Looking for a desktop...

sounds like you want an alienware buddy.

i think alienwares tend to be pretty damn overpriced but don't quote me on that. you should look into building your own computer, you can put together something really really sick for around $1200. even just buying an ordinary high end desktop isn't bad, i bought a desktop around last christmas and i got 3.1ghz hex core, 16gb ram, 6770 1gb graphics card, 7200rpm 1tb harddrive for a little over $800. if i was better with computers i would have built my own, but i just wasn't up for it. i know there's a bunch of people on ns that have built their own desktops so hopefully they can chime in

alienware are the macs of pc's. much too overpriced for what you get (although not as much as macs, especially for desktops).

if you're getting a desktop, the brand really doesn't matter that much as the big difference is the casing (the guts will or can all be the same from every company).

that being said, building a desktop yourself is always an excellent option. for under $1000 you can put together a kick ass machine. like i7 quad core, 8-16gb ram, 500+ gb hd, 1-2gb video card. it will run you 3/4 of what an alien ware will cost for the exact same guts and 1/2 of what a mac will cost.

Your best bet is custom made, that way you can get what you want (graphics card, RAM + hd) . I've got a custom desktop for around 600, i5 quad core, 8gb ram, 3,3ghz 1tb hard drive 1gb nvidia graphics card. I'm a graphic designer so I need photoshop and illustrator etc running alot of the time, even 4gb quad core would be okay. But depending on what sort of editing + software your using if its heavy editing then I would say i7 quad core with 8gb + ram just to be safe.

Just make a custom desktop. Thats what I did, works wonderful for just over $800! Intel i5, 16 gigs of ram, Radeon 5880 gpu. Works fine for what I use it for. Which is editing, 3d animation, and gaming ! Exactly what you said you were doing.

Make your own desktop! I made a killer build for just over $800!