Query to the all-knowing flist - computers!

[castalia]

My mom just asked me what I thought was the best in desktop computers, b/c their family computer died a horrible hardware death (ultimate BSOD, sadly, won't boot up at all even in safe mode) after they've abused it for 5 years or so. Thus, they're in the market for a new one.

I've only ever had laptops, so I have no experience whatsoever in buying desktops and what features to look for there. I know she wants decent storage space for pictures and enough power to use their high-speed DSL comfortably. The last computer was a Dell and seemed to really crawl after a year or so of use (despite all my verbal and even written instructions, they are absolutely rubbish at keeping things updated, running scans, cleaning the drives, etc).

So, any recommendations? Anything to definitely stay away from? They're probably going to be looking at a basic to medium price range.

Comments

[cedara]

Well, since we build ours custom made, I can't quite recommend a brand. What I can do is tell you to go for 2.5Ghz CPU and 2GB RAM minimum. Also, I'd suggest a nvidia graphic card (anything in the 8000er range, myself I have a 8600GT with which I'm content with) and at least 500GB harddisk space, maybe an extra USB one for storage. More would go into the gamer range.

Oh, and if she goes for XP as operating system, it won't read more than 3GB RAM, only Vista is said to read more (but I haven't tried that yet). Also, Vista needs 2GB RAM minimum.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

They're definitely not the types to build a custom set-up, so it's going to have to be something they can get from the usual Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. sort of places. I always try to suggest the AMD processors (I love mine), and I do wish they'd go with the external storage route b/c they're just so damn handy.

Thanks for the Vista info. I'm trying to avoid Vista myself for now, but maybe by the time they buy it'll have some of the bugs worked out.