Date: 02/06/06 (Computer Help)    Keywords: software

I’m in the market for a computer of my own so I can follow my dreams and get into digital art, photography, and music, but being computer illiterate doesn’t help. I’d hate to doubt them, but a friend of a friend is trying to sell me one of their home built machines for $700 and I want your opinion whether or not I should take it. This is the “estimated price sheet” they gave me…

CPU- $80
Video Card- $150
1gb Ram- $104
Mother Board- $88
Hard Drive- $78
XP License- $45
Keyboard- $10
Mouse- $25
Alienware(?) case / power supply / extra fans- $70
CD Burner- $30
Wireless card- (?)
Monitor- $100 (needs replacing now)
*Total- $780, although they said it cost nearly $900 to build.

It already has a lot of useful software on it, and they claim that building is much cheaper than buying store brands, but I’m nervous. If I lose contact with this person and the computer starts acting up who do I turn to? Is PC really the way to go? I’m wondering if a Mac would be better for me cause I’ve heard they’re pretty indestructible, and those are words I like to hear (I also used them in Graphic Design at college). Any opinions?

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computer_help/582575.html