I would get an HP from HP or from Office depot or BB....set it up then order the reformatting CDs. Having those Cd's fixed a lot of problems when I was new user and even now if I got a serious virus that I could not get rid of. Save me a lot of money over the years. HP has never let me down support wise.

I would not even know how to order a custom PC. When they ask me what I wanted on it, I would be lost. I have a notebook but I prefer my desktop. I have not adjusted to using a key board in my lap, besides I have a very pleasant office that I enjoy being in. LOL

P,

I suggest you go for W8. W7 will be two generations behind with the scheduled release of W9 Fall of 2014.

Users get entrenched with their systems, and are resistive to change. There are more satisfied W8 users than unhappy users. It was the same with Vista.

Your apprehension as to change is natural as XP is the largest released version to date with the most first time computer users, particularly users of age. I am guessing you dragged yourself up the mountain with XP, and don't look forward to doing it again. This time though things will be different superficially, but overall most is still the same.

You will be fine.

DA

This post was edited by damccoy on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 16:06

Hey Papillon young man, as DA notes, go for Win 8. Either will confuse the bejabbers out of you for a while so why struggle through 7 only to have to maybe go to 8 later?

I fought with 8 because I had 7 and was comfortable. One day I said enough, I still have both machines plus a couple of XP boxes.

Do you have the CD for Office 2007? If so you simply install and activate it. Your new confuser may well have a trial version of Office, remove that before loading from your own CD. If by any chance Microsoft cut you off during activation phone them (toll free) and demand to be activated. I recently had such a situation when reloading Windows 7 after rebuilding the computer. They have no concept of innocent until proven guilty sadly.

Which ever one you buy will come with a program called 'Windows Easy Transfer' or similar. This will transfer all your data from the old machine to the new one (it will not remove the data from the old computer never fear).

Call me a fanboy, but I'd tell you to get a Mac. OS X runs circles around Windows anything. Simple, intuitive, and there's no need to decrapify. No endless updates, less concern about viruses and malware. If you happen to live close to an Apple store, for an extra $99 you get a year of asking whatever questions you may have from an Apple employee who very likely speaks English as a native. If he doesn't have the answer, he'll find it for you.

There's Office for Mac but unless you need 100% capability, Open Office does the same things for free.