The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131547   Message #2971678
Posted By: JohnInKansas
24-Aug-10 - 08:09 AM
Thread Name: BS: advice needed for computer purchase
Subject: RE: BS: advice needed for computer purchase
Computers have become sufficiently "commoditized" that most makers (and sellers) rely almost entirely on quantity sales of "whatever is popular." It has become quite difficult to find a maker that offers customized hardware, or even much choice in common components beyond RAM and HD sizes.

One of the few places where it still is sometimes possible to find discussion of features you might want to consider for a really personal setup is in the DIY columns still occasionally published or posted by the "tech magazine" trades.

I haven't kept track of where the up to date builders are hanging out, but a possible starting place might be Extreme Tech. They've been posting "sample builds" for several years, and some of the articles probably are badly out of date; but with a bit of poking about you might find some good advice on what you can get if you know what to ask for. You may be able to use the site search tool to isolate the kind(s) of things you're interested in.

You might get lucky if you just Google "DIY Computers" too.

Once you know what you want in a new machine, you might even be able to get one of the better known sellers to "spec one" to what you want, instead of just pushing you to play the latest games and watch TV on your new toy.

(My last new computer was built to my spec by a trusted maker; but unfortunately I can't recommend them because they filed bankruptcy and disappeared about 5 years ago.)

John