Computer Help Please?

kiwara's picture
Alright so I'm thinking of getting a new computer as my reliable clunker is starting to cause more and more problems and I was kind of hoping some gamers or computer savvy people here would be able to help me understand what the hell type of computer I should even be looking for.

I need a lot of memory and is preferably fast. Preferably a desktop. I keep looking at gamers because I think of them as having the best of both worlds- fast performance and a lot of memory. My current computer is an older Lenovo, and it's been honestly one of the best computers I've had. Minimal problems over it's life with the exception of right now. It's not a gamer though. It does the best it can, within reason, but it's not a gamer. I'm not a hard core pc gamer either, but I do play some games, whatever games my computer can handle and I'd like to not lose them. I'd play more pc games if my comp could handle it too.

Basically... are gamers good all around. Can they be a general workhorse or are they just for games? I need a multipurpose, reliable machine and the more I'm looking at brands and all those techy-specs terms the more I'm glossing over and going into some sort of panic attack. I've been looking at Asus, looking at Lenovos, alienware even though they're out of my price range. I'll consider anything, mostly I just need help understanding what I should be looking at. What's good and what's not good when it comes down to graphics cards and...most of that other stuff that's all letters and numbers.

Edit: Preferably a PC too. The last several months I've been looking at macs and for what I need they're just too expensive and don't play nice with the programs I use for work and school.
Edit 2: Any sort of help in making sense of this is super appreciated! Research is sort of fruitless and whatnot. A thousand thank yous in advance for help and for even clicking on this. I'm sort of losing my mind.
Pegasicorn's picture

I could possibly help out a

I could possibly help out a bit when I have time and am not about to go to bed. |D One thing I'll say is Alienware is overpriced for what it is compared to other brands. Doesn't make them bad; just makes them overpriced.
Can you maybe link a few PCs you've been looking at and I might be able to help from there? I actually built my own rig, so talking about prebuilts isn't as easy without having somewhere to go from. |D
kiwara's picture

I was also looking at

I was also looking at building one, but I have no idea what sort of price I'd be looking at. Was yours expensive? Like as much as buying one of these machines?

I don't really have a 'I was looking at this specific computer' sort of thing. I kind of look at the brands...lol. I kind of know just enough to spit out a few computer words and make someone think I know what I'm talking about. I was looking at Lenovos. Newer versions of ThinkCentre's or whatever they're called, as that's what this machine is. I was looking at Asus too, but I have no experience with them. Basically whatever brand has a "gamer" that has all the newer pc stuff and within a reasonable price range.
Avatar © Squeegie & Siggy © Caiir + other
Wendingo's picture

If you know anyone IRL who

If you know anyone IRL who has experience with building a computer, you could save yourself a decent amount of cash while also getting exactly what you're looking for. kind of hard to find people who can do that, though, so you could always go to a local shop? i've heard that shops can charge quite a bit for it, though

ordering the parts would be pretty easy, you could honestly just google search new rigs until you find one in your price range. i'm too tired to look for it atm but there's a subreddit specifically for sharing computer builds

That's kinda out of the way, of course. It'd probably be the most satisfactory if you're going for a desktop that's all around reliable, though. I've always shopped around on Microcenter or Newegg for computers/parts, but recently, Microcenter seems to have better deals.


made by foxofthestars!
kiwara's picture

I have some peeps who might

I have some peeps who might help me, if they're not busy. Unfortunately I know nothing of computer building so 99% of what you just said went well over my head, but from the gist of what you're saying, yeah I agree. I'll probably just either have to settle for something mostly decent or build something too. I'd love to learn how to build them though. Thanks for the thoughts!
Avatar © Squeegie & Siggy © Caiir + other
Pegasicorn's picture

Building your own is a good

Building your own is a good way to go to save a bit, but yea, it can be overwhelming and "what do?!" if you have no idea what you're doing. In the end, my rig probably ended up costing close to 2,000 USD. I had saved awhile when I did it, and I splurged a little on a few things like the case, but it's the best machine I've ever had, and it's really satisfying knowing I made it myself.
This is the list of parts I used actually. (A couple of things no longer have prices listed since I did it over 2 years ago.) It might go over your head like you said, but if you really wanted to try having a computer built, this is the site to use to make sure all the parts are compatible.
But yea, like Wendigo suggested, looking for a shop or someone else to build one might be better. It's going to cost more than doing it yourself, but it could still end up cheaper than a really good prebuilt system. And without the ton of programs prebuilts have installed that we all end up removing when we buy them anyway. ='D
kiwara's picture

Oh wow, that's actually not

Oh wow, that's actually not that scary of a list, lol and perfectly reasonable. I'm just going to save that site for in the future so I can at least...start learning computer parts. And maybe when I can afford it, I'd splurge and do that. 2 grand's a little out of my price range, but I can understand why you'd go that route. If I had the money to spend I'd do it to, to have a perfectly reliable computer that can handle anything I asked it to do. I think I know what I'm going to do now, yay for time crunches xD, but thank you for the help!
Avatar © Squeegie & Siggy © Caiir + other
Pegasicorn's picture

There are a lot more "good"

There are a lot more "good" options than when I made that too. More budget-friendly even. ='D But I had the money saved up at the time (and the confidence to try my hand at building), so I went for it. \o/ Pcpartpicker is a really good site for making a list though. Gives so much useful information so you know if the stuff you're considering works together. =]