Originally posted by c_n00b
still, it'll be way better than what i have now. not to mention, im not the one paying for it, so even a dell's a pretty big value at $0.
Dude, take it from someone that knows better. You will not be happy with that machine. If you aren't willing to build it yourself, shop around at the local stores. Set yourself a budget of what you're actually willing to pay for the machine, build yourself a parts list and see what the local shops will sell it to you for. Remember, local support is always preferable. Also keep in mind that Dell, Gateway, Compaq, HP, and all the others do
not have tech support call centers here in the US. When you call them for help, your call is being rounted all the way out to India to some guy making maybe $5 an hour that barely knows how to turn the damn things on. Everything they tell you is written down for them on a sheet of paper. If what you ask them isn't on there, the first time they'll tell you to do is use the system restore disk.
Furthermore, if you ever have the thing serviced by an "authorized dealer", they automatically run system restore disk to restore the computer to "factory conditions". The thing is, they don't tell you this beforehand, so any data you had on there is
gone.