Buying a new computer advice

I just wanted to ask when buying a new computer what sort of things do you look for?

At the moment I cannot decide whether to go for a new PC at around £1000 or whether it would be worth paying a little higher for some more specs. Maybe a lower value PC would be just as good?

Is it a waste to buy a new computer worth more than a grand these days? Is a £1000 computer good enough for most people? I do not want to waste my money buying extras if the thing is just going to be outdated soon afterwards.

Ideally, I do not want to assemble my own PC either. What is considered a good buy PC-wise these days? I really want a decent all round system that has plenty of power to runs both apps and games.

Any buying advice would be most helpful,

Jason.

I used to buy the latest tech but never again, it's just not worth it.

2 months after buying my PC, heck a month after buying it, the prices for the components dropped drastically and the same PC I bought for £1800 was avaialble for £1000.

I'm due to upgrade my PC but what I'll do is buy a new system in the region of £700 - £1000. Not going to spend a penny more as even a PC that is worth £700 now is more powerfull than my system.

So basically I think £1000 for a PC is a good price to aim for and you should be able to customize it to get either a better GPU or faster CPU. I'd go for a better GPU.

A massive power supply, and as few moving parts as possible. Get the best PSU you can afford, and spend a little extra on passively (or liquid cooled) components. The latest and greatest lose value too quickly, but a silent computer never gets on your nerves.

It depends what you want it for. Buying a £1000 computer is a waste if all you do is look at porn. (Not that I'm suggesting you do)

A £1000 system these days will be almost top end, you should be able to go for a high end processor and high end video card, try to get a good quality motherboard and dependable power supply and you should be fine. I assume you're going for Windows Vista too?

Build your own so you can have a high-end PC AND keep the extra money. If you own a screwdriver and can read; building a computer these days is a doddle. I think I built my first PC in 1994 and if anything it's got much easier.

Darkheart

Personally:
For a start I make sure before hand that everything in it supports my main operating system (don't want any nasty half-arsed hardware).

It would also have to be dual/quad core (theres still a few singles/HTs being flogged off really cheap in some places) 2GB minimum and i would demand either a NVidia or ATI(one of the better supported ones). I dont care about harddisk as i use a fileserver. (as long as its 60+).

I agree with amon, a grand will get you a slightly better than "average" PC but not state of the art. (and possibly less than average for a proper 'gamers' rig.). I second what DarkHeart said too. I would rather build it myself, that way i know what i've got and how its put together.

I don't buy new computers. I simply buy a new mainboard, new memory, new CPU, making sure the CPU socket and graphics port has a future. I buy the next greatest memory(because it's cheaper) and the cheapest CPU I can find for the socket. This upgrades my PC to a decent spec at a low cost and I plan to upgrade it atleast once during it's new life.

This means that I can upgrade the CPU later, plug in a new graphicscard, and I have a viable machine for a few more years, stretching the money to go further.

...which is precisely what I'm going to do for my next upgrade.

I'm only running a 450W PSU so that might need replacing too. I'm fancying one of the sort that lets you plug molex cables into the back of it and remove unused ones - that way I won't get useless, silly wires dangling all over the place. There's a couple in my current PC I don't even know what they're for.