I haven't been following PCs that much for at least a few years as I've never owned a PC before, only a laptop. I was surprised to find out PC prices haven't lowered at all during the last few years, especially at big-box stores like Best Buy. I had the general idea that laptops are supposed to be more expensive given similar specs, but when I look at a Best Buy flyer showing a Gateway (not even talking about quality brands here) i5 PC for over $1000, I was completely astounded, especially since i5 laptops cost like $600 these days, with the everyday specs.
My old laptop is dying, so I'll need to get a replacement very soon as the ridiculously loud fan on this brick (about as loud as a floor fan right next to your ear, no joke) is driving me nuts. After searching countless laptops I eventually gave up and will instead get a desktop and netbook.
I'm not a heavy gamer, so I don't need any fancy accessories or extremely powerful processing power. I'm guessing an i5 should be enough. I will play games sometimes, like Starcraft II and Resident Evil 5, but I know that most low to medium end graphics cards for the PC will handle these kinds of games, so don't pick something like GTX460 just because I said I play some games. A laptop ATI 5650 GPU can handle these games, so I have a pretty good estimate of what kind of PC GPU can handle them. I don't have any parts, so I'll need everything, screen, mouse, etc. I do not need anything other than the basics, so nothing like extra ports or super high quality speakers or gaming keyboards. All I will be doing on the computer will be schoolwork (Word, internet, etc), occasional gaming, 2D graphics design, and music composition. Since a laptop of around $800 can handle these, I have a similar budget for a PC as well, around $700-800 at most. Anything over that is unlikely, unless technology went backwards and PCs are now slower and more expensive than laptops. Thanks.
Edit: location is Canada.
My old laptop is dying, so I'll need to get a replacement very soon as the ridiculously loud fan on this brick (about as loud as a floor fan right next to your ear, no joke) is driving me nuts. After searching countless laptops I eventually gave up and will instead get a desktop and netbook.
I'm not a heavy gamer, so I don't need any fancy accessories or extremely powerful processing power. I'm guessing an i5 should be enough. I will play games sometimes, like Starcraft II and Resident Evil 5, but I know that most low to medium end graphics cards for the PC will handle these kinds of games, so don't pick something like GTX460 just because I said I play some games. A laptop ATI 5650 GPU can handle these games, so I have a pretty good estimate of what kind of PC GPU can handle them. I don't have any parts, so I'll need everything, screen, mouse, etc. I do not need anything other than the basics, so nothing like extra ports or super high quality speakers or gaming keyboards. All I will be doing on the computer will be schoolwork (Word, internet, etc), occasional gaming, 2D graphics design, and music composition. Since a laptop of around $800 can handle these, I have a similar budget for a PC as well, around $700-800 at most. Anything over that is unlikely, unless technology went backwards and PCs are now slower and more expensive than laptops. Thanks.
Edit: location is Canada.
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