Go with Dell or Gateway. Personal preference...Dell. And I don't know why you have to take the monitor. It should be configurable to subtract for the monitor. And unless you have a monitor that came over on the Mayflower, it will be compatible. Dells have THE best warranty...next day. Everyone else, well they say three, but I can tell you from experience, there's no guarantee in that. Dells are super easy to upgrade and work on, the box is easy to gain access without everything squeezed in like in other systems.
As for HPs, they're ok for newbie users, but I wouldn't own one. And warranty work will be at LEAST three days. Buying an HP is like buying PBell...remember those? Same company but they no longer make PBells.
Compaq? Run, run very fast. They're so proprietary...you add one stick of RAM and then have to restore your software later...nope. You have to remove ANY and ALL upgrades before your restore software will recognize it as a Compaq again. They're the WORST machines to work with, to upgrade, and to fix. And the warranty is again three or more days.
I've owned nothing but Dells since about 1998 and will own nothing else. I think we're on our third Dells. We always buy two...his and hers. LOL And in all that time, I've only had ONE problem, with a CD drive. The guy was there with the drive the next day. We always order ours stripped and put in our own extras...RAM, secondary hard drive, and ethernet cards, and use our existing monitors.
I have a dell laptop as do most people in my law school. They recommended them because they supposedly have awesome customer service. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't purchased the additional warranty...it has already paid for itself. I've had my motherboard, screen, dvd-rom, etc replaced and now my new problem...well not so new. For over a year now, my laptop, which is designed to be portable...crashes if i unplug it, so if i'm studying somewhere, i'm plugged in, and decide i need to move, i need to power the whole thing down. Most people I know at school swear they'll never buy another one. That being said... the techie people recommended them so I really don't know...and the prices are always really good.
HTH
almost heaven - I couldn't get an option without a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. It really annoyed me! But then they charged extra for a modem! I could've called them and tried to get them to configure a package specially for me, but since this was some bundle deal thing, I thought I'd just go with what they gave me! It even includes a "free" webcam which I don't want! I think I'll be busy on e-bay...
I think I've got a reasonable deal - I've got 1024MB ram with 8MB cache, Intel dual core, 250GB Hard drive DVD +/- RW drive and a 256MB graphics card. Anything resembling that amount of power was approx £800-£1000 for JUST THE BOX from anyone else.
Zorak - I was thinking about building a new comp, since I already have an old case that got blown up in a power surge but DH wasn't keen and thought it would be simpler to get a package. I've also bought a photo-printer that he didn't want
2frustrated--sounds like you've gotten a great deal, and even WITH the new monitor, mouse, etc.
Obviously, you'll hear good and bad about any brand, any product, but I think the good of Dell outweigh the bad. I also think laptops are a whole different beast from desktops. The chances of something happening (dropping, jerking, shaking, kicking, freezing, heating...) to a laptop make them more prone to having issues (and that's even if you're careful and take good care of it), plus it's a whole new ballgame to try to cram all the stuff from a desktop tower into something smaller than a Trapper Keeper (remember those? ).
And yes, I remember Packard Bells...what a mess
My Compaq is barely a Compaq anymore. My boyfriend has installed so many new components and changed some sort of configurations (I'm not THAT into computers that I could actually tell you what he did) so it runs fine now. At least all I use it for is the internet and a little word processing. I have my Dell laptop from work for anything that requires real power
I don't remember the brand of my first laptop but I bought it used from a friend who needed money in college. I'm not sure her parents would've been so happy about selling her laptop for cash but hey I went with it. Anyway, I dropped that thing so many times (on hard surfaces too) and it kept on ticking. I also have an apple laptop that is really good but it isn't good for games. We thought about buying a desktop but we don't use our computers in one single place so we went with a laptop. It is kind of sad though, between our work computers and home computers, we have 5 laptops and 1 desktop. I used to have 2 other desktops but I gave one away and sold the other. Geeks we are
I could've called them and tried to get them to configure a package specially for me, but since this was some bundle deal thing, I thought I'd just go with what they gave me! It even includes a "free" webcam which I don't want! I think I'll be busy on e-bay...
DVD +/- RW drive and a 256MB graphics card. Anything resembling that amount of power was approx £800-£1000 for JUST THE BOX from anyone else.
I've also bought a photo-printer that he didn't want 
).
