still haven't even opened the box yet. Maybe I'll find a big fat sack of cheeba in it dude!

Here is what I spent on building my new one which is used for video editing. I have a Shuttle case and mother board which the case is the size of a shoe box. P4 1.8 gig cpu, 256 DDR ram, 80 gig western digital harddrive and a 120 western digital harddrive. Sony 19 inch monitor Mother board came with optical audio out, two firewire ports and 4 usb 1 and or usb 2 ports. It ran about $1200.00 for all the parts.

If you want to know the latest in computer hardware, visit

Tom's Hardware Guide

It is my favorite site for computer hardware information!

Audio is right about gateway I spec them for my company
and they have real intel Motherboards just dont buy the
cheap ones. e-4000 deluxe for our customers
or I really recommend th e-6000 deluxe
real tower cases stay away from the mini towers
I will say the e-4000 or the e-6000 are the quietest
towers I every had in the lab I could not tell if it was on
unless I walked behide it, Very quite , I have bought 47 of these
4000 deluxe and none have come back!

You may want to check out the Shuttle case. For a DJ business they may work great. Very low noise. Optical out. I use it for video with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Everything fits in a case. I also run two 120 gig firewire harddrives.

Depends on what you use it for.
You could get a fast Pentium 4 3.0 GHz processor, but I would say that most people can get by with a "slow" Pentium 4 around 1.8 GHz and save some $$. Throw in 256mb RAM, 40/10/40 CDRW & 30 GB hard drive and you should be set.
If it were me, I would make sure to stick with a Pentium processor.

If you can build it yourself you can save some pretty good money. Otherwise it is hard to beat www.dell.com.

I have a 4 yr old Dell PIII 750 MHz w/512mb ram and I am still very pleased with it. I use it at home for everyday stuff (spreadsheets, docs, web surfing, photo editing).

Rob