Quote Originally Posted by DataMiser View Post
I haven't bought a pre-configured system for about 10 years now. I generally buy the components and build them myself. I think I get more for my money that way and get better hardware. Of course I'm talking desktops here. If I were to get a laptop then it would be pre-configured but most likely I would look for a good price on one that I could have customized though I have considered the surface pro, if it was a little cheaper maybe.

I do my work from my home office so don't really need a portable PC at this point.

The last system I built I ended up with an AMD FX8350 CPU, 8gigs DDR3, 500g WD Black HDD, 2 128g SSDs, New case with excellent air flow and a big tower cooler on the CPU with a GeForce GTX750 GPU, and Windows 7 pro. I think it came out to about $800 when all was said and done runs cool and quiet and very quick
Same here i buy my desktop components one by one and end up with something powerful last one cost me about 2000$ but for the laptops I just go cheap as long as it looks good enough to run the apps that i use. My laptops usually last an average of 3years then something goes. I dont mind spending 250-300$ every 3-4 years. Technology changes anyways so a computer 3-4 years old has old technology and will be slower then the cheapest laptop you can find.

@Sam
Even with the 'look' of windows 7 nothing is the same only the desktop view will be similar, all the control panel stuff and registry.
Only real thing i like about windows 8 is the fast boot.