There are thousands of desktop computers out there. Which ones are best for the business person? A good business desktop should be lightweight, be able to multitask, and be durable. Lightweight machines usually weight between six and ten pounds and can easily be moved around the office. Business desktops should have 2 or more cores so they can multitask fast enough to get work quickly. You want to buy a business desktop that’s durable so it can take all take abuse.

Let’s continue to look at TigerDirect’s Certificated Desktops. For those of you who haven’t read my earlier post, I’m taking a close look at these so called recertified desktops that you can buy from TigerDirect for about $100-$300 cheaper than retail prices. These computers have been basically leased to a business for a couple of years and then turned back in. Because of the fact that they’ve been previously owned you can get great deals. Think of buying a certified desktop like buying a used car from an original owner. The original owner pays the upfront full cost; you only pay a fraction of the cost for an almost new car. In today’s economy everybody is always looking to save their previous money.

You can get great deals from TigerDirect if you know what to look for. The previous system we looked at was a low end IBM for really simple and basic use. Which should you look for if you want something newer that has more power? Read the rest of this entry »

Some of you may know that I’m a part time computer technician. I consider myself part time because I’ve got a day job and primarily repair computers during nights and weekends.

One of my customers recently asked me for some computer shopping advice. She told me that (unfortunately) her desktop computer is about 8 years old and that she wants to buy herself a new one. Her major issue is a limited budget: she can only spend $150 to $200 to spend on a new machine. She asked me if it’s possible to buy a new desktop for that price. Read the rest of this entry »

No doubt about it – the MB950LL/A is a pretty cool IMac. This all-in-one comes with everything you need in a convenient simplified enclosure. The 21.5-inch screen has a high (1920 x 1080) resolution that allows you to watch high definition movies, play intense games, and utilizie all forms of entertainment. The IMac also comes with two interesting features: a wireless keyboard and magic mouse. This beast is powered by NVIDIA’s GeForce 9400M video card, and a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

The MB950LL/A is the #1 selling desktop at Amazon; you can also find it at MacMall. At both stores it’s priced $1,125 after a $25 mail in rebate. Read the rest of this entry »

Take one look at the HP Envy 13 and you’ll agree with us – it looks a lot like the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Both systems have the profile of the Ultra Thin style notebook – slim and sexy finish, cool to the touch operation, and longer battery life. HP’s Envy 13 has a better display (1,600×900-pixel resolution), newer CPU, and a wide variety of more options. The Macbook Pro costs  $1,199 and the HP Envy 13 is $1,799…is shelling out the additional $500 for the Envy worth it? Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re scouting around for a small-form factor desktop for your business or home office consider the HP Pavilion Elite e9120f.  It’s small form factor has a great balance between performance & price. The PC has excellent upgradeability: 2 open PCIe slots and one internal 3.5 bay where you can install an additional hard drive later on.

The Elite e9120f is powered by a 2.6GHz AMD Phenom II X4 910 processor, comes with a robust 8GB of RAM, and a large 1TB hard drive. It has a door on the lower right side that reveals theproprietary Personal Media Drive slot. This slot can hold a specizlized  3.5-inch hard drive made by HP. The back has various ports: FireWire, Gigabit Ethernet, four USB 2.0, 7.1-channel analog audio, and digital audio-out. Inside the case you’ll find a graphics card in the PCI Express x16 expansion slot is and a network card in one of the three PCI slots.  Read more details in this Computer Shopper article. Read the rest of this entry »