Computer Buying Advice

Hello,

I have been shopping for a system for the past week and trying to find
the best all around deal. Like most any person shopping for a
computer, I want to deal with a good company and get a great product
for a fair price. I'll tell you early on that I don't know enough to
build my own computer, but I do know enough to not buy from Dell. )
They are great for people that want an easy solution, but I feel that
they tend to cut corners and charge a little bit too much for their
systems. I am not a gamer, but I do want a system that is a slowpoke.
Basically, I want the most bang for my buck. For instance, I figure
that an AMD processor will give me more for my money than an Intel
chip would.

With that said, I started my search at PCWorld.com and found what I
considered to be a good review of the ABS Bravado 2280 (
http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/artic...,111295,00.asp ). I built
the computer that I wanted on their website and it actually came out
to be a good price. Although I am not very comfortable with the
company considering the last couple of phone calls I made to them did
not exactly result in a warm and friendly response. Nothing too bad,
but just like they didn't seem to care either way.

I just visited ResellerRatings.com and saw that the top five resellers
are as follows:

1 KC Computers
2 Envision Computer Solutions
3 PC Torque
4 Performance PC's
5 PowerNotebooks.com

I tend to trust these rankings because I have read many of the posts
on this site and they seem to be from technically knowledgeable
people.

Can someone offer me a better way to go about getting a system? I
would like to get some advice on the best components like motherboard,
video/sound card, etc… Then where to buy them so they will all get
assembled in a nice case and be ready to be used when they arrive at
my home.

I just don't want to have buyer's remorse like I did after buying my
first computer from Dell.

Thanks in advance for your advice! )