Can anyone help me choose a computer ?

[rhino47]

I want to buy my daughter a computer for her birthday.
I am somewhat frustrated at choosing.
I have had good luck with amd over pentium.
What is the amd sempron ?Is it like the pent celeron?
She is basically going to burn cds,pretend to do homework
and play games on it.
Is 512 enough memory ( I did buy her a digital camera)?
Should I go with 1 gig?
Also where is a good place to get a custom made ?
Are gateways still junk?
Dell is it junk?
Are asus a good motherboard?
I had a my motherboard go on a HP and was shocked I had buy a HP replacement ( it was cheaper to go buy another computer)
Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Some answers...

What is the amd sempron ?Is it like the pent celeron? -- Yes, it's AMD's competitor for the Celeron D
Is 512 enough memory ( I did buy her a digital camera)? -- 512MB should be good for what she needs, unless she plans to do some hardcore gaming
Should I go with 1 gig? -- If you want to, go for it, it's never a bad idea to have more RAM.
Are asus a good motherboard? -- Yes.

[rhino47]

2. Hey thanks.Any suggestions on brand of computer?

nt

[ghostsofgiants]

3. I built mine myself

You might want to consider that. It's not difficult and that way you could get exactly what you want. Usually cheaper to do, too.

[Wcross]

4. I bought my last three from cyberpower.

They have all kinds of options. You can select a prebuilt model and/or add or remove components as you please.

I did have a memory problem with my latest one but they replaced it no questions asked and it is fine now.

http://www.cyberpowersystem.com/

I would go with 1 gig of memory if possible.

[rhino47]

6. Great site ..Ok now Pent or Amd ? which should I get?

Thanks

[Wcross]

11. I have always gone with the AMD's

You really can't compare speed equally for some reason (Pentium seems to always say they have a faster cpu speed but the chips AMD has listed at slower speeds often beat the Intel's)
It really is a matter of personal choice- both are good.

[Clintmax]

5. OK...here comes the finger pointing and laughing...

I have always owned Compaq's. I have NEVER had any problems with them, and have been VERY pleased with customer service and support when I needed to call them about how to do something. Right now, I have 512mb of RAM and a 200GB drive. I make lots of CD's and mine performs flawlessly! I would stay AWAY from Pentium's and get only AMD's. Mine also has a DVD+-RW drive.

It costed me around $700. Something you might think about!

[rhino47]

7. I cant laugh.My first second third and fourth computers were all compaq.

My compaqs had amd also.
I had not problem with mine.I did drop a bottle of wine on the latest compaq and fried it.
I hate HP .I had one and the motherboard fried on it after 7 months.
I had a dell that I had for one day when the dvd went out on it.

Did that 700 bux include a moniter?
thanks

[Wcross]

12. Compaq??? BWAAAAAAAAA

Just ribbing ya Clintmax!

[rhino47]

8. Are they phasing out the AMD 754 pins ?

If so what impact will this have on trying to get parts for it in the future.thanks

[yvr girl]

9. How old is your daughter

If she is close to going away to college, I would consider a laptop.

[rhino47]

10. She is 12.

I was thinking of a laptop but I saw the condition of the portable dvd player.She was kind of hard on it.

[Wcross]

13. At 12 you would be better off with a desk-top.

They are harder to mis-place.

[yvr girl]

14. Six years is a LONG time in computer years

I agree, a desktop is best.