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[Absolute Niro]

I need a new PC badly, my current one plays Skyrim on min with 1fps. However, I don't want to build it (both because I have no previous experience and because I don't want to spend a few hours on it) so it pretty much has to be prebuilt.

I have a budget of about $1250 which should be able to get me a decent machine. I've looked at an "Acer Aspire M3 AM3985_H" with the following specs:

3.2 GHz Intel Core i5-3470 processor
NVIDIA GeForce GT640 (4GB)
8 GB RAM
1TB storage

That'll basically eat my entire budget, but it looks alright in my eyes. Advice appreciated.

[forsaken1111]

Alienware X51 - $1,079.10

Processor: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3770 (8M Cache, up to 3.4 GHz)
Memory: 8GB (2 X 4GB) Dual Channel DDR3 up to 1600MHz
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache
Optical Drive: Slot-Loading Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD±RW, CD-RW)
Video Card: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660 1.5GB GDDR5
Wireless: DW1506 Wireless-N WLAN Half Mini-Card
Hardware Support Services: 1 Year Essential Support
Power Supply: 330W External Power Supply

No keyboard/mouse/monitor but you said you're just looking for a computer. The 51x are small form factor but pretty powerful, the one my wife has runs Skyrim just fine, as well as any other game she wants to play. She plays a lot of Diablo 3 and Skyrim and the like.

[Absolute Niro]

Wha-

My regional settings seem to be fucking with me. I set the Alienware site to Denmark (since that's where I live and stuff), and the price for the $1079 model is (converted to USD) $1600. Is it taking the increased shipping cost into account?

[forsaken1111]

Wha-

My regional settings seem to be fucking with me. I set the Alienware site to Denmark (since that's where I live and stuff), and the price for the $1079 model is (converted to USD) $1600. Is it taking the increased shipping cost into account?

No idea. O.o

All I did was scope out the site for one under your budget amount. If its adding shipping on, it should say so. You could call them? Maybe they have regional pricing I don't know about, but that is a pretty steep difference. Can you elect to pay in USD and have your bank do the conversion instead?

[Absolute Niro]

Buying with USD requires you to actually live in the states it seems. Weird, I'll try contacting customer support I guess.

[Killjoy]

Don't buy Alienware, in my experience they are more hype than anything. They are uncomfortable to work with, expensive, and honestly pretty heavy.

I just bought myself this Lenovo:
http://www.proshop.dk/Baerbar/Lenovo-IdeaPad-Z500-5931-2379039.html

Best laptop I have ever brought at that pricepoint. Sleek design, pretty awesome hardware, it is very quiet, only gets a bit warm when strained and never super hot, and it has a very good battery life, and the lower temperature means that your battery will last you much longer.
Only downside is that the screen is not HD. I also really recommend buying a SSD for it.

Bit of warning through, if you plan on installing Linux on this beauty, you are gonna have a very bad time... It took me a weekend to get it working the way I wanted, seriously, fuck Nvidia and Lenovo Linux support... If you plan on installing Linux, feel free to contact me.
But for win8 and win7 it should work perfect (As perfect as win8 can work, which is.. not saying much.)

[Absolute Niro]

I agree that Alienware is overhyped, but it doesn't look to be inferior at all to other machines of similar price. Maybe in the past it was really bad, but I'm having a hard time finding better offers.

The IdeaPad thing doesn't look bad at all, but I would really prefer a desktop. Maybe I should have specified that, I dunno.

[forsaken1111]

Since Dell bought alienware several years ago they've been much better, and the computer was comparable to what he mentioned at a lower price, which is the only reason I mentioned it. The ideapad you linked looks decent as well, I just dislike using a laptop as a desktop replacement as they generally have poor airflow and heat issues.

[Absolute Niro]

Basically that. I also don't really have a use for its mobility since I prefer locking myself in my basement for weeks at a time anyways, so I'd rather get something immobile with the same specs for slightly cheaper.

[Killjoy]

Hah, sorry, I thought you wanted a laptop. My bad

[Graknorke]

Not sure if this counts as advertising, but this UK based ebay selling place have a pretty wide range with good specifications. I know people who've bought from them and the computers aren't broken or anything.
Though, again, it's in the UK, so shipping might be a thing. Though it is in the EU so there's less customs bullshit than there would be from, say, the USA.

[Absolute Niro]

I'll look into that, Graknorke. I doubt shipping will be a huge deal if it's just from the UK.

EDIT: Took a look at the stuff they have and found this...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Intel-Ivy-Bridge-I7-3770K-HD-Gaming-PC-2tb-16gb-1600mhz-DDR3-Vantage-Computer-/150903766513?pt=UK_Computing_DesktopPCs&hash=item232290bdf1

I'm no expert on computers but this looks like a machine that's worth quite a bit more than 558 euro. Am I missing something?

[Tellemurius]

Theres no graphics card in the box but damn thats a good setup for one, the psu would be good for anything midrange

[Absolute Niro]

Yeah. The PC looks like something you'd find for at least twice the price other places, and that's considering the lacking graphics card and OS. It doesn't look like they ship to my country but I guess I can get a middleman in Germany or something.

[Tellemurius]

you are looking for a german OEM huh?
http://www.ankermann-edv.de/
i gotten hold of couple of their boxes before they arent bad builds