Ok I think I start one of these every year lol, my crappy laptop is now five years old and as much as I do love it (while cursing it regularly) it lags like crazy. Last night I think I spent an hour extending the Allen Walker wall canvas by 20 pixels and stretching the textures out -_-

I promised myself that when I land a new job I'd get a new desktop as a treat for myself.
Soo now that that's happened I am seriously going to get a new computer :D

First question is - new desktop or new laptop? I'm definitely inclined towards desktop, but a friend put in her five cents for laptop and... I'm easily swayed. I probably won't move for at least another two years, but the mobility of laptops is generally a good thing.

But forget that for now, say I'm getting a new desktop. I remember people from previous threads suggesting that I custom building a desktop. I've pretty much decided that I don't really have the time and inclination to learn to build out a really l33t desktop, despite potential savings, and pretty much anything "new" will be an upgrade for me. I mean, I don't plan to do anything too fancy with the system. I just want to be able to run Illustrator/Photoshop with WindowBlinds and preferably WinAmp at the same time without slowing the system to speed of dying turtle, and I figure that probably covers about 99% of the desktop market out there.

So, any recommendations for a desktop system? Anything minor (even if it's just like X Company over Y Company, or this monitor/keyboard = win) would be appreciated. My budget is around 1k+ for everything. And I want a nice widescreen monitor dammit! XD I went to Staples the other day and was looking at some of the desktops on display. The HP one caught my eye - I think it was one of these

I liked how the tower was smaller and really sleek looking :D Gids wasn't too hot on HP though, but I haven't really had any experience with them myself so I can't say for sure. Thoughts?

And lastly... no Macs. Sorry, I know they're shiny and sleek and nice but I'm attached to several Windows programs that doesn't exist in the Mac universe, as a Mac-loving user friend has informed me, so yar. Thanksu :]

*Returns to browsing desktops* xD

im getting a new comp tomorrow or by the end of the week im going to get a laptop mac im getting it for the mobility and its allot nicer being able to sit anywhere in the house with it, and what I plan to do is keep my pc and just buy more ram for it and get an external hd so maybe you can get a new comp and just spend some money getting the pc to run a little better thats what im going to do anyway that way ill have mac and windows

flyin honestly with a budget of 1K you can get a bitchin system. I just built a new desktop myself and i hardly spent 500. Personally, I would just try and build it yourself. It really is just a matter of plugging everything in, and then turning it on. The only difficulty if any, is picking out parts that are compatible with each other but even that isn't that big of a deal.

If your set on not building it though, I would honestly just get the laptop since the only benefit of even having a tower is if you build it yourself and plan to swap out hardware somewhat regularly. I cant imagine the pricing for laptops to towers for non-macs are that drastically different these days anyways. Plus you can awlays get an extra widscreen moniter, keyboard, and mouse to use the laptop like a desktop.

I bought a Dell laptop right before my junior year of college. So, this much I can attest for:

1. I will probably never buy another desktop. The mobility is just too convenient to let go of. Bringing the comp on long trips, at home for long boring vacations, in bed with a runny nose....

2. I myself have had a pretty good experience with my Dell. It's four years old and some change, and I never even had to close a frozen program before it hit around 3.5 years old. Now, since then, I've had to replace the RAM and the hard drive, and my battery is lagging when it's unplugged for more than 45 minutes. But, from what I've heard, this is kind of quid pro quo for computers in general (ie: a three year life span)...

I personally would get a desktop, especially if it was going to be used for long-usage home sessions (ie. vectoring, coding, gaming, etc) due to the fact that it's a stable set-up and would most likely be more ergonomical and less of a strain on your body. Also, if you don't need to go laptop, the price/performance ratio favors desktops as well.

I do recommend building, but if you don't desire to, make sure you get a rig with least 2 gb ram and a good cpu, like the core 2 duo (or wait til the core 2 quads go down a bit more in price). Most of the brands of pre-assembled pcs are for the most part homogenous these days.

If you do decide to go laptop, I'd recommend getting a 13.3" or smaller japanese laptop (sony, fujitsu, toshiba, etc) due to the fact that 80-90% of them are actually made in japan which=quality. I personally have an 11" fujitsu laptop and it's built like a tank and is just awesome all-around. It also has little touches like felt-covered ram grills (so you don't burn your lap) , fingerprint sensor, and a bunch of card-readers.

"felt-covered ram grills"

Ohhhh that would be nice......and the ergonomic thing is a good point...

Thanks for all the suggests, I'm going to take a list of notes to Circuit City or someplace like that ;D

Wow... fingerprint sensor @o@

Good luck! I hope you find a gem!

Am I the only person with a computer that was still kicking ass after 5 years? >__>

my comp was fine til just recently but i started to overhaul it mainly because i had the extra income and desired something up to date. Actually, I just bought new ram and the 8800GT so I'll probably compile my old hardware together again and make like a linux system or something just to fuck around on.

Heh, crap, if you need some help from a linux guru just ask me ;)
I've been using linux as my main OS since 2005.

And good luck to you, flyin^^

Last night I got a Dell Inspiron desktop with a few add-ons... came to around $800? Estimated arrival date under 2 weeks... wow I am so excited, I've been using my old laptop for 5 years xD; Thanks everyone! *hearts*

nice, haah so what are the stats?

GOOOD! Now we can be cool kids together with our shiny new Dells. :D

If only mine had only been $800 though. ; __;

crap and I are talking compie now but, it was like 2GB RAM, 250GB HD, the core 2 duo that na recommended, DVDRW, upgraded video or graphics card to something that I can't remember, basic mouse + keyboard, 20 inch widescreen (hoh yeah, will finally have a real reason to wall widescreen) XD And I think I got the slim tower. Mmmm slim shiny silvery goodness...