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I'm thinking of buying a new computer: now what?

Find the answer below. Get live help from 8am to 9pm Atl. Call 1-866-631-0985 or 506-386-6824.

Budget: If you're the type of person that likes to maintain their purchases and keep them longer than maybe the average person, we suggest you treat your computer purchase like any other expensive item and do a bit of homework before you buy. The main complaint of computer users is that their machine is slow, and this is especially true with Vista users. This is usually related to a lack of RAM memory, not to be confused with hard drive storage space. Your motherboard should allow you at least 4 Gigabytes of RAM even if your PC doesn't have that much contained in it during your purchase. If possible purchase your machine with the 4GB already in place. This will make your Vista experience much more pleasant. Also most people purchase machines with 32-bit processors but that is changing. We suggest that you purchase a machine with a 64-bit microprocessor. Why? Because even if your version of Windows is only 32-bit today, you won't have to purchase a new machine when 64-bit operating systems become more prevalent. 64-bit systems offer the possibility of having much more RAM and greater security.

Laptop or desktop? click here

Where to buy?: Some people believe that buying a PC from a retail store may give you the best price but not necessarily the best quality. These same people believe it is best to buy individual 'top quality' parts and assemble your PC yourself or have someone do this for you. While we believe this may have been true at one time, we think this is false today. While we cannot personally vouch for standards in assembly plants in foreign countries, we think they do a good job judging by the quality going in the machines we see and work on regularly. The price differences stem from the fact that they are building units by the x thousands and their salaries are much lower. The person you hire to assemble your custom PC cannot come close to providing you that kind of savings on parts or labour. Therefore for price, you may as well head on over to your local Future Shop or Staples. If you are looking a reasonably priced machine with Windows xp, we are now selling off lease desktops and laptops. A lot of people dislike Vista but not because of the operating system but because they skimped on the RAM during their purchase and now they are upset that it is so slow.

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