Computer of choice

Personally, i have a custom built computer. i bought all the parts and built my own. It has a water cooling setup in it too 😉

AMD XP 2800+ OC’d to a 3000+
512MB Kingston HyperX (getting 1GB soon)
Nvidia 6800 OC’d to a GT
80 Gb main
250 Gb storage
DVD
DVD-Burner
Dual 21″ Monitors
5.1 surround

Oh, i run XP pro and a few varioations of linux (Debian, Slackware, FC2, Mepis)

I also own a compaq and toshiba laptop.

I’d say it depends on what you want in your computer 😉

To do what you just described, you could go to your local best buy, staples, or circuit city and get the cheapest computer they offer, and still be able to do the HB program finances, ect.

Some pointers when buying a computer:
1. Never buy a celeron, ever. They just don’t perform.
2. Get at least 512 mb of RAM. This will keep you going for years to come, and keep it fast. 1 GB or more is recomended.
3. if you do a lot of music or video, then a big hard drive is a must 160GB+ but if you are only going to do work on it, then 80GB is more than enough.
4. Games, if you plan on playing any new games (within the past 2 years), make sure you have a Nvidia 6000 series or higher (6600,6800). Or ATI X series (X600-X850). Avoid integrated intel video, as they don’t support the new games.
5. Sound, most come with built in sound, if your not a media freak, then this is sufficiant.
6. DVD-Burner. totally optional.
7. Display, LCD’s are small light and clear, but don’t go as high a resolution and are about twice the price. CRT’s are bigger, but are way cheaper and go to higher resolutions.

any other questions, just ask.

Seeing that I have a CS degree, I’ll chime in.

Some pointers when buying a computer:
1. Never buy a celeron, ever. They just don’t perform. This is an understatement.
2. Get at least 512 mb of RAM. This will keep you going for years to come, and keep it fast. 1 GB or more is recomended. Definitly 1 gig. I have 2 gig.
3. if you do a lot of music or video, then a big hard drive is a must 160GB+ but if you are only going to do work on it, then 80GB is more than enough. I have a 200 gig.
4. Games, if you plan on playing any new games (within the past 2 years), make sure you have a Nvidia 6000 series or higher (6600,6800). Or ATI X series (X600-X850). Avoid integrated intel video, as they don’t support the new games. nVidia GeForce 7800 GTX, but get ready to fork out about $500 for it.