Build or buy from manufacturer?

 
I would not recommend purchasing a computer if it will be a mission-critical machine where it can't break down. If all you do is word processing and email, then go ahead and buy yourself a computer. But keep in mind that I've (and many others familiar with computers) have seen no-name hard drives, underpowered power supplies, motherboards just micromillimeters from the metal frame, monitors that die in 6 months ude to a cheap inverter or backlight, and on and on and on. I was on a two-month convention and I needed my own laptop so I wouldn't have to use hotel computers at their business center and I regretted my purchase. And then I bought a Compaq about a year and a half ago, and I opened it up to do the routine dust removal I always do, and the power supply is 250 watts! And this was an Athlon 64 with 1 GB RAM, the whole enchilada! The $300 or so cost really showed.

I recommend that you save yourself from doom down the road and build. If you buy, you will be tempted to spend more money and, in my case, upgrade the mediocre 250 watt PS to about 350 and replace the hard drive with a Seagate as that Compaq had a Samsung. God only knows what was in that Dell laptop.
 
i was wondering what OS to get... i would like to have word and prefer XP. Is there any reason to get vista? And when i set everything up, do i just pop the disk in and set up the new OS? This is the point on computer building that confuses me most.
 
If you prefer XP, there's no reason to get Vista. After you put everything together, fire up your PC, enter the BIOS (by pressing the delete key - consult your motherboard manual), and look for a section such as "Boot Device Priority." Set your CD/DVD drive to boot first. Save your settings, place the XP disk in the drive and follow the prompts.
 
Operating systems are expensive! I found an Original copy of Microsoft Office small business edition 2003 in my basement.... will this work? Maybe i can save a bit of money.
 
lolwut said:
Operating systems are expensive! I found an Original copy of Microsoft Office small business edition 2003 in my basement.... will this work? Maybe i can save a bit of money.
Click to expand...

Office is a set of applications, not an operating system. You'll still need to buy XP...
 
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