Hardware shopping

It is really hard to answer this question. If I were you, I would either buy a branded one online (e.g. Dell computers are among the cheapest yet decent) or find a knowledgeable friend to set up the whole thing for me. Or you can go to a computer shop, let them understand your computing needs, give them a budget and get them to fix everything up to you. And geez, 500 GB sounds HUGE. My harddisk is only 40GB and I haven't even scratched the tip of it.

First, we need to know whether you are building a computer from scratch or if you intend to use some existing parts? If you have parts that you would like to use, what are they? How much money are you willing to spend?

I leave that type of stuff to my brother and sister who are better with that sort of thing. They know more than I do, so I trust their opinions and do not stress myself out over it. I guess that is one of the perks of having computer geeks in the family.

Sadly I think you might be better off to buy a new computer... The first thing I would do is try to see what is on your computer that you no longer need - programs you don't use (especially pre-installed stuff like aol or trial software) - you can go through add/remove programs to see what you have - then start going through your files. I write a lot, so maybe it is just me, but I might have 100 files that are just random stuff I don't need, or won't use, or copied somewhere else...you can also try defragging and running registry cleaner or msconfig if it's running slow - also how much ram do you have? If you upgrade to 1 gb or more of ram you will see a huge difference also... I don't know a ton about computers, but I do know I love my acer aspire laptop...hubby surprised me with it for my b-day - it is truly the best gift I ever got...not just because of it's price tag or any of that but the freedom it gives me to be able to go places and take it along with me or to move around the house so I can work & still play with the kids at the same time. (haha, not like i would consider mylot to be work, lol!) I have 160 gb hard drive, 1 gb ram expandable to 4 gig...1.47 ghz dual core processor...very pleased so far - I have barely made a dent in the computer...it still runs like the day I took it out of the box, which is so rare. you can get more for your dollar with a desktop - but I love the freedom...I think you can get a laptop like mine for around $500 - you could get a desktop with twice as much for around the same price... c-net is a good place for reviews, also try tigerdirect - sometimes they have the best prices...good luck with your decision!!