Ok, thanks so much! But I'm kinda torn between the Acer and the one I was thinking about. The Acer has more USB ports (important) and it comes with speakers, a keyboard, card readers, and a mouse. So, I think I'm leaning towards the Acer one. Thanks for telling me about it! :D Any other ones I can consider, or would these two be the best?

To be honest, the more I look into it the more the original PC looks better. It comes with a more powerful power supply and even though 300W would normally suffice, 420W just gives you that extra confidence and you don't have to fiddle with it as soon as you get it to install a card. If you're concerned with speakers you should just buy a pair and you'll get far better quality than the $5 sets you get with OEM PCs. As for a card reader, you can get something like that for $10 for both internal/external models.

No. You'd have to buy another one after 2-3 years. Get at least an HD4770/HD4850/9800GTX.

Buy that DIY PC I said. Much better value than Squillam's suggestions.

DIY is not as cheap as it sounds to me, the cost of the OS would drive up the cost. (I know Linux is free, but I really want to get Windows 7).

Plus, it's pretty much the same thing I suggested in the first post specs-wise from what I see ;)

He could get an HD 4770 now, or he could get an HD 5670 next year. He only does mild gaming on it, so having the latest GPU doesn't make sense and that way he gets his year warranty on his computer.

OK, I have a better idea.

Go here:

http://www.ibuypower.com/ibp/store/configurator.aspx?mid=281

Select a single HD4650. This will make the price $504.

- Phenom II X3 720
- 2GB DDR2
- Radeon HD4650

Very respectable, cheap, and pre-configured. And twice as fast as your 9500 GT system.

With that $550 PC he doesn't have to do anything straight away, he has a more powerful PSU and he can keep his one year warranty and support for a year. He doesn't have to build it, support his own pc etc.

Next year if he sees the need he can get an HD 5670 for cheaper than the current 4850/4770 with faster GDDR5 and direct3d 11 compatibility which helps the lower/mid range GPUs as it reduces the memory bandwidth required and it reduces the load on the shaders because tessellation simplifies the 3d geometry. In short it will be faster than the HD 4850 and it will have up to date technology.

I've changed my post. Now has an HD4670 and is prebuilt. And can upgrade next year.

Sorry Soleron but those computers come without Vista,

I think this might be the best bang for the buck at around $500 all up.

Wolfdale Pentium dual core 2.5ghz
6GB Ram (Ya, I know)
640GB HDD
15-1 multi card reader
Keyboard/mouse/speakers
Vista 64

$440 with free shipping, and i've been hearing good things about gateway recently.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883113094

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

This card rounds out everything with free shipping, an HD 4670. So all up $510 + tax.

Pretty much everything he would want.

Squilliam said: Sorry Soleron but those computers come without Vista, I think this might be the best bang for the buck at around $500 all up. ...

He wants Windows 7. Buying Vista now won't help with that.

I like your choice, but there's some AMD dual-cores coming out Tuesday that will completely own the E5200 at the same price, such as the X2 240, Phenom II based dual-core, 2.8GHz.