Need a cheap new computer

[archibaldcrane]

My 5 year old intel iMac shit the bed last week (power button does nothing) and I'm getting sick of using my phone for everything. Having a Mac is the ideal solution so I can use Final cut Pro (I'm a television editor) but if I was going to buy another mac id want a mac pro, and I'd want one with the new Thunderbolt port, but that's macbook pro only so far.

Plus I don't really wanna drop 4k on a system at the moment.

So to tide myself over, I want to get a cheap PC. Preferably the best available for under $500 (before monitor). I was at costco the other day but realize I know jack shit about AMD processors, which made it really hard to shop. Something without integrated graphics would be ideal - if it could run, say, FFXIV great.

Not particularly interested in building my own rig at the moment, unless you can convince me that it is the only way to go.

Get at me with links to good, cheap machines. Remember I'm on my phone solely.

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[Coren]

Under $500, plays FFXIV at decent FPS/has dedicated video card, and not building it yourself is pushing it. You can pick two of the three though!

[archibaldcrane]

I knew that was unrealistic last fall, wasn't sure how things have progressed since then.

Hmmm. Maybe I should just get a laptop to tide me over til i get a big editing system, so at least it'll still have utility once I do...

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[Cantih]

Production line machines, especially at $500, will not be able to play FFXIV, maybe at craaaaaaaaaap settings, but even then I'd be really surprised.
Even if you hand built it from scratch I don't think you could do it for $500, unless you are some kind of shopping god.

For a tide over, a laptop might be your best bet. You can probably find something in that price range that will let you do standard browsing and manage to play classic PC games. But a laptop that can play modern games well, is going to run you far more.
Dunno about using it for work though, I'm not too knowledgeable about hardware specs for professional video editing.

[Ragnell]

Or just Pony up to 100-200 more and I can get you a great fucking system

[Ragnell]

http://dealspl.us/Desktops_deals/p_h...-90ghz-desktop

[Ragnell]

http://www.buy.com/prod/cyberpowerpc...220376853.html

[Ragnell]

http://www.woot.com/

HP Pavilion 17.3” Entertainment Laptop with Blu-ray
$499.99

* + $5 shipping

Condition:
Refurbished
Product:
1 HP DV7-4165DX Laptop 17.3” HD LED, AMD Triple Core, 4GB, 640GB, Blu-ray, 802.11n, Beats Audio, W7HP

[archibaldcrane]

http://www.buy.com/prod/cyberpowerpc...220376853.html

This would play FFXIV np wouldn't it?

(Note, I don't play the game currently, just using it as an example)

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[Ragnell]

Yea it should no problems

[archibaldcrane]

http://www.woot.com/

HP Pavilion 17.3” Entertainment Laptop with Blu-ray
$499.99

* + $5 shipping

Condition:
Refurbished
Product:
1 HP DV7-4165DX Laptop 17.3” HD LED, AMD Triple Core, 4GB, 640GB, Blu-ray, 802.11n, Beats Audio, W7HP

Hell, a 4250 mobile can play it too, right?

(I haven't owned a PC since the one I bought a year before FFXI came out fyi)

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[Ragnell]

I wouldn't trust it, My laptop has a 1gb Nvidia Geforce GT 320M and cant run it smoothly for some reason, it stutters alot, most mobile cards a very weak compared to the desktops

[sruon]

I wouldn't trust any prebuilt computer to play any meaningful game in this price range. Unless you don't mind swapping the graphic card yourself, GTX 460 can be bought for like $100 and do great in current gen games. But then you may as well build your own.

[Shade]

There is an option between build it yourself and buying a prebuilt box - many of the places that sell computer parts will help you pick out things and then put it all together for you for a small extra fee. This is what I would do if I wanted cheap parts but was afraid of assembling them.

[archibaldcrane]

Laptop. Desktop replacement. Blu-ray drive, 17"+, reasonably competent gfx card, good battery life, under $700. How about that?

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[archibaldcrane]

http://www.frys.com/product/6525003/

How about this one? I couldn't say how good the AMD processor or video card is, but everything else seems solid. Good deal? A little more than I want to spend but im going crazy without a computer. Lemme know if this would be a mistake or if there's a better/cheaper option with 17"/blu-ray/gfx card.

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[archibaldcrane]

http://www.frys.com/product/6416392?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Shit. This would be great but they don't have it in stock anywhere.

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[archibaldcrane]

Ended up getting an HP for $956+tax after 25% off coupon (thanks Ragnell!)

Specs:

HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC

• • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• • 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
• • 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6490M Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• • FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• • 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• • No Additional Office Software
• • FREE Upgrade to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
• • 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
• • 17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
• • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• • HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
• • Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• • Standard Keyboard
• • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Should be a beast I think. Fucking thing takes like a month to build though, gonna have to tough it out a bit...

[archibaldcrane]

Should I be concerned that my laptop is only pulling this on low settings for the FFXIV benchmark?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...wBenchmark.png

[sruon]

What's the score on low?