Dell Or Gateway?

[SpdWife]

I'm in the market for a new computer and thought this would be the best place to ask with all of the computer guru's running around here.

 

I ready to retire what I've got and I'm willing to spend a decent chunk of change for something that will fit my needs. I've been poking around on the Dell and Gateway websites but I'm so confused by all this 2GB 4GB XPS dual core, etc etc stuff. Here's what I'm looking to do....I frequently use photoshop and corel products for business needs and my computer really lags while I'm running these programs. I need to be able to have multiple applications open and work simultaneously with no problems. I'm willing to spend whatever it takes as I had a very generous holiday shopping season.

 

If you had around say 5k to spend on a computer and get the best which company and computer would you buy?

[TCH-James]

First, I would recommend the Dell as they have a good warranty and I have never been impressed with Gateway. With the money you have on hand to spend, you'd be better off going with newer technology which will last you. Here's my picks after looking over the Dell XPS System.

 

Since Dual Core is pretty much standard you can go with the faster model with 8MB L2 Cache. It looks like they're offering overclocked processors now, but I can't comment on that as I tend to run my processors as-is.

 

With Photoshop and Corel you'd be best selecting 4GB of Ram. The more the better when running graphics programs.

 

For harddrives, your space needs will really dictate what you choose. Go with a Raid1 configuration if you can, as this will allow for a single drive failure without putting a halt to your work. The selections for Raid1 appear to be 320GB, 750GB and 1TB.

 

I would highly recommend Dell's 3-Year warranty, and the on-site version if you don't want to ship things back. They'll come out to fix it within 24 hours with that option.

[TCH-Bruce]

And I would recommend a video card with as much memory on-board as you can afford.