New computer

[Maluku]

Most of the problems people encounter come from software. And all the bloatware that pre-built PCs come w/ is the root of those problems. A fresh clean install of windows w/ all the updates and the newest drivers for standard hardware avoid most conflicts (so many pre-built computers use proprietary drivers which are often never updated). Throw on a good AV (like BitDefender or F-Secure) and use a hardware router w/ NAT & a SPI firewall built in. and you're golden.

You may be right there, I haven't thought of that at all, since I built all my stuff myself or buy Apple...

You can however always do a clean install of Windows on any PC selfbuilt or prebuilt.

 

[Captain_Caveman]

Most of the problems people encounter come from software. And all the bloatware that pre-built PCs come w/ is the root of those problems. A fresh clean install of windows w/ all the updates and the newest drivers for standard hardware avoid most conflicts (so many pre-built computers use proprietary drivers which are often never updated). Throw on a good AV (like BitDefender or F-Secure) and use a hardware router w/ NAT & a SPI firewall built in. and you're golden.

You may be right there, I haven't thought of that at all, since I built all my stuff myself or buy Apple...

You can however always do a clean install of Windows on any PC selfbuilt or prebuilt.

sometimes. some PCs will actually have the bloatware install w/ windows. have it built into the install on the recovery CD/DVD. which makes it really hard to get rid of. i think HP & toshiba do this. Dell used to i dont know if they do anymore. But dell never really had a ton of crap pre-loaded. still too much, but compared to other companies not as much. some will even have the bloatware install when you try to install drivers from the driver CD it comes w/.

 

[Thaius]

I gotta' throw it out there...

Get a Mac.

Let the hating begin...

I dunno if Macs really work with a sub-$1k budget and gaming aspirations...

Well since you can install Windows on a Mac as of a few years ago, it works fine with gaming usage, and the new Macbooks (let alone the Mac Pros) are quite powerful.

Sub$1k budget... yeah, not really. Worth it though, in my opinion: more than worth it.

You know you can build a hackintosh for 20% the cost of a mac right? Sinec macs use PC components now. You just need to make sure you have compatible parts (since their drivers are more limited). google hackintosh and do some research.

This is true, but in my case I have a laptop. An incredibly sexy Macbook. In the case of a desktop, yeah, Hackintoshing it may be the way to go (though I'm not sure on the legality of it, now that I think about it), but as far as I'm aware such an option is not available for laptops. I'm a writer and a college student, so portability is more important than power for me: but this Macbook is pretty awesome anyway, so I can run most modern games regardless.