What do you think of this computer?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...CategoryId=pcmcat60700050018&id=1124431815424

It looks pretty nice for the price, the only thing I am unsure about is teh video card, i don't really know anything about ATI, I prefer nvidia, also it is not SLI capable but it still looks decent, what do you think? 3800 X2 is a pretty nice cpu for such a cheap computer.

 

VERY weak video card,onboard sound, probably generic ram, meh. What about configuring (building) yourself one? you'd probably get alot better specs for the 1200$ (after tax) that the pc your looking at.

 

The onboard video isn't that great, but I'd strongly suggest you don't go for an OEM manufacturer like HP, Sony, or IBM etc.

Most use proprietry parts, so if you need spares, you have to buy it from them and they charge a fortune.

If you aren't comfortable building it yourself, go for a "white box" manufacturer and have them build you one.

Also, and more importantly, that is a Windows Media Center PC, not an XP one.

 

I like websites like ibuypower and cyberpower pc, I even considered getting my own, i was just wonderiung what you thought, my dad keeps suggesting I should get one at best buy or save up for an alienware, yeah right, it is gonna take me months to make even $1000 and what is wrong with windows media center? I have never used it before.

 

My opinion is you shouldnt go HP. I sujest going Dell because you can customize it yourself, also your elimating the middle man so the prices are cheaper. But i have to say looks like the HP has good specs, could have dual DDR Ram.

 

A couple of months ago I bought it's sister model, the 3700, from BestBuy, and I have to say, despite some viewpoints here, it is a great machine. But I guess it depends what you want to do with it. I'm into digital photography and camcorder stuff, so it suits my needs fine. Other positives are you get a free MS compatible word processor/spreadsheet/database/powerpoint, so that saves you a few bucks if you don't need to have the actual Microsoft version. Also BestBuy run a 18 month interest free credit account on purchases over $250 right now, so you can pay it off in your own sweet time as you earn the money splitt3r

I can also tell you HP are great at getting the rebates back quick on these

 

That depends which country you are in.

Here in Australia, Media Center was released without a TV Guide, which makes it pretty useless for one of it's main purposes.

Media Center is marketed as an entertainment hub, and designed to run multimedia in your living room.

If that's what you want, then fine, but if you are expecting it to operate like a typical PC then you will be disappointed.

There are also a few problems with Media Center, but that also applies to any operating system.

 

I've experienced no problems with it. It performs the same as any other non-media center operated PC I've ever used. Maybe using it upside down in Oz is the problem

 

LOL, no, maybe Micro$$oft releasing half a product because they think Australia is at the end of the universe is the problem.

What bloody good is Media Center without a TV Guide? That's it's best feature!

 

if I can make payments I might go up a little, maybe get one with SLI capability and a better video card, that is my only complaint, that vid card sucks and it isn;t nvidia it has an awesome cpu though

 

The CPU is fine, but I just don't like OEM manufacturers.

As I said, I would prefer someone to build it for me if I wasn't doing it myself.

If you are thinking of adding a video card or going SLI, make sure the motherboard supports it, and knowing OEM, it won't.

And you don't necessarily have to spend more if you look around.

 

I just want a comuter that will last a while, I want SLI PCI-E SATA and a socket 939 proc, I noticed the only payment taht cyberpower accepts is a credit card. dunno if I will ever be able to get one there, maybe I shoudl just build one from, newegg but that would suck if I couldn't get it powered up.I wasz thinking of buying it piece by piece whenever something I need goes on sale.