WinSP MBT: Das Reich

[scorpio_rocks]

Originally Posted by RecruitMonty

I'll likely have to get a new machine. Any suggestions?

Decide what you want to do on it - word processing/winsp,etc or online gaming or whatever; desktop/laptop and buy the best (with the relevant stats) that your budget allows.

These days build your own is, as the other Mark quite rightly says, more of a hassle and in most cases no cheaper than buying from a reputable retailer.

[RecruitMonty]

Thanks for the advice, chaps. Wish me luck!

[MarkSheppard]

If you're buying a laptop, be very careful about what you buy!

They're no longer like 2005 or 2007, with easy-to-unscrew covers over the hard drive, CPU or memory locations, allowing easy upgrades/modernizations of the laptop -- virtually all laptops now shipping are sealed units -- if you want to replace the hard drive (if for example upgrading to a SSD), you have to unscrew the case, and take out the keyboard to get to the HDD cage.

There are still a few laptops that have HDD access ports, but they're the more high end lines, like Lenovo's high end ThinkPads.

So effectively in 2016, assume all laptops you buy are sealed for life units, if you're not able to examine them at the local electronics store for access ports on the bottom.