So what's the going rate for a new desktop computer these days?

LK's computer is dead. Considering that I bought it on my first day of maternity leave and he's pushing 6, I think it's probably time to just get him a new one, probably for his b'day in April.

I don't need it to be cutting-edge in terms of capabilities, but I need something that will be reliable for some time. For a base-model computer building my own doesn't really make any economic sense, so any suggestions on brands to steer toward or avoid and about how much to spend are appreciated.

They're getting cheaper.

Monitor still good, keyboard, etc? So all you need is the main computer?

It's a 15" CRT and the better part of ten years old. It works fine for what it is, but it's an eyesore.

The rest of the peripheral doodads: kb, trackball, printer, etc are all newish and in good working order.

if you don't want to build from scratch. Everything included, even monitor. Mac mini is nice, but you'll have to buy the monitor for it. Gateway has some too, within the price range of $600 - $700. but monitors are optional.

Mac mini at $599 comes only with a CD-R/RW writer and DVD player, but not a DVD writer.

than they were 6 years ago.

I wish I could tell you what to look for and what to avoid. Someone else probably can. I suspect that almost all of them have nearly the same guts in them anymore.

:hi:

good luck

I've got a 6 almost 7 year old son who loves to play on the computer, he uses an older Mac, or this PC laptop.

with an educational discount (and upgraded RAM to 1GB) and, if you want to, loading XP on it as well. That'd run you around $600 if you don't need to get a new monitor and can scrounge up a USB keyboard and mouse. It'll run well, it's quiet, and it takes up almost no room.

If you're hell bent on avoiding an Apple and you really don't want to build one yourself (it would still be cheaper, even on the low end) look at one of the entry level dimension models from Dell. They're a monolith, but they build decent rigs.

He's never used a non-windows computer. He's very adaptable, but sometimes, being five, doesn't handle change real well. I guess I could take him over to the Apple store to see if he likes it.

Also they are very stable machines and tend to last a long time.

They're silent and hardly take up any desk space at all.

The advantage with the new ones is that if you doesn't like Mac OSX, you can still run Windows on it. Most people who switch from Windows to Mac love it.

And upgrade to at least 1GB RAM

and as other posters have mentioned, you can always run Windows on it if you want. You can get a cheap OEM copy of XP from places like newegg.com and the bootcamp beta that Apple uses to boot windows is free from their website.

They're very unreliable. I would recommend an HP.

I built my own. I bought a bare bones with the power supply and motherboard in place and just added the rest. Loaded windows from scratch. It came in at around $350 for the computer.

it's about 5 years old, and, while outdated now, still runs great, I haven't had anything go on it and the only thing I changed was to add a cd writer/dvd player, which is pretty much standard on everything now. It's been the most reliable computer I've ever had, and I have been pretty happy with the customer service over the years.

It's the first new computer I've owned since the early 90s, since I've been a geek and upgraded my own for a long time.

My advice, depending on where you live is to do one of three things:

Go to Best Buy and look at what is available. I like the AMD processor, and they are less expensive than Intel but just as good, so check them out at BB. In addition, you will want to decide whether you want it to be upgradable or not, by looking at non-upgradable processors (Celeron or Sempron) or those which can be taken further (Pentium, Athlon, etc.) Best Buy also sells a wide variety of manufacturers, and you can read what each offers you in the descriptions provided on each item. I ended up with an Athlon duo processor (for tower only, no monitor, printer or other peripheral) from HP for $600. In addition, they have the less expensive eMachines for decent prices as well.

At home, go over to epinions.com and check out prices from other retail stores for the same item. Also, the reviews will give you an idea of how stable a system is, as well as reliability and features.

Go to hp.com or whichever other manufacturer you choose to look up, and see if you can get the exact same computer direct from the website for less money. Oftentimes, they will waive S&H online, and you end up with a lower price.

I would say stick with a PC because of software cost. Many programs are just so expensive that it hurts to get a new OS and not have anything to use right away. In addition, there are so many wide and diverse programs for PCs that you can even go through tons of shareware and freeware to build up a decent retinue without any problem at all.

Hope this helps.

Currently shopping for a new puter myself as well.

Dell had 1 for about $1200 that had a lot of speed built into it, so it looks like that one will be the one I get.

But, I think Dell only sells their computers on-line these days because I couldn't find any in any of the stores I've been to this month.

who has good references. You should be able to get a very decent clone built for around $700 and if they are smart, they should warrant their product for a year. You support the local economy instead of the huge corporations and have someone local for support if a component goes flaky.