[newton]

First off, please...I ask, please do not tell me to build my own. I understand building is the best way to go, but in my case right now, I will need a good and reliable brand name computer for the time being.

I'm looking for something that's around or sub $500 and can be easily upgraded in the near future.

Thanks.

[macdude425]

"Reliable brand" + "sub $500"

Can those two terms coexist?

Cheapest reliable computer I can recommend is the Mac Mini, and the low-end model is $599.

[newton]

I'm looking at emachines. Good, bad?

It doesn't have to be dead on reliable, just reliable enough so it doesn't crash every other month.

[macdude425]

Not so good. I've had less than good experience with their machines until I literally rebuilt them. It would've been cheaper for me to build...

[Powerslave]

Originally posted by newton
I'm looking at emachines. Good, bad?

It doesn't have to be dead on reliable, just reliable enough so it doesn't crash every other month.

Emachines is better then dell. I use to have a gateway, it was pretty good.

[Calibretto]

Dell has one for $300 but it sucks. There next cheapest one I think is around $500. It's not bad.

[macdude425]

Sorry, but in my book Dell is not synonomous with "reliable", especially after the bad cap incident, and some of the other things I've seen them do (except the middle and almost-high end laptops...they aren't bad...)

[aliasaid]

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...uct_Code=90371

something along the lines of that... look around that site for other systems..

[john3]

WHOA! i just build a computer on monarch with the same specs as im getting here in canada, and it turned out to cost about $2500 i think without tax in USD. whereas it would cost me $2500 CDN still without tax, but thats still a big difference. i had to go through 30 store sites to get the best prices, but it pays off.

[aliasaid]

i guess monarch doesn't have that great of prices then...