If you are finding yourself in the market for a new desktop and a low cost is your main concern then keep reading, this article is for you. Before we begin please understand that, although I do plenty of research, this blog really only boils down to my opinion. I do, however, try my best to look at all the facts while at the same time weighing in past experiences.

True or False: Building your own computer can save you a lot of money. ???

For the people out there that want the bleeding edge technology and know where to get it almost always save money when they build their own computer. That isn't what this article is about, though. This article is about the people who don't generally play the newest games on the market or demand blazing performance while using some top-of-the-line 3-D modeling software. That's right, building your own computer from scratch is definitely not the best way to go if you are on a tight budget. This is partially due to the fact that most larger computer companies buy so many parts at once that they get the absolute lowest prices. Not to mention the fact that assembly line automation drops costs even more.

To start with I will list the brands that I think deserve your consideration and then I will break it down even further discussing examples of what the systems are best suited for. I have listed them in order with my favorite picks first.

1. eMachines (owned by Gateway, they are always affordable)
2. Compaq (the SR2150NX package at Best Buy for just under $400 this week is phenomenal)
3. Acer  (model AST180-UD400B in particular)
4. Gateway (the GT5404 dual core package grabs honors in the $600 to $700 range)

For extreme budget desktops I steer clear of Dell and other mail-order systems because you will get killed with the shipping costs and sales tax. Those two things when found together pack a one, two punch that can seriously eat up any budget you had planned. In the desktop market I also tend to be leery of both HP's slimline systems and there non-slim counterparts. Hp has never really been know for there great cost vs. performance ratings on their desktop PC's. (HP's notebooks are a whole different game, however).

Now that we have established a few outstanding budget performers let's see if your needs are closer to the $400 or the $700 range. For starters, what kind of activities are you planning on doing with your computer? if you only want a terminal for e-mail and some light word processing then I recommend that you stay on the shallow end. If, however, you are planning on using your computer to manage and edit photographs, movies or music then you should start to consider leaning toward the upper echelon of the budget category. Also, if you even think you might be playing some of this century's games then you had better expect to pony up some dough for the $650 dollar package and then some for a video card upgrade.

Let's take a look at the Gateway package GT5404 as sold at Best Buy for $650. You get the computer, a 17" LCD monitor and a photo printer. The computer itself has generous offerings in every area, considering the price. A dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, plenty of hard drive storage and Window's Vista Premium. The only area I see it lacking is with the video accelerator. That is a plight known to virtually every prebuilt system sold in a major electronics store. Luckily, it can be fixed ... and it will need to be fixed if you intend on using graphic intensive games or applications. My recommendation for topping off this Gateway is to drop in an EVGA nVidia 7600 GT that can be had for under $120 on a web-site such as www.NewEgg.com.

In conclusion, $400 buys you a basic terminal that you can use for sending/receiving email, posting to forums or blogs, balancing your checkbook and some light word processing. On the other end of the budget sector, weighing in at around $650, we have a machine that can edit photographs, video footage as well as burn DVD's and play older games. If you are feeling reckless, though, I recommend that you spend the extra ?$?<$120 and drop in a decent video card. Doing so will not only take the Graphic Processing Unit off of the mainboard freeing some processing power, but it will also let you reclaim any previously shared RAM between the onboard video and the system memory.

If you have any further questions about this article or about any other technology please email me at jmaurer@yourtechworks.com.