Acer builds computers so what are you having 'built' by your dealer?

Obviously your new computer will have all the necessary bits in the tower but you make no mention of other items like monitor, keyboard or mouse.

What does the dealer suggest you add? For most home users a generic computer is just fine. However if you intend to get into photo editing you might need a far better video card plus a bit more RAM (memory). If you are going into movies or music then perhaps a larger hard drive and improvements to video and/or sound card might be your answer.

Another point to consider or ask the dealer is what happens to the Acer warranty once he gets inside replacing components. Where will his (the dealer) warranty start and end? You want those details specifically written on the purchase agreement to cover yourself

If tell the person building the computer how you plan to use it he should be able to explain what you need. If not explain how you will use it in this thread and you will get suggestions.

OK, I guess I just don't know enough about it to ask the right questions.

When we got our first PC, we had it built for us by Dell. They put on things like a map program (that was probably obsolete before we received it)and some kind of money management program we never used, and a number of other things they said we should have that we've never used.

They put on Norton, which was a headache from day 1, and which I do not want on the new ones. I know enough to ask for AVG now, but it's that sort of thing I want to avoid. I just don't know what's basic these days, and what's superfluous.

I think the dealer meant he would put in extra memory for us and extra USB ports, that sort of thing, but I'll pass Owbist's comments re the guarantee on to my husband.

-Jann

It depends on what you do with your computer. Have you considered purchasing from a custom computer dealer? A real custom builder will allow you to choose exactly which software and hardware is installed in your computer.

Dell and Acer aren't custom builders.

Acer makes motherboards, disk drives and other components too - under the AOpen name and other brand names too. Really make some good components and are known well for the small energy savings computers(Laptop mobo/cpu in a small case).
They recently bought Gateway.

Maybe he is wanting to know what 'programs' you would like on it... Think?

My Dell came with Msn Money, an Encyclopedia, Sonic Record Now, and Word Perfect Productivity Pack. The first time Dell support and I wiped the thing clean (reformat I believe it is called), I only reinstalled Word Perfect. I just never found a 'need' for the other programs so didn't put them back on.

Sue

I guess I should have said the dealer is going to customize the PC's for us, rather than "build" - Duh... I never have had a good command of technical language. Mainly I don't want them loaded down with stuff we'll never use. But because we are so far behind times, I almost need a catalog to show me what all is available now that wasn't when W/98 was new. I appreciate the help/suggestions you-all have offered.

-J

1. Memory. XP will run in 1 Gbyte, but 2 Gbyte is better. With 2 Gbyte, you can have a goodly number of web pages open at the same time and be running several applications, too.

2. Hard Drive(s). You can get a nice big one of 120 Gbyte these days for the cost of a lesser drive of yore. Consider running 2 hard drives: one for software and the second drive for data. The software (system) drive will likely get the most wear, It can be replaced without disturbing your data if ALL your data is kept on the second drive. Another convenience is ease of backup. You only need to back up your data. If all the data is on a separate drive, its an easy chore to periodically backup the entire data drive. For most home users, the data portion will be much smaller than the system and application software. But if you are short on cash, I suggest that a single large drive could be subdivided into 2 logical drives. However, I am a advocate of the 2-drive system.

3. A few extra USB ports are nice and low cost. It doesn't take many accessories to fill 3 or more USB ports. Think: printer, scanner, memory card reader, mouse, thumb drives, camera, etc.