With the age of technology upon us, pretty well everyone needs a home computer. Most of you will already have one: something you paid thousands for just a few years ago. But you and I know it just can’t handle today’s software. After grudgingly accepting this fact, you’re determined to get something new that will last at least five years. Let me be the first to tell you this isn’t going to happen. But you’re ready to point out the 486 you have that is still running today. Sure it works, and will work forever if you only want to use software from within a year of the system’s age. Most of us want to upgrade because we’ve seen a game or word processing package that needs more horsepower. The pace of change today is so great you’ll be lucky to get two years from a computer you buy today. This really isn’t bad, with the price of good systems staying below $3000. Our recomended systems are listed below.
One note on pricing: I’ve scanned distributor sites for most of these prices. To get a fair market price I added 10% to the pricing to come up with what one should expect to pay. Also, since I’m in Southern Ontario, Canada, I’d be forced to add 15% tax on top of the total. Another important item: the products listed here are generally OEM, or Original Equipment Manufacturer. This means the item comes in a white box without the retail packaging, as it was meant for system integration and not to sit on a shelf in a store.
I’ve tried to broach a wide variety of needs in the four classes of upgrade PC below. The $5000 Gaming Machine represents best of breed, high ticket components. The $4000 SME Server fits the bill for a small to medium enterprise server handling day to day office requirements. The $2000 Home System is just that; mid to high end components assembled to present an excellent home PC experience. The $1000 Budget PC fits the bill of entry level machine for home or office. It does your daily work of e-mail, web surfing, word processing and spreadsheet crunching with aplomb.
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