need good computer company

[david.seaton]

I am getting ready to purchase a new machine and am looking for

recommendations on a company to go with. Im fed up with the "big box", Dell,

HP, etc. due to their lack of flexibility on processors, OS, options I want

(RAID) only available on "super" systems, only a few graphics card options,

etc.

 

I am looking for something like the old alienware (before they went big box,

and not specializing in gaming machines), where you have more flexibility, but

they will take care of compatibility issues, actual assembly, etc.

 

PC USA (http://www.pcusa.com/) looks promising and sort of what I am looking

for but I have not been able to find anything pro or con on them. If any one

has any recommendations, I would appreciate it.

 

Dave

[ellis_vener_photography]

Have you looked at http://www.apple.com ?

[michael_bradtke]

David

 

Find a local computer store. Tell them what you want and they should be able to put it together for you.

 

Michael

[steven_clark]

You could try PC Club. Other than that I'd say you might just have to go local.

[Ed_Ingold]

You're looking for something with a real low serial number?

 

You have room in a standard case for two, maybe three drives. A RAID is simpler to configure externally. No disk drive will be big enough to hold every picture you take - at least not for long.

 

I think the HP Work Stations are a bargain for what they do. Computers are appliances, not hobbies, unless you have nothing better to do with your time. My dual-core HP workstation came with no software, no games, NADA, other than the operating system. If you want XP, you can get XP from HP (which I strongly recommend until Vista SP1 is released). There's no reason you couldn't install Linux if so inclined. You won't get a discount, however, and not much in the way of professional imaging software and drivers either.

[bruce_rubenstein___nyc]

This place builds all sorts of custom computer systems: http://www.pugetsystems.com/

[phoneguy]

<a href="http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore">Apple</a>

[alex--]

Building PC by yourself is not exactly a rocket science. All you need to assemble PC is

Philips #2 screwdriver. Choose processor you want, depending on the choice of

processor, choose mathcing motherboard. When you have motherboard and processor,

choose memory and expansion cards that the motherboard accepts. The motherboard

specs will tell you what type of power supply you need (the wattage and power connectors

needed). Make sure the power supply also has new SATA power connectors. Buy yourself

a nice hardware RAID card (3ware for example, and really try to avoid cheap fake-RAID

SATA cards). Buy some Seagate drives (and I mean it, Seagate has 5 year warranty on hard

drives, the component that is most likely to fail). Put it all in the nice case, install OS, and

you are done. Almost any place that sells computer parts to geeks will be able to help you

choose components and build the system yourself (no, not flashy big stores like Best Buy, I

said places where computer geeks buy their high end stuff, they look more like

warehouses and they sell stuff you can't buy in Best Buy).

 

Another way to do it is to buy cheap system from Dell or HP, and upgrade it (for example

with RAID card). However, be carefull what you buy in this case. Some of those systems

are not that much upgradeable. For example, it is not uncommon for Dell systems to lack

the slot for video card -- leaving you doomed with usually crappy built-in video in the

motherboard's chipset. And numer of expansions slots is usually very limited on such

systems (1 to 3, compared to 3 to 5 you'll get with average off the shelf motherboard).

 

Third option of course is to visit a friendly Apple store around the block. You might not

get RAID, at least not for cheap. But the reminder of the system will be very well built.

You'll pay more than for PC, but in my opinion, it is worth it. If you want to go this route,

I'd wait a bit until OS X 10.5 is out.

[tommyyearginjr]

Look no further:<br><br><a target="_blank" href="http://www.apple.com">Apple</a>