My 2 1/2 year old emachine desktop was attacked by a Trojan virus and it is now doomed. This system has had recent other troubles which possibly were a sign of this, I don't know. Emachines has not been good to a few other people I know so am looking to something else for a new system.

I don't need or want anything fancy just basic internet/word/CD making, and of course L and C fic reading capabilities. From what I understand it seems like I want at least 1MB of Memory,ideally 2.

I've heard that HP now makes good computers and in fact Circuit City appears to have some packaged deals on them.

I'd appreciate any suggestions any of you folcs might have. I am not a very computer savy person-other than everyday basics!

Thanks,
Mona

Insist on XP while you can! My desktop is a HP with Vista Home Premium with programs for media stuff like video capture etc. I can't stand Vista it took me forever to figure out how to find everything from the day I got it which was approximately 3-4 months ago I only figured out now which program I can use to capture video. I had been thinking of buying a video capture program until one day I happened upon Roxio which was already installed.

iMac.

I ditto the iMac comment. They take a little getting used to, and they're a bit more spendy, but you'll ultimately save money in the long run by not having to fix/replace your computer constantly!

If you really want to stick with PCs, however, definitely get something with XP if you can. Umm, I'm going to say a Dell, they're cheap and I hear pretty good things about them.

My last laptop was an HP, and aside from a slight hiccup with a dodgy hard drive which was replaced in under 24 hours, it was a good machine. The power supply on it has only just died (the laptop is 4 years old).. and it should be noted I used the HP for high end analytical stuff so it had a hard life before I 'retired' it for my daughter to use.

I've moved onto a Macbook Pro now, and I can also agree that if they are affordable over there, once you get used to the Mac's OS it is a very nice, very stable, very functional machine. Having said that, you can even run windows on it if you feel sadistically inclined. And the Microsoft products I have for my Mac (to run in OSX) run better than their windows counterparts for me. Word is much nicer on the Mac. I won't be going back to a PC any time soon because I love the flexibility and stability and control my Mac gives me.
I've also found the Mac hardier to 'attack' because 90% of the internet nasties out there at the moment seem targeted towards the windows operating systems.

However it comes down to your personal preference. Whether you go PC or Mac is entirely your decision. You can argue the pro's and con's for both. And I've had good experiences with both.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you everyone, very much, for your suggestions. I will keep them all in mind when I start looking for a deal. No, I am not looking for or (able to) splurge on anything fancy or with a lot of extras-just basics.

As far as pc vs mac: My first computer way back in my early days of college was a MAC. An ancient mac that wasn't even meant to be internet compatible. Not long after graduating, I got my first pc, which I believe was an HP and that lasted for at least 5 years. Only real complaint I had against that was the horrible printer. It still used those cleaning papers that HP provided and was just awful lol. Then soon after starting a new teaching job, I got my current (now dead pc) in Feb of '06. Aside from some gaming problems and then a few months ago it needing a new video card, it was perfectly fine. My Dad got an emachine in 2004 which lasted about 3 years before, but that had problems along the way, before, it too, was done in by a virus.

Right now, I'm typing on a pc with Vista that has 512 RAM which as I learned last night is not really enough for Vista to operate fully so lol that explains why this computer has always been so slow!

Anyway, thanks again

Mona

I've had three HP's plus and HP laptop (1999) that is still running - not much memory and too slow for internet but it still runs. I have a new Compaq because it was the most I could get for the money in December when I thought I had to replace my HP. I've since got that running again also. So I think HP's are great machines.

Another vote here against Vista.

Something that may be worth mentioning is that you can get some real bargains if you look for companies selling "factory refurbished" PCs. These are basically PCs that were sold then for one reason or another returned to the manufacturer, who fixes any faults, tests them, and sells them on to a dealer.

Usually they are more reliable than brand new computers because they have been properly tested after assembly (most PCs are only checked during assembly of e.g. the motherboard, then have drives etc. fitted afterwards) and have had all defects fixed. The down side is that you may not get all of the normal warranty protection. The up side is that they're cheaper and may still have XP.

My main workhorse PC started out this way and is four or five years old now; I had to replace the power supply a few months ago because it was failing after I'd put a second DVD drive and hard disk into the PC, but that wasn't difficult, it just bolts and plugs in.

Thanks, Marcus. I was wondering what was meant by "Refurbished."

Mona