I am looking for some advice on where to buy my next computer. I would like to purchase an AMD 64 X2 4400 AM2 socket system over the internet (yes, I could build it myself but since this is for my wife's business, matrimonial harmony would be better served by an outside builder). The regulars here have given me great advice in the past such as waiting until now because the Conroe's just came out. I was thinking of an HP but I thought I read jam dissing these in the past and I respect his opinion. I bought a system from Cyberpower for my son last year so I am looking at them and buyxg and maybe alienware too but was wondering: 1) should I stear clear of HP's? and, if I go the internet route any advice on where I should go to buy this system. Thanks guys, I for one appreciate computing.net and all the regulars for spending their time to educate the masses.

"I am looking for some advice on where to buy my next computer. I would like to purchase an AMD 64 X2 4400 AM2 socket system over the internet (yes, I could build it myself but since this is for my wife's business, matrimonial harmony would be better served by an outside builder). The regulars here have given me great advice in the past such as waiting until now because the Conroe's just came out. I was thinking of an HP but I thought I read jam dissing these in the past and I respect his opinion. I bought a system from Cyberpower for my son last year so I am looking at them and buyxg and maybe alienware too but was wondering: 1) should I stear clear of HP's? and, if I go the internet route any advice on where I should go to buy this system. Thanks guys, I for one appreciate computing.net and all the regulars for spending their time to educate the masses." Cyberpower and iBuypower are pathetic in my opinion. Terrible customer service (if you could call it that). buyXG is a division of Cyberpower. Same with iBuypower. Alienware has gone down hill and has been going down further since 2003. HP/Compaq I'm not fond of but taht's because they're proprietary and becausee they send you will all that garbage software you don't need (half of it is adware). Dell is actually getting better though you still get that junk software that is unecessary. I'd look into dell because they are making a very reasonable machine right now. Or if you wanted to stay custom build, look at Velocity Micro. Those are some good machines.

Unless they've changed, you won't find an AMD CPU in a Dell.

Alienware was bought by Dell a few months ago. Larry Today seems like a good day to chew through the restraints.

"Unless they've changed, you won't find an AMD CPU in a Dell." I think they were suppose to have AMD procs as an ooption by now. But I never checked.

I think you should stay away from OEMs like Dell, HP, Compaq, Emachine, etc. Get a generic system with a real Microsoft CD. If you have system problems, you have a chance of fixing them without wiping out everything and doing a restore to the way it came from the factory. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

I'm not trying to sell you system, but I agree with ham30. I build custom systems for businesses and I always include all disks for the computer when I build it. Whether it's me or someone else, the customer always has the disks that I used to build the computer. If anything goes wrong they can try and repair it or start from scratch. They don't have to jump though all kinds of hoops to find the software and drivers for their computer. Larry Today seems like a good day to chew through the restraints.