PCA Forums

Hi everyone. I am looking to buy a new computer, but am not sure what I need yet. I'm hoping to get some suggestions and advice from members here. The last computer I bought was a 500mhz PIII…..so, yes, it's been a long while since this computer found a home in my office. I've been looking at a few websites that allow me to configure my own system, but there are so many choices that I don't really know much about.

My budget is around $1200 (a bit flexible though). I have 1-2 months of research time before buying the system. I plan to use it for basic office work and movie editing. I have a digital camcorder and I want to be able to burn my movies onto a DVD. So what are the important features I need to look for to do this (processor type, motherboard, video card, RAM, DVD burner, hard drive, etc…)? I've been researching this site, but I'm looking for opinions from the board so I can narrow it down some more.

If it's okay to post links to websites that sell computers I'd also be interested in looking at some that are recommended by you.

Also, what is a decent (under $100) software for the movie editing?

Thanks to all!

$1200 is a good budget for a prebuilt system...i highly recommend Dell. since this is for an office, Dell's onsite warranty/repair is also a bonus. they have online deals constantly too.

when getting a new pc you first decide on your budget. ok, you got that. now, go to Dell's website (and others to compare) and configure the pc with the primary items first.

--processor
--hard drive
--RAM
--video card

those are the big hitters and will affect the price the most. don't add in a bunch of accessories if you don't need them...that just jacks up the price and you can get alot of that stuff cheaper locally or from http://www.newegg.com

processors always have a price/performance breaking point--meaning if you pick the fastest option available it will be MUCH more expensive than if you take the #2 or #3 cpu option, and the speed is not that much different.

hard drive---make sure it's at least a 7200rpm drive. get the biggest you can afford since you mentioned video editing (or a mid-size 60GB or so for the main drive and a huge cheap one added in later)

RAM--minimum 512MB.

video card--i like the ATI Radeon series....but NVidia has some decent options too. i'll let others on here speak to this as far as video editing (FP???)

k...i'm tired of typing now. good luck!

sent ya a PM

Greg

b-man, actually not a real office.....I was just referring to my glorified closet where I have my desk and pc. At the age of 33 I've decided to give up my gloomy gov. office job and be an elementary school teacher and I don't think I'll need it for anything too sophisticated on that end....basic MS office work and some basic graphics stuff. Thanks for the post.

Greg, pm back at you.

I agree. Dell makes nice systems for a good price. Most importantly they have an on-site warranty service program - they come to your home and fix it while it's under warranty.

You want a Pentium 4 not a Celeron, minimum 256Mb RAM but since you're doing video editing I'd recommend 512Mb. You don't need WinXP Pro - the Home version will suffice for a home system not connected to a network.

A nice deal on this very nicely loaded Dell Dimension 8300 here: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/ ... 83RL&s=dhs

They're throwing in a 160Gb hard drive for free which is ideal for video editing.

If you want to save some money then you can go for a Dimension 4600, although it will have a mediocre internal video card. Adequate though if you won't be doing serious gaming.

I know Dell has a good rep, but I was looking in the direction of custom pc's. The on-site warranty doesn't help because I'll be moving to a Navy base in Japan when I start teaching. I was comparing prices of Dell with some custom places and it looks like I can get more pc for the same money with a custom job. Also, I can see exactly what parts I'm getting (including brand). Does this sound right?

I was looking at a minimum of 512 Mb ram, but was also thinking to go up to 1 Gb just so I don't have to mess with it later. Is that overkill?

With video cards....some cards with a very similar price look to be the same brand with the same specs, but one has 128 Mb and the other has 256 (ex. Radeon 9600 Pro 128 and 256 I found for almost the same price at the same place). Is there a difference in quality or is the price just similar?

some times the one with more memory has a slower clocked gpu. it takes lots of research. Thats why I usually just stay with the ati made ones.

Greg