Hey guys,

I'm going to buy a new desktop computer and monitor. I already know that I want a 20'' flatscreen monitor, and a reasonably powerful/state-of-the-art computer. I'm sick and tired of waiting half an hour before my computer has finally started up.

Any recommendations? What should I be paying attention to?

dell for machine and monitor (2001FP).

get lots of ram and a great video card. you don't need the top of the line CPU, but get towards the high-end if you can afford it.

don't go too skimpy (e.g., the minumum) on the HD, but you also don't need the best either.

Personally I would stick to Windows XP. Im no computer guru, but I cant imagine you need WIndows Pro for home use.

************* Hijack alert ************

Im about to buy a Sony 60" top of the line TV. It has inputs to connect my computer. Can you imagine playing poker on this thing? When I fling some chips out onto the table, they will look like dinner plates.

************ End of Hijack **************

I respect Microsoft and copywrite but let me tell you what just happened to me.

I am a license owner of MS Office. I paid full price in a retail store.

About once a year, I sometimes reformat my HD to get rid of all the crap and just wipe it clean. Improves speed like you wouldn't believe. I've done this for years. Never a problem, until...

Microsoft says I can't reinstall my office. I've done it too many times. Nevermind its just for me. I went ahead and bought another copy and just paid my extortion fee to Bill Gates. What a crock.

Derk, I built my first system circa 1990. It was a 386-25 with co-processor. That's a long time building systems.

You can build a system now for less than you would pay for a COMPARABLE system, if you're going to blow the doors off anything anyone else has. But, is it necessary?

A system one would use for our purposes--surfing, email, playing poker--doesn't need to be the latest and greatest. Heck, I played poker on a Pentium 266 notebook with Windows 95 last year when my desktop died. It worked, slowly, yes, and one window, but it worked.

By the time you find all the components and pay shipping, you're probably spending more than you would finding a deal at the big box store locally. These days, the cost of manufacture is just too low to make building yourself a whole new system not cost effective.

Upgrading is a different matter, but often that is building a whole new system since the old motherboard, CPU and memory probably need to be replaced at the same time, which means that's most of the bucks. Case, peripherals, etc. are just dirt cheap.

YMMV.