Lenovo, Acer and Asus?

[fcabanski]

You can't just go by the chip type - i7, i5, i3 etc. There are generations of the chips. They come with different built in graphics processors.

A 2nd gen i7, for example, is likely less capable than a 3rd gen i3.

[Drayjones007]

If you get any of the creation centre models from Lenovo, you will find you are the proud owner of a very powerful gaming pc at an affordable price. My wife and I liked it so well, we bought a second one.

[BeanballComin]

As a puter guy going back to 1972, trying to still keep tabs on it all .. ..
Generally speaking, IMHO, I would recommend Lenovo. Too many reasons to list why.
Currently, stay away from anything HP, as CEO Carly Fiorina drove HP into the ground, and had to be forced out. (She's curently running for president in the USA .. ).
If you shop it right, you will also, in most cases, also get more bang for your buck with a Lenovo, along with more current hardware.
Again, I stress these are generalities. There are always caveats.

Lenovos also run Linux very well. My OS is Linux Mint,
but I run OOTP in a vmWare Virtual Machine, running WinXP.
It all runs flawless.

[rjl518]

im using an alienware computer...and OOTP rockets into the night

[gpellis]

An ASUS if you must, but a corrupt user profile is no need to purchase a new computer, ever. You could have salvaged it without a system restore, but that's the easy way out.

As for the complaints about Windows 8, some of them are warranted, but they're going to go away with Windows 10.

Desktops outperform laptops on any day of the week, in anything... but typically only if you build a desktop. If you buy a pre-built, you're paying too much and you're getting ripped. The vast majority of people do not need an i7 processor, an i5 is enough, but every "gaming desktop" you buy will be an i7 with 16GB of RAM and some budget level card.

[Aceshigh24]

I use an MSI computer and she is a beast!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by gpellis

An ASUS if you must, but a corrupt user profile is no need to purchase a new computer, ever. You could have salvaged it without a system restore, but that's the easy way out.

As for the complaints about Windows 8, some of them are warranted, but they're going to go away with Windows 10.

Desktops outperform laptops on any day of the week, in anything... but typically only if you build a desktop. If you buy a pre-built, you're paying too much and you're getting ripped. The vast majority of people do not need an i7 processor, an i5 is enough, but every "gaming desktop" you buy will be an i7 with 16GB of RAM and some budget level card.

Agreed.. that's why you upgrade the video card afterwards. Building a pc is too much of a PITA now days, imho.

I like to go as far as my $ will take me though.. as I typically only like to upgrade about every 5 years or more.

[Ty Cobb]

They've been associated with pre-installed spyware according to several reports I read.

[BeanballComin]

That is true.
They did that with some consumer PC's, with Windows pre-installed. The spyware was a Windows program, not something installed into the bios, or hardware driven.
If you are concerned with security .. ..
letting someone else install your OS, and then you put all your info on top of it, is not a very educated decision.

[gpellis]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Agreed.. that's why you upgrade the video card afterwards. Building a pc is too much of a PITA now days, imho.

I like to go as far as my $ will take me though.. as I typically only like to upgrade about every 5 years or more.

Really? It's incredibly simple. You would also need to change your PSU many times if you buy a pre-built and change the GPU out. Still you're paying 1100-1200 for something like that and you can build a computer that blows the doors off for that price.

[ra7c7er]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Agreed.. that's why you upgrade the video card afterwards. Building a pc is too much of a PITA now days, imho.

I like to go as far as my $ will take me though.. as I typically only like to upgrade about every 5 years or more.

Why do you think that. Building a PC now-a-days is so much easier then in the past. No more hope and pray compatibility you can find everything you need online. and just like this forum you can easily find hundreds of people willing to help.

It's nine parts connected with cables. My stereo system was more complicated to put together then my computer was.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by gpellis

Really? It's incredibly simple. You would also need to change your PSU many times if you buy a pre-built and change the GPU out. Still you're paying 1100-1200 for something like that and you can build a computer that blows the doors off for that price.

Not with today's pc, my pc has plenty of PSU power. I paid $800 for my pc and it pretty much has exactly what I wanted on it. Now, I did pay another $149 for my graphics card, but sold the one it came with for $50.

I've built pc's before and had to keep all the freaking receipts and crap for stuff in case I needed warranty.. yes you can save some cash, but I retired from that a long time ago. It's just much easier (especially for my friends and family) to order from a trustworthy company and one that's easy to fix and call for issues.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by ra7c7er

Why do you think that. Building a PC now-a-days is so much easier then in the past. No more hope and pray compatibility you can find everything you need online. and just like this forum you can easily find hundreds of people willing to help.

