I know a lot of you are a hell of a lot more computer savvy and knowledgable than I am, so I thought I'd ask for help here first.

I just broke up with a live-in boyfriend of the past 3 years, am extremely strapped financially and am looking to get a computer in the next few weeks. I definitely couldn't just walk in the store and buy one with my current money situation, so I think I would have to finance it and just pay minimal installments a month. I've known people to do this with Dell, and the laptop I was using as my own for the past 3 years was a Dell Inspiron that cost about $3500 3 years ago. I don't remember the model, but it had a cd burner, didn't have a built in wireless card and was fairly fast and good.

Mainly what I do on computers is word processing stuff, but I would like to have room/capacity to do some graphic design stuff as I'm trying to learn the basics of desktop publishing over the next couple of months. I'm not OPPOSED to macs, i've just never had one, so am comfortable with pcs... I'm imagining a laptop might be a smart idea, but if I could get a better computer for my money that wasn't a laptop, that would be fine too.

Does anyone have any suggestions for computers and know of any good and reliable companies that would allow me to finance one? I'm stressing really badly about this and would really appreciate some advice. Thanks guys!

I'm looking at these two right now, they seem pretty okay. Still undecided as to whether a laptop would be better...

http://www1.ca.dell.com/content/prod...HS1&l=en&s=dhs

Those are fine. In fact, you could stand to get a crappier computer, although I don't really know how much cheaper they come from a major outlet like Dell. But those will be plenty fast for what you need them for. Just that if you got, say, the Dell Dimension 1100 desktop comp, you wouldn't really be missing much speed if you ask me. Unless you're gonna surprise me and say you'll be learning 3D modeling on top of desktop publishing. Depends on how cheap you feel you need it to be. The more expensive ones will definitely be slightly faster...

If you want to get a slightly crappier laptop at the same price, I think considering what you want to do with it, it would be fine. (Like the Inspiron 1300.)

Thanks, that's good to know. I'm a bit anxious about this and actually talked to some Dell rep online and he was trying to sell me on the 5150, which is one up from the 3100 that i just posted. I mean, it sounds fabulous. I do store tons of music on my comp, so storage is nice, but I don't know how much I actually need. Obviously the Dell dude was trying to upsell me, I just need neutral info. I'm scared a laptop will be slow if I run more than one program, I've noticed that on laptops and it drives me bonkers.

Any other companies other than Dell to consider? They just seem easy and reliable.

Ehh... ask me, laptops are slow in a way that only a grumpy, demanding techie person running tons of programs should notice. Photoshop can take up a lot of processor power, sure, but are you really planning on having a ton of shit open simultaneously? Computers are pretty powerful nowadays. I don't think you'll need a supercomputer unless you are planning to do high-power stuff. How much high-level graphics work are you gonna be doing?

As far as the HD upsell goes, you would have to be a raving mp3 lunatic to fill up 180 gigs. 180 gigs is only going to be insufficient if you love to download movies, porn and anime on top of your mp3s, and install the latest computer games to boot. So I wouldn't worry about that. 180 gigs is a fuckin assload.

Lastly, learn proper computer maintenance if you want your computer to run smoothly. Use your disk defragmenter regularly!