I know theres an "upgrade" computer thread, but I felt this one needed its own.

Ive been meaning to get a new on for ages but I want it to be really fucking awesome.

I was originally going to get a laptop but then realised there isnt really any point as Im not travelling anywhere for at least another year or two.

So Ive been looking at desktops, the guy we got our last computer from offer some pretty good package deals with 3-year warranties.

www.blc.co.nz

http://www.blc.co.nz/workstation.htm

But I was also looking around some retailers and saw some cool shit like [url=http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/generic_category.do?catLevel=1&landing=desktops&category=media_center&storeName=computer_store]HP Media Center[/ur]

So I was wondering what kind of custom add-ons I would need to make the package deal at blc have the capabilities of the HP Media Center machines and is it worth the trouble? Can you have both? (Media and normal comp) or does that not work very well. I guess the main purpose for the comp is for my business but since I dont have a tv in my room I thought using it for that would be cool too, with the added bonus of recording programs on DVD.

Im not actually that "with it" when it comes to machines so please dont assume Ill know what youre talking about.

Suggestions of possible add-ons, other places to get comps that u feel are better (Im attached to the 3-year warranty thing) etc etc. Feel free to voice them.

Well, first of all AMD is where it's for processors at this moment in time. A dual core system would be awesome for multitasking.

I don't know much about media center pcs but I understand they're quite crap. What you should do is get a standard pc and stick a TV tuner card in there, if you get the right chipset you will be able to decode sky and watch that for free too. Couple that with a widescreen LCD monitor and 5.1 speakers and you will have a mean bedroom entertainment system, aside from hannoir of course :P

How rude.