I have always owned Dells. Three years ago one of them was outdated, and I replaced it with an HP. I had so many problems, none of which HP could solve, that it returned it to HP (not the store) and they refunded my money. I promptly bought a Dell. I mention this only because it's my only experience with HP - and it was a nightmare.

"We" had a power outage two nights ago, and the surge burned out the surge protector (which admittedly was almost 10 years old) AND did something to the hard drive. The repair person has told me it's time to replace the computer.

I went to Best Buy which is really pushing a Gateway DX. I am sort of leaning toward Dell, but Best Buy in my area only carries a few models.

Anyone know anything about Gateway? Should I just order from Dell? It's difficult because I don't understand what the sales personnel are telling me about ram and speed and gbs and anything else.

If you don't want to go HP (remember that HP has been the top selling brand of computer for over 5 years and that every manufacturer has its lemons. I've heard similar comments about Dells), then I would go either Dell or Asus.

Gateway is considered a second tier brand now.

What was the spec of the Gateway they where pushing ?

I'm always suspect of sales people pushing machines as there's normally an ulterior motive for it, i.e. bonus, old stock, etc.

I guess budget is relatively meaningless to you, but either way it's all a game of numbers, the biggest in your price bracket..

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Originally Posted by Curlyben

What was the spec of the Gateway they where pushing ?

I'm always suspect of sales people pushing machines as there's normally an ulterior motive for it, ie bonus, old stock, etc.

I guess budget is relatively meaningless to you, but either way it's all a game of numbers, the biggest in your price bracket..

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Why would you think budget is relatively meaningless to me? I'm looking for the most bang for the buck. It's a work computer - not my internet computer - so I depend on it for my income.

I had the feeling Gateway was being pushed for a reason - it's a DX 4860/UB33P.

I just have a bad feeling about Best Buy and Gateway. I think I'll take a look at some Dells. (And I very well may have owned the lemon of the HP family. That was very much my experience the year I bought a Toyota, the most highly ranked and, in my experience, least dependable auto in the world).

I know so little about computers and sizes and so forth that I think I looked and felt like a sheep getting on the bus to the slaughterhouse.

Can't find spec for that particular model. Do you have info on CPU, RAM, Hard Drive, Graphics?

Well here's that machine in the umbers: DX4860-UB33P | Model

Reads well and is a good bench mark to look at.
Uses the newest Intel Core I processors with 64 bit operating system and large amounts of RAM and hard drive.
About budget I meant you aren't looking for a fire breathing machine for less than $200, you are realistic in your requirements..

As Scott said I'd avoid second tier makers, like Gateway and aim for the bigger suppliers. The support is much better.
Now I've never had problems with HP and have found their CS and build quality to be sound. Same with dell, although their recent build quality has slipped.

One brand worth looking for as you get a lot of machine of your money is Acer..

Wow - thanks both of you. The info on the Gateway (which I think is now pretty much out of the picture) is a 15 processor, 8 gb, 278 hard drive (?). Does that make sense?

I think I'm being pretty realistic about price - I figure about $800 to $900 and plan to use my relatively new monitor if I can, not buy a new one.

Its an i5 Processor and 278 hard drive is wrong. Probably a 1Tb HD.

I think you can do better for an i5 in the $500-$600 range for just the tower. I'd require an i7 in the $800-$900 range.

Okay, Gateway is out. I have no idea what to look for, what to ask for -

What kind of "specs" am I looking for? What do I need?

I'd rather overbuy than underbuy. I do not watch videos on the internet computer but I do download photos, run spread sheets, use the interneet, sometimes run 2 programs at once.

Does that cover it all?

I'm so lost when it comes to buying a computer.

Quad core processor 6-8 g of ram, 1Tb hard drive, graphics adapter with 512M ram.

That will be fine. Anything above that will be even Better.

Windows 7 64 bit, professional in preference ;)
Graphics should be 1 Gb and at the price range you are thinking that's more than possible.
So looking at 2nd gen i5 or even better i7 Intel CPU.