I've had my XP desktop since 2008. Two years ago the card reader had to be replaced and 3 months ago the HD died (without warning, despite it being a SMART drive). It works fine now, but will be 5 years old this year and is using an OS that, let's face it, has entered the realm of "legacy equipment". Since I also provide tech support to a number of families/organizations (one of which just bought a Win 8 laptop), I need to be up to snuff on Win 8, so am looking for a new desktop.
The computer is used for business (Access databases, which I design; complex Excel spreadsheets; Word; e-mail and Web surfing). Do not play graphics-intensive games, but I am not very tolerant of slow-loading Web pages, movies that have to pause periodically, etc., so want one that is graphically fast. I prefer not to spend more than $1000.
I've done a fair amount of research and am most impressed by the HP Envy Phoenix h9-1330, but I'm not crazy about HP's support or reliability ratings. Anybody have an opinion on the Envy Phoenix series, or have any suggestions about other high-performance office computers?
The computer is used for business (Access databases, which I design; complex Excel spreadsheets; Word; e-mail and Web surfing). Do not play graphics-intensive games, but I am not very tolerant of slow-loading Web pages, movies that have to pause periodically, etc., so want one that is graphically fast. I prefer not to spend more than $1000.
I've done a fair amount of research and am most impressed by the HP Envy Phoenix h9-1330, but I'm not crazy about HP's support or reliability ratings. Anybody have an opinion on the Envy Phoenix series, or have any suggestions about other high-performance office computers?