i know nothing about computers, and was wondering everyones opinion for a college kid on a budget for a nice computer.

 

How much do you have to spend?

 

Dell almost always gets you the most for your money. THe Dimension E310 is a good starter PC, if I remember correctly.

 

Dell maybe? Good performance for the money.

MAC shop gives student discounts, the portable ones are good value, the desktop types are a bit on the expensive side.

www.dell.com
www.mac.com

 

I dont know about your school, but I'm sure that if you wait till you get to school theyll offer you student discounts to certain companies. My school got us all 15% off at apple and dell. So thats a good option.

 

I'd say go with Dell, they have pretty much anything for any price range. Plus you can customize it to do what you need it to.

 

dell is lagging in technolgy about 6 months back. Thats how there prices are so low. The XPS i think is the only with current technology. People swear by dells but i just hate them. http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-7810-0....sageID=1456595

 

If he is not 'computer literate' I think 6 month old technology should be fine. What will you use it for? Just word proccessing, and such like, or more complex stuff? If it is just documents, etc, then just get the cheapest one you can.

 

You realy have to post what you are studying and what programs you need.

Design, Arts, Architecture, Photography stuff, Math go with a Mac there is far more software that you can run that is top of the line.

Engineering of any kind, Business, etc go with a PC.

It also depends on what you have or want. I built mine from scratch for 300 but I had a monitor and case. I bought my second one for 500 fully built from a reputable EBAY company with a copy of Win XP Prof but I had another monitor. My laptop was an HP and it is totally worthless.

Check with your student bookstore about student editions of software though. I got MS office for 10 dollars, Minitab for free, Symantec for free, a fee programming set ups for free, and thought about the Autocad 2005 student edition but decided I would just use the work computers if I needed it.

 

i have a custom laptop from ISTNC and its great. It comes barebones and u get to choose all teh parts that are compatible and then tehy install it all. I have parts that no one else had available especially Dell, and it was cheaper than an Alienware by a grand. Plus i can still add anotehr gig of ram if i ever want more power.