How much is "too much" for a new computer?
By Phyrre
@phyrre (2317)
United States
July 30, 2009 12:23pm CST
I had never even thought about this question until one of my colleagues brought it up. I just bought my husband a new laptop for his birthday because his desktop computer (which is extremely old) finally kicked the bucket and he's going to college next semester so he's going to need a computer.
Now, I let him choose whatever he wanted on the computer and the total cost (including tax) was $1,800. My colleague said she would never pay that much for a computer and that $600 was definitely her tops.
I started thinking about it, though. My laptop, which I'm on right now, has been an invaluable resource for me through college so far. It's an important source of income off the internet, it's where I write my papers and do my research, where I play games to relax, and it's where I write my programs. I'm a computer science major, so it was important to me to have a good laptop that would not only last, but be able to perform well regardless of what task I needed. I ended up spending $1,200 on mine.
My husband, on the other, is a hard core gamer. He plays some sort of game every day to relax and unwind and he really enjoys it, so when we first started talking about getting him a computer we did agree that it would be a computer meant for gaming. That being said, his computer, like mine, would also need to be able to survive whatever we needed for it. He hasn't yet decided his major, so there's a chance that it could involve computers and even if it doesn't, if his computer is better equipped to handle something for my major then I'll need to use it on occasion. So paying $1,800 for a computer that was EXCELLENT and that we know will be able to be used for whatever we need it doesn't seem too bad to us.
But what do you think? How much is "too much" for a new computer for you?
7 responses
@hulaboy (319)
• Micronesia
31 Jul 09
Hi. I think your colleague is right, a $1800 laptop is too much. I usually buy the cheap laptops because price is still going down and next year i might grab another one and won't feel guilty for scrapping the other one. Plus he's going to school so he won't need that much power for doing school work etc. The laptops that are priced at 600-800 dollars will be enough to handle all the school work he's going to be doing.
1 person likes this
@windymyre (210)
• United States
31 Jul 09
After looking at laptops, talking to our friend who knows a lot about computers & knowing what my mom & brother paid for their laptops through Dell, I thought about $800-900 would get us a decent machine. A co-worker just bought a new desktop computer at Best Buy, said he bought the top of the line machine & it was $895. I'm not sure if that included keyboard, monitor or printer. He said they had to replace their tower, so I'm assuming that is all they bought.
1 person likes this
@icehut (508)
•
30 Jul 09
Personally, I'd split the money over two units... one netbook and the rest on the beefed up gaming (aka work) rig. Yes, there are laptops with dedicated 3D graphics cards, but you need to remember that 3D computation comes with a lot of heat and those relatively confined spaces inside the laptop will not be sufficient to keep the laptop cool in extreme gaming sessions. That's where the desktop unit comes in - play those games, compile your sources etc. For me, a portable unit should be just that, portable and convenient which is why my choice would be the netbook to compliment the workhorse desktop. There's plenty of juice in those netbooks to compile code in the field as needed. If I need more power, I'd NX back to my workhorse and run the processing on that... Just my preference... ^_^
1 person likes this
@phyrre (2317)
• United States
30 Jul 09
We specifically decided against a desktop because we'd never use it. We're rarely at home and during school we're home only to sleep, basically, so we really need something that's portable and easy to take along with us. We also have a cooling unit for it. They're not that expensive. My brother in law has one for his computer and it works well and is rarely needed and his is similar to my husband's, so that should work just fine.
But yes, it depends on what you're looking for in a computer. We're looking for not just versatility, but power, too. :) And if you would actually use a desktop it would be fine, but we never seem to really use it. ;)
@bluesinjid (658)
• Canada
30 Jul 09
Well, my opinion on the price of any computer I buy should be under $1000. The most common question people ask is the price, but the most important question you should ask is what is inside! This is because if you know how to build your own computer, you can spend about $700 and get something for a value of $1400 at a retailer!
Another question people ask if they want a mac or a PC. I personally think macs suck, ( my opinion after using it a for a week straight.) because they cost well above $1000 and have very outdated parts inside of it. People are not actually buying the 'Mac' but the operating system ,because they don't like Vista. I must admit that macs last way longer, but it is not a good for a gamer.
You can easily get a decent PC desktop for under $700, that is if you don't play games and use it for everyday work or to surf the net.
1 person likes this
@phyrre (2317)
• United States
30 Jul 09
I don't like Mac either, personally. I don't particularly like Vista, but I would (and have) chosen Vista over a Mac just the same.
Yes, we could have gone cheaper, but the being able to play games thing is important to us. We're big gamers, as I've mentioned and it's something he really wanted. And if we're going to spend even $700 on something it'd better be what we want, so we didn't mind spending the extra for something we were guaranteed to like for many years to come rather than buy something cheaper that we would want to replace next year anyway.
@j92mike (54)
• United States
30 Jul 09
Well 1800 is definately over my league I built a laptop on the hp website for under 900 dollars, my husband won't let me get it cause he feels that's too much! You can't put a price on a computer there's too many features to choose from screen size intel or amd and the security features the internet virus protection 15 months or 3 years it all adds up. I wouldn't spend over 900 for a laptop only because I know I could get everything I want in it.
1 person likes this
@pyromania (8)
• United States
30 Jul 09
1,000 dollar range is pushin it for a new comp but at max if your looking for that super comp and your picky 2,000 is even to much so anything past that keep lookin.
@diamania (7011)
• Netherlands
30 Jul 09
In my opinion when having to sacrifice basic purchases over a computer then that's too much. My bet is that this isn't the case in your situation, so it would be perfectly fine. As for myself, my tops is the amount of money I can afford to spend. Fortunately there are those companies who accept instalments against, which is the only downside, high interest, making it possible for those who are rather short of money to have some luxury.
1 person likes this
@phyrre (2317)
• United States
30 Jul 09
Well, we've been saving up for the computer, so we had the money in our savings account already. It was a purchase that we anticipated so it's not like it was a spur-of-the-moment sort of thing. We just kept putting money in the savings account until we had enough to afford it. ^_^
Yes, we wanted to get installments, but neither of us have had credit long enough to be accepted for that. We did try, though. But we have installments for other things, which is how I actually have a car. 