It's nine parts connected with cables. My stereo system was more complicated to put together then my computer was.

Live I've said, I've built many pc's. To ME, they are a PITA. YMMV, but I prefer the less hassle approach of ordering from HP/Dell. Again, if you're into that kind of thing, that's great - you can definitely save some cash. I just hate searching newegg for this and that and then having to keep a folder of all the receipts.

[The Wolf]

if you catch one of Dell's periodic deals, you can buy a good PC for significantly less money than you can buy the parts required to build it .

[NoOne]

i'm a desktop guy, too.

there are very few pieces to pc's nowadays and they pretty much fit together one way - not that i suggest completely winging it. in general buy name brand parts. don't skimp this way unless you have done the research. especially a gpu - it may have the same specs but a crap heat sink will make it half the vid card it could be.

there's middle ground between building your own and dell or big-box store. check out cyberpowerpc or some other place that offers a configurable system and lists the options with part numbers.

you can research the specific parts and learn what's an e-peen and what offers additional functionality that you can/will make use of. understand where bottlenecks in a pc are based on current tech.

hdd: if mechanical don't buy only based on rpm. you must also know aerial density to make a proper comparison. there are many 5400rpm hdd that outperform 7200rpm drive. it's because their aerial densities are at least 133% more compact. (5400 *1.33=7200). hybrids are only worth it if they are the same/similar price. there is very little gain from them - just get an ssd if you want a performance boost.

get an SSD for OS and programs and a mechanical for storage of media and other data that gain no benefit from an ssd.

you get much higher quality parts than a prebuilt pc. will you get the same bang for the buck as doing yourself? no. but it's pretty close.

hp/dell/gateway/bestbuy are junk pc's in my opinion. you will defintiely pay more money for the same specs, and it's almost guaranteed to have some substandard parts - possibly insignificant.

[trentaur]

I have a Dell desktop that I run OOTP on (and have for many years) w/o incident. I have a 3 month old Dell laptop. Hate it. Both run windows 8....worth neither love nor hate is windows 8. It's an operating system...anyone who tells you it's awesome or the worst thing ever is lying.

[Scrooge]

If you want a great system, just buy one from here.It's the best computer I've ever owned. Have a desktop from there and a laptop too. Custom built. Good stuff.

Xidax - Gaming Computers & Custom PCs

[gpellis]

I can respect that building a computer is definitely not for everybody. It's a right of passage for anyone even remotely interested in doing IT work for a living.

That said, a PSU in a pre-built is usually 400W or so, a $130 card is probably fine with that. I'm running SLI'ed 970s. Not that it benefits OOTP in any way, but... well, like my cars, I like my things to be ridiculously fast for the approximately 1 time I need it in my life.

[TGH-Adfabre]

Originally Posted by David Watts

I'm scared to purchase a laptop. I'm a hermit and it's nothing for me to play OOTP for 6+ hours on the weekends. On weeknights I probably average 2-4. Would love to have the option to take OOTP with me, especially when we go to visit my wifes, friends and family, but I'm scared I will burn up a laptop in no time.

I have a $400 HP laptop from Best Buy. I use it daily and have had no problems that were not entirely my fault. I LOVE the convenience and I do not play graphics intensive games so processing power is not an issue.

I have only had one Acer problem in the past. The cold solder where the power cord attached to the laptop was weak and went bad. The battery could not charge and the CPU could not pull power. It was $50-100 to fix. We were past warranty and gave Best Buy or Circuit City a beating, they credited us the purchase price towards another laptop.

[gpellis]

Originally Posted by TGH-Adfabre

I have a $400 HP laptop from Best Buy. I use it daily and have had no problems that were not entirely my fault. I LOVE the convenience and I do not play graphics intensive games so processing power is not an issue.

I have only had one Acer problem in the past. The cold solder where the power cord attached to the laptop was weak and went bad. The battery could not charge and the CPU could not pull power. It was $50-100 to fix. We were past warranty and gave Best Buy or Circuit City a beating, they credited us the purchase price towards another laptop.

What year was that issue? Acer used to have some interesting QC issues, not sure of late. To that note, HP/Compaq had the same soldering issue with their power being soldered on to the MOBOs a while back. Once the connection came loose, it'd never charge properly again. The fix? Either some guy that has soldering skills (on a motherboard no less), or replace the motherboard..... or move on.