Well I really am going to need a new computer soon. I've been thinking alot about weather or not to go with a Labtop or a PC...In the long run I think a PC would be better because it can be upgradable by adding more memory in and everything else to help it out. Plus I might buy a labtop later on ( not a fantastic one but a decent one to be able to do school work on and maybe AIM thats it ). Now I'm staying away from DELL cause I'm not a huge DELL fan due to a computer we got from them that had extreme problems starting from gettting it out of the box, and my computer teacher, who knows his stuff cause he ownes NJ Corp which is a huge computer business here, told me to stay away from dell..So I was thinking of maybe a HP. My mom has one downstairs and it runs great. But I'm not sure still I've looked onto newegg.com and ibuypower.com for computer and I'm debating if I should get one built or prebuilt..I'm not trying to spend the $1000 price tag on a computer cause I'm not the gamming addict on computers. I really just use it to look online at sites, aim, d.l music, and thats really it..

So what brand and model would you recommend?

first off it'* laptop, not labtop

second, this should be in the lounge

Third, building is always cheaper, but no offense, you don't really sound like you have the knowledge to do that.
Dell has bad Customer service and a lot pre-installed crap on their computers, but other than that i'm happy with my dell laptop. Those 2 factors dont matter to me since i void the warranty right away anyways, and re-install XP pro. The hardware is just as good as any other brand, just depends on what is important to you.

Really the only difference between brands is the customer service. other than that, just look at the hardware for what you need to do. PCs are generally not like cars where one brand is more reliable, etc

Why is this in General Chat?

Moving to the Lounge.

caught it just as i edited to say that.. youre quick

Sorry on the miss-spelling...I'm capable of building a computer, I'm just not the computer smart of whats good on gb or kb for memory or things like that...

SORRY! I meant to put that in Lounge

well most people are capable of physically putting it together... but knowing what you want is half of building it. You need to know which parts are compatible with each other, etc.
If you don't know, it will be better to buy a pre-built one. The more powerful you want your PC to be, the bigger the price gap between building and buying becomes. Low-end isn't as critical, and they're pretty cheap either way.

Ok, let me ask you this. What all should I look for in a computer on what I use computer for? I want it to be fast. So like what memory gb and all of that you think?

3 or 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM. For storage, well that just depends on how much you want, I currently have about 625 gigs and am already needing to get another 500. Just depends on how much you download or how much you store and all that. I'd suggest just buying a cheap computer with a large case and just expand your self

Ok, may I ask then, whats the normal demensions on a computer case so I know what to look for in bigger..

for web browsing, and IM?
1GB would serve you fine for XP... 2 for vista.

i highly doubt you would need that much storage space either... if you do, you can get drives up to 500GB for reasonable prices, and will have no problem with space. almost all cases have room for another HDD.