What should a new computer have?

[Solidify]

My friend's buying a new computer and he would like to know what he should keep his eyes peeled for. With regards to HD capacity, RAM, graphics card, etc., what should he be looking for? His budget is about 400-500 dollars.

So far this is all I got.

• at least 4GB of RAM
  
• at least 500GB of Hard Drive room
  
• USB 3.0 compatible
  

Feel free to add to it.

[Death Trap™]

CPU processor speed of more than 2.5GHZ. 3.0 GHZ processor will be able to handle anything especially hardcore gamers. If you're only using it for daily minimal work, then 2.0 GHZ is fine as average normal laptop processor speed.

Windows 32 or 64 bit version depending on what you will use it for. 64 bit has better graphics for gaming.

Ethernet network interface/wireless adapter, SD card slot, DVD read/write drive,

[Solidify]

CPU processor speed of more than 2.5GHZ. 3.0 GHZ processor will be able to handle anything especially hardcore gamers. If you're only using it for daily minimal work, then 2.0 GHZ is fine as average normal laptop processor speed.

Windows 32 or 64 bit version depending on what you will use it for. 64 bit has better graphics for gaming.

Ethernet network interface/wireless adapter, SD card slot, DVD read/write drive,

So how does this work, can he just we just go to Future Shop or Bets Buy and ask for a PC with those minimum specs and they'll have it for around 500?

[Deltron]

If you want the best bang for your buck, I would strongly suggest to build a custom PC. Pre-built computers are mediocre, but are often times overpriced.

What is your friend going to be using this computer for (ie, graphics, gaming, surfing the web)?

[Solidify]

If you want the best bang for your buck, I would strongly suggest to build a custom PC. Pre-built computers are mediocre, but are often times overpriced.

What is your friend going to be using this computer for (ie, graphics, gaming, surfing the web)?

Surfing the web. But he doesn't live by me so there's no way I'd be able to help him build it and he doesn't know the first thing about building computers, or even using them for that matter. Nonetheless, I want him to have a powerful computer.

What should he do?

[Resistance]

Thats pretty good for that kind of budget bro... Chip in to 800-700 budget he will get a much much much better computer lasting him a longer time. I got 8 GB ram 500 GB HD 4200 ATI Raedeon graphics card... Sexy for 800 flat. Do the math bro DD

[Deltron]

Surfing the web. But he doesn't live by me so there's no way I'd be able to help him build it and he doesn't know the first thing about building computers, or even using them for that matter. Nonetheless, I want him to have a powerful computer.

What should he do?

Well if he's not knowledgeable of even using a computer, I would sadly have to suggest a pre-built computer for him. I would first go to a local computer shop (Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, etc.) to look for any deals. If not satisfied, try looking through eBay, Amazon, and even Craigslist. I hate pre-built computers, as they always come with unnecessary bloatware that would potentially slow the computer down. If you can't find anything, shoot me a PM and I'll find something for him/you.

[MoRPhiNE]

i think the new computer should have :
all the features of alienware 17x and 1 tb external HD

[AceInfinity]

I would just custom build the computer myself to be honest, i've built lots of computers though. and MoRPhiNE, external hard drives are the worst idea in my opinion, they should only be used if you are planning on transfering all that data from computer to computer once in a while. Otherwise get an internal hard drive.

USB3.0 - good
I have 2.5Ghz graphics driver which I find fairly good for a few games, although it could be better. If you are a gamer I would suggest 3.0Ghz for great gaming performance, otherwise 2.5 for average on most games.

But if you get a 64bit computer then you can bump up the maximum amount of RAM your computer can support as well. I believe windows 7 ultimate for example can support up to 192GB of RAM lol. Which is a bit overdoing it but anything from 4-8 is good by itself. I'm bumping mine up to 16 soon for my own purposes. I have 4 slots that can support 4GB cards each.

[sidorak95]

With the budget, I would probably try to grab a computer with the AMD Phenom processors, since they're relatively cheap and work well, from my experience.

64 bit W7 would be nice in this case since you're planning to have 4+ GB of RAM.