Best place to buy a computer?

jiminbogart

TCU Go Frawgs !
I went to the Best Buy website and they immediately irritated me with their PC virtue signaling regarding Juneteenth/protesting/change through elections/social justice work shirts.

I pushed on and tried to sort computers by price. No option from low to high, just price point breaks such as $100-$250, ect.

Who else sells desktops? I don't do Amazon, although I guess I may have no other choice.

Just need a new tower that can surf the web and do business book keeping.

I want to do some business, not be preached at about being racist, sexist, white supremacist, male privileged, heterosexual, extremely attractive and highly intelligent. I'm tall too.

Shut up and sell me a computer.
 

jiminbogart

TCU Go Frawgs !
Thanks. I forgot about New Egg. I brought something from them several years ago.
 

shdw633

Senior Member
Don't forget Ebay. I bought my last two laptops off Ebay once I was done researching which one I wanted.
 

normaldave

GON Weatherman
For me, Dell outlet refurbished only. Same as new warranty, free shipping, great support.
Dell outlet desktops for home

Dell outlet desktops for work

Be sure to check coupon codes against the model you are interested in.
Dell coupon codes

Whoa...got some hot desktop deals going right now!
Cyber savings event

If you are close to a MicroCenter store as mentioned above, it's a fun place to buy compenents and assemble your own desktop. The only catch is you would have to purchase a separate operating system, Windows 10, where it comes included with an already built new computer (or refurbished), from Dell.
 

EAGLE EYE 444

King Casanova
I went to the Best Buy website and they immediately irritated me with their PC virtue signaling regarding Juneteenth/protesting/change through elections/social justice work shirts.

I pushed on and tried to sort computers by price. No option from low to high, just price point breaks such as $100-$250, ect.

Who else sells desktops? I don't do Amazon, although I guess I may have no other choice.

Just need a new tower that can surf the web and do business book keeping.

I want to do some business, not be preached at about being racist, sexist, white supremacist, male privileged, heterosexual, extremely attractive and highly intelligent. I'm tall too.

Shut up and sell me a computer.


JIM,
Back several years ago, I was having a problem of sorts with the speakers on my computer.

Well I went to "WORST BUY" to try and buy a pair of decent speakers because they had a good selection. Well I ended up buying a set of speakers that cost $39.99 plus tax. I paid cash for them as I normally do 99% of the time and went home. That night, I talked with my Daughter about the ongoing problem and she assured me that it was NOT a problem with the original speakers. Well the very next day, I took this two speakers (STILL IN THE UNOPENED BOX BACK ALONG WITH MY RECEIPT FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY to "WORST BUY" to get my money back. Imagine my surprise when the sales person told me that their store policy is that they would check their computer for THE LOWEST PRICE THAT THEY HAD EVER SOLD THAT EXACT SKU # ITEM.......AND THEY WOULD ONLY GIVE ME A STORE CREDIT FOR WHATEVER THAT AMOUNT WAS.

WELL, THEY STATED THAT AT SOME POINT, THEY HAD PREVIOUSLY SOLD THIS ITEM FOR $19.99, SO THEY WOULD ONLY OFFER ME A STORE CREDIT ONLY FOR $ 19.99 PLUS THE NORMAL SALES TAX.

I then asked to speak with their manager and then he preceded to tell me the same thing. I GOT VERY BELLIGERENT AT THIS POINT WITH THIS MANAGER AND I LET MOST EVERY CUSTOMER IN THE STORE KNOW THAT I HAD PAID CASH JUST 24 HOURS EARLIER BUT THEY WOULD NOT GIVE ME A REFUND OF MY CASH MONEY AS THEY ONLY WOULD OFFER A STORE CREDIT. OF COURSE, THAT STORE CREDIT WOULD NOT HELP ME BECAUSE I ALSO TOLD THAT MANAGER AND ALL OF THOSE CUSTOMERS THAT I WOULD NEVER BUY ANYTHING FROM THEM IN THE FUTURE AND I WAS ALSO MAD THAT I HAD RECENTLY SPENT OVER $1800 WITH THEM FOR MY DAUGHTER'S COMPLETE COMPUTER SYSTEM WITH ALL OF THE BELLS AND WHISTLES JUST 2 MONTHS PRIOR TO THAT.

Since that day, I have NEVER set foot back in the Augusta Store and I, NOR MY DAUGHTER AND SON-IN-LAW ever will either EVEN IF THEY WERE GIVING AWAY FREE ITEMS.
 
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Silver Britches

Official Sports Forum Birthday Thread Starter
Look at open box items as well. What ever you decide to buy, once you get it home, do a fresh install of Windows on it, which if it's a newer model, will most likely be running Windows 10. Doing a fresh install wipes away all the usual bloatware that comes pre-installed on them. If you're unsure how to do this, Google and Youtube can show you how. Or ask here. Once you've done a fresh install, proceed to install all of your programs.
 

gobbleinwoods

Keeper of the Magic Word
With school starting up soon (well maybe) most stores will run a back to school special. Just be informed as to what the normal price is before jumping on one of these.
 

georgia_home

Senior Member
Another +1 for dell. Have several, mostly older. Newest is the MRS from about 3 years ago when she started a new job. Works great.

And regardless of whatever brand you get, Don’t skimp on a few things when you order. Get a good SSD, and as big as you can. I skimped on the drive, and it wasnnoticeably slowed, almost painful, with an old spinner drive. I replaced the wife’s spinny drive last Christmas with SSD. (Not easy, picture posted in another thread here) And get a good bit of memory. Again, any computer can always use more if you have slots.

Also, I did get win10 pro for the mrs. It’s a little less aggressive about ramming updates automatically vs when I want them.

Just back to dell for one minute. I revived a 17yo dell laptop today, bought used in ‘05 from a relative, to try to get some old hardware working. Thing booted up like a champ, Windows XP and all. And there’s also a 13 yo dell laptop there too. Running a legacy application in standalone mode, win xp also. Also boots like a champ. Both of these systems were mid tier of the line when purchased in their prime.

Good luck finding a good system! (All PCs now will give sticker shock when you look for a good one!)
 

TomC

Senior Member
Build your own. SIMPLE.......SIMPLE to do. Lots of online tutorials. I've built a handful over the past decade and they worked flawlessly because when you build one it has NO BLOATWARE and the overall quality of the components (there are not that MANY) are all QUALITY ones that YOU select. I've done a TON of high end photography editing and the PC's I build with quality components SMOKED the higher end Dells and Macs I used for less $. If you are just looking for a PC to do basic stuff you will not need high end components and it would be super simple build. A little research, watch some YouTube videos for a few days and have at it. I would never EVER buy a desktop from a store again. I remember the first one I built at the end I thought to myself......THAT'S IT.......that's all there is to it. Every desktop I've built has run SOOO much better than any box I've bought!

Just Google "$500 PC Build" or however much you want to spend and I'm sure you can get parts lists. I normally reference a handful of recommended builds in whatever my budget is to see overlaps to ensure quality components.
 
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