Computer Recommendation for ...

[Mako Koiwai]

... Karen. Good and cheap ... from say Costco or Best Buys.

I would recommend: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/s ... s/mac/imac

[Robert Puertas]

Does she still need to do Autocad on it?

I've tried running Autocad on Parallels, and while it works fine, it's kind of annoying to operate in the smaller inset screen, and very annoying to toggle back and forth in Bootcamp. Consequently, I still have a PC sitting next to the Mac for when I need to use the Acad...

I would really like to find a good drafting program for the Mac that can read .dwg files. Then I could justify a new 27" iMac

[Max Hayter]

I bought this last year - best $280 I ever spent.

Great for those looking for a small laptop for use when traveling, watching AX vids, data acq. analysis etc. Battery lasts 10 hrs.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834220551" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[George Schilling]

Being largely computer ignorant, I depend on fast, reliable support. Since I discovered Costco Concierge Service, I won't but a computer anywhere else.

-George

[Tom Tanquary]

Don't buy a Dell.

[Kristoffer Gjevre]

Don't buy a Dell.

+1 on that after my XPS720 motherboard died (stupid formfactor is not common and Dell said $400-600 to have it fixed)...

Went to Costco and bought a HP w/25 inch monitor... that we used as a second monitor to watch the Olympics on (with Windows Media Center and this SiliconDust HDHomeRun over-the-air HD tuner that plugs into the network).

Now, what to do with the quad core cpu, 4 GB memory, graphics card, and dual 750GB HD... guess I should look for a cheap case and motherboard...

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Sorry but gotta chime in. I had a Dell from 1997 that has lasted me up until last year! There was absolutely NOTHING wrong with it. Never had to call DELL for support. I upgraded....not because my PC was bad, it was just slow. Kinda like going from a Honda Civic to a BMW M3/Porsche 911/Ferrari 430. (DELL XPS 720). Screaming fast. DELL makes good PCs. As for Laptops, that's another story. I know Tom T.'s had a bad experience but I guess being in computers in my career and computer literate, I'd have say DELLs are fine. But if you want to go buy a "toy"....er...I mean a Mac go right ahead.

Sorry to hear about your problem's Tom with the DELL.

[Dan Shaw]

Don't buy a Dell.

+1 on that after my XPS720 motherboard died (stupid formfactor is not common and Dell said $400-600 to have it fixed)...

Went to Costco and bought a HP w/25 inch monitor... that we used as a second monitor to watch the Olympics on (with Windows Media Center and this SiliconDust HDHomeRun over-the-air HD tuner that plugs into the network).

Now, what to do with the quad core cpu, 4 GB memory, graphics card, and dual 750GB HD... guess I should look for a cheap case and motherboard...

http://Www.pricewatch.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dan Shaw]

Don't buy a Dell.

+1 on that after my XPS720 motherboard died (stupid formfactor is not common and Dell said $400-600 to have it fixed)...

Went to Costco and bought a HP w/25 inch monitor... that we used as a second monitor to watch the Olympics on (with Windows Media Center and this SiliconDust HDHomeRun over-the-air HD tuner that plugs into the network).

Now, what to do with the quad core cpu, 4 GB memory, graphics card, and dual 750GB HD... guess I should look for a cheap case and motherboard...

http://Www.pricewatch.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Kristoffer Gjevre]

Sorry but gotta chime in. I had a Dell from 1997 that has lasted me up until last year! There was absolutely NOTHING wrong with it. Never had to call DELL for support. I upgraded....not because my PC was bad, it was just slow. Kinda like going from a Honda Civic to a BMW M3/Porsche 911/Ferrari 430. (DELL XPS 720). Screaming fast. DELL makes good PCs. As for Laptops, that's another story. I know Tom T.'s had a bad experience but I guess being in computers in my career and computer literate, I'd have say DELLs are fine. But if you want to go buy a "toy"....er...I mean a Mac go right ahead.

Sorry to hear about your problem's Tom with the DELL.

I still have 3 Dells in my office at work that has run fine for years, and the company bought a lot of Dells in the past that I think generally held up well.
I am just wondering if Dell quality has gone downhill lately... my Dell XPS720 was 2.5 years old...
Also, you may want to consider extended warranty on the XPS720... I wish I had bought that on mine before it expired...
If you google you will see a lot of people having problems and bitching about the motherboard crapping out repeatedly and the fact that it is an unusual formfactor, here is one comment I found:

The Xps 720 is a BTX Dell board the industry never really went to BTX
there are some Intel BTX around but not many the vast majority of them
are either Dell or Gateway and both are proprietary the chances of
find one to fit the case and have the front panel connectors fit are
pretty slim, I think you may be better off picking a board and a case
you like use your CPU, Drives.Video card, you won't be able to use the
PSU because the power supply on the 700 series uses a proprietary 24
pin and a 20 pin power connector which is another reason the
replacement board would have to be a Dell board.

So it seemed to me that if I had Dell fix it I better get the warranty, and then it got very expensive to fix... ($400-600 to fix, $50 to reinstate warranty, plus $100 a year for the warranty)...

[Giovanni Jaramillo]

Absolutely! My CD/DVD read writer failed on my but thank god, it was still within the 1st year warranty. Called up DELL, sent a tech over to my house to swap and replace. Cost...$0. When it was time to extend my warranty...I definitely did for 1 year but I may add 3 more years just for peace of mind.

I have heard or read on the news about DELLs quality suffering a bit but so far I'm pleased with my gaming Dell XPS desktop PC.