$1,500 to spend on a PC...

So I was able to engage my father in discussion and he agreed to give me $1,500 to a computer. I need your advice on what I should get. I am 20 years old, a college student who is a Business Major and has 2+ years left to complete the degree (not including Graduate studies). I live in a small town house so space is limited.

I know for the same amount of money, a desktop would be a great choice. But a laptop has mobility, which would be immensely nice to have.

I do the basic internet (e-mail, social networking, etc.) and watch video/music. I may dabble in coding and picture editing, or anything else that strikes me as fun.

I would love to get an i7 920, as it would be technologically relevant for the next 3-5 years. I am an Intel fan, so unless it's magical, AMD is an unfavorable choice. Oh, and before you ask, I am not open to OS X.

So... What do you think? If you find a good choice, please link me.

Are you looking at a desktop or a laptop? For that price, you'd have a very nice desktop, but they do have i7 laptops out now as well.

You can get a great desktop for 1200 and put the other 300 on a netbook

Build your own have some fun

case: cm590 $60
ps: corsair 550 or 650 $70/90
mobo: p7p55d or ex58-ud3r $135/175
cpu: i5 750 or i7 920 $200/280
mem: ocz 3 or 6Gb ddr3-1600 $80/110
hd: wd6401aals $75
video: radeon 4870 or 5870 $170/380
---
$790/1180

This is pretty much top of the line (and still in your budget)

this is just prices off newegg w/o shopping around.
for example i7-920 is $199 at microcenter if you live near one
you could save $120 by going i5 instead of i7
If you arent interesting in gaming get a 4890 (which is still very good, or a 4870 even) instead of a 5870

Don't forget os, win7 is $30 with a .edu email addr, win2008r2 is free
Monitors get cheaper everyday, currently 1920x1080 can be found at $130

It will be a desktop build... I have a smartphone (HTC Touch Pro2) for my non-home web access and while on-campus I have access to computers..

I have no experience in building a PC so probably not going to DIY..

What system builders out there are good? I see Alienware got a bad reply, so where else?

What Graphics Card should I get? A ATI 5850?

I should point out that I am planning to put all $1,500 into this build.. I have to present a bill and will get reimbursed for it.. So might as well go big..

I found a buddy to help me build it.. Below is a list of components.. Good choice?

CPU- Core i7 920- $279.99

Motherboard- ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard- $169.99 (-$10.00 w/ mail-in rebate)

RAM- OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK- $129.99 (-20.00 w/ mail-in rebate)

Graphics Card-

ATI 5850- SAPPHIRE 100282SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity - Retail - $259.99

ATI 5870- XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card w/ATI Eyefinity – Retail- $379.99

PSU- CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply – Retail- $99.99 (-10.00 w/ mail-in rebate)

Hard Drive-

Boot Drive- 64 GB SSD- Kingston SSDNow V-Series SNV125-S2BD/64GB 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) Desktop bundled accessory kit- $129.99 (-30.00 w/ mail-in rebate)

Data Drive- 640 GB HDD- Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive – OEM- $69.99

DVD Drive- LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk – OEM- $29.99

CPU Cooler- Scythe MUGEN-2 SCMG-2000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail
Free Scythe fan w/ purchase, while supplies last- $36.99

Case- Thermaltake Armor Series VA8000BWS Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case – Retail- $134.99

Monitor- ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers - Retail
SPDIF out connector- $199.99 (-10 w/ mail-in rebate)

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1333C7 G - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145250

Better timings and can be used at a lower voltage than the OCZ ones

Honestly, it wouldn't make sends to buy a card now because you "may possibly game in the future." By that point, better cards will be out there and you could purchase one of those. If you know that you will game soon, get a decent card, if not, go with something more budget-oriented.