Good deal?

[Gig-O-Ram]

Okay, I'm in Sam's Club the other day and I see this:

HP Pavillion | AMD X2 5600+ | 3 GB DDR2 | GF 7350 | Vista Home Premium | Built-in TV Tuner | Front 4x card reader | DVD-RAM | Built-in wireless | 21" LCD | A few other things...

For less than $1300 before tax. Good Deal or no?

I think we were this close to blowing up a CC by getting two, only because my wife hated the idea of having a new computer that was better than mine. She likes the idea of fairness. But we abstained...

[[Dr. V]]

And OEM build PC will always be a "good deal". It's literally impossible to get a similar package for the same amount of money or even a minimal over-cost without dropping a perk here and there.

Now that the money worth situation is out of the way, let's move on the hardware itself.

Generally, we'd all agree that Core 2 Duo is the way to go - and it most definitely is. Being a good deal for the money, you can spend the same amount of money on an OEM build with a Core 2 Duo in it and get a helluva lot more performance for your buck. Definitely look into grabbing a Core 2 Duo HP if that's the direction you wanna go in. HP is a great company to go OEM with - always good service, and good warranties too.

If you wanna stick AMD and want a high end rig, and don't care for C2D all that much, then this is definitely worth it.

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by ST!X

And OEM build PC will always be a "good deal". It's literally impossible to get a similar package for the same amount of money or even a minimal over-cost without dropping a perk here and there.

That's really only true on the low end, such as the $500 PCs that come with an OS and monitor. Trouble is, they're also usually saddled with Celeron level processors and onboard graphics, too.

When you start breaching the $1K mark, you can still outclass an OEM going the DIY route. When I envision a $1,300 PC, I'm not seeing AMD and a crappy GeForce 7350 inside, I see something more like this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 - $126
EVGA 650i Motherboard - $90 ($20 MIR available)
2GB OCZ Gold - $98 ($30 MIR available)
HIS X1950Pro - $146 ($20 MIR available)
Seagate 500GB/16MB - $120
Lite-On 20X DVD/CD Burner w/ Lightscribe (SATA) - $38
Antec Sonata III Case w/ 500W PSU - $125
Viewsonic 22" Widescreen LCD - $255
Front 52-in-1 Card Reader - $10
LeadTek TV Tuner Card w/ Remote - $35
Lexmark 17ppm B/W and Color Printer - $30
Microsoft Keyboard + Optical Mouse - $23
Windows Vista Home Premium - $112
TOTAL = $1,208 shipped ($1,138 after rebates)

Using Michigan's modest 6% sales tax (for the HP), that's a savings of $170 before rebates ($240 after) to apply towards specific, personalized upgrades on a base setup that already smokes the tar out of the HP. Or downgrade where desired and save even more (smaller hard drive, less powerful videocard, etc).

[Capper]

you can also look at our Recommended Hardware Lists and put together a really nice system yourself that can always be upgraded.

[[Dr. V]]

Originally Posted by Capper

you can also look at our Recommended Hardware Lists and put together a really nice system yourself that can always be upgraded.

+1

And with a not-too-bad cost above the $1200 mark, you can go DX10 ready and grab a 8800GTS.

And One4, great system you fit into the budget there.

[Gig-O-Ram]

The thing is, though the system we saw in the store looked as if it might be up to the task of video editing, I told her I can add/upgrade a few things in her current setup - spend less $$ - and achieve the same goal. Besides, ever since I started doing DIY systems (all 3 of them, LOL!) I vowed to never buy from a store/OEM builder again.