Hello all, My comp is in the process of crashing out on me and I'm currently trying to find a new computer tower to replace it. I'm not very tech savvy so I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, and more importantly, where to find it/get a good deal online. I don't need anything that is completely decked across all specs and is an "absolute beast of a machine." I'm really only in the market for something that has good memory, good speed, and the ability to support at least dual DVI monitors. I have found a few places online but they all seem to charge what appears to be astronomical prices (> 1200 and up to 3000). I assumed that something like this should be achievable at or around 600-900 at least, but I simply do not know. Anyone have any good suggestions here? I truly appreciate it... Thanks and have a Merry Christmas, - Jon
Only two things matter, for ordinary trading use. First get a 'Core2Duo' processor. Second, get at least 2Gb of memory. You will be forced to use Vista (but get XP if you can) and anything less than this will be sluggish. Any machine these days will give you more disk space than you will ever use. If you use multiple screens you will need a separate graphics card (doesn't have to be powerful) with two or more outputs. If not, the built in graphics will do. The biggest factors in performance with this minimum spec are a) to get rid of bloated subscription 'security suites' and b) if you can, get rid of background 'helpers' and services. Check out some of my other posts for this. In my opinion, avoid chain store own brands and also 'Packard Bell' and 'Fujitsu....'. Names like Dell, HP/Compaq, Acer, Asus, Toshiba, Sony are all OK once you've uninstalled all the subscription and advertising rubbish.
For the same clock speed, quads are faster. (Quads are not simply "2 C2Ds on one chip"... the processing algo is different.) But at the same price point, C2Ds and quads perform approximately the same.