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What to Look for When Buying a Pre-Built PC

What to Look for When Buying a Pre-Built PC
What to Look for When Buying a Pre-Built PC

A great gaming experience requires a pre-built PC that best meets various gamer’s needs and preferences. However, it is not easy to find the best pre-built gaming PC out there in the market without input from people with vast knowledge about PCs. Besides, building a gaming PC from scratch can be quite daunting. So, you can save yourself the stress of building a new PC by considering buying a gaming PC.

So, what considerations should you consider before buying a new PC?

Understanding Your Goals

Any buyer out there looking to buy a pre-built PC should understand what their goals are. Some of the necessary things to consider include:

  • Is this for word processing, art, gaming, streaming, video rendering, or business?
  • The type of games gamers intend to play using the PC
  • Do you require future-proofed PCs that guarantee the durability they can trust?
  • Are you looking for mobility, or just need a permanent rig to use at home?

Answering all these questions would help you find the exact type of pre-built PCs they are looking for. For word processing, you do not need a whole lot of RAM or computer power. If you are looking to buy a gaming PC, older games such as Overwatch or Rainbow Six Siege would require a less powerful PC to run. On the other hand, running newer games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Control and more, would require an incredibly powerful pre-built PC to run smoothly. If you are looking at streaming or video editing, having plenty of memory space and a healthy processor/cooling system is important.

People who are travel enthusiasts should consider laptops that are effortless to carry. Also, if you want to stream or perform some tasks while playing games, a computer with a multi-core type of processor would be ideal so it can do tasks simultaneously.

Going through all these questions and figuring out the exact things to do with the pre-built PC would give a clear indication of the budget range.

Know Your Budget

After answering the various questions and concerns and identifying all the goals, determining the budget required is the next step. Do you have all the cash you need, or are you going to have to get financing? Decide on a limit for your spending, and do not exceed it.

Once you have the number in mind, prioritize your spending on the features you want the most. Also, investigate the warranties that come with a pre-built PC. This is one thing that can be a big advantage for you over building your own, though it does come with a price. There are a lot of great companies out there that sell computers with lifetime parts and service warranties, or that offer discounts on upgraded hardware for customers who purchased their PCs at that store. Other warranties might last a couple years. Depending on how much you plan on pushing your hardware, this can be a lifesaver.

Lastly, compare similar features on computers to their prices across brands. You don’t have to spend an extra few hundred dollars on a CPU just because of the brand’s name if the processing speed is comparable to the cheaper one.

Analyze Your Hardware Needs

While this is less important compared to the budget range, you need to determine the types of baseline hardware to run your preferred programs.

There are various elements to consider when finding the perfect hardware. For gamers, they need to determine the type of games they would like to play on their PC. Will you need to overclock? Will you mostly be streaming older games or less hardware-taxing games (like Minecraft). For artists, does your monitor need to display a particular color range? Some monitors display colors closer to the actual print color than others, so that is something that you need to consider if you are sending your art out for printing and production. Is your graphics card optimized for gaming? Does it need to be? How much RAM do you expect to use? How quickly should your CPU render video files? Do you have enough memory to store the photos and videos you are using?

For laptops, how hot does it get? Does it need a 10-key? Does it fit into your bag? Is it compatible with Bluetooth technology? Does it have enough ports? Do the ports match the devices you are plugging in? How heavy is it? What is the battery life?

All these questions will help you narrow down your hardware specs so you’re not spending too much on features you don’t need.

Learn Some PC Brands and Research Their Reputations

It helps to know the various handful of PC brands present in the market before you can dive into the specific models you need. Some of the popular brands include Dell, HP, ACER, ASUS, ABS, iBuyPower, MSI, CyberpowerPC, and SkyTech (just to name a few). If you find a brand whose reputation and features fit your needs, it can narrow down your search.

As identified above, there are lots of things to consider before making a purchasing decision. Knowing your goals, determining the budget, analyzing your hardware needs, and understanding some brands will help you find the best pre-built PC for you.

Reggie Moore

Reggie Moore is a professional writer and proto-entrepreneur. When not trying to tinker with a new thing, process, or idea, Reggie can usually be found saying the words “Well, actually…” to an unsuspecting bystander.

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