Zub Tales

I used to be all tip-top up to date on computers. Hell, Gal and I built her last computer while we were living in Halifax, nerve wracking as that was (both the comp building and the Halifax experiences).

Back in Calgary I knew a few amazing people who would help me assemble computer stuff and find good deals on quality components so I wouldn’t have to buy pre-packaged computers with crappy cheap bits inside or parts I wouldn’t actually want.

But with everything else going on I’ve never had a chance to build that computer contact here in Toronto. I upgraded a few bits of my machine, swapped out the processor and added a new video card about a year and a half ago. Now I’m running Photoshop CS2 and a pile of programs which are finally giving my latest machine a heavy workout.

Parts from this ol’ box have been with me since I moved back to Calgary in 2000. I think it may be time to buy a whole new box and network this one to it for back-up storage and playing LAN games here at the apartment with friends.

So…

Please give me quality people or places I should go to in the Toronto area for computer purchases. People who aren’t going to screw with me or ‘used car salesman’ style sell me stuff I don’t want/need. I do need a whip ass computer but I want to be able to pick things and not feel out of my depth. I know quite a bit about computers, but am not totally up to date anymore.

Things I would be porting over:
– My new LCD monitor
– My Wacom tablet
– My printer and scanner

Things I need:
– cheap monitor (so my current box which is becoming my 2nd box would still have one)
– keyboard
– mouse
– speaker system
– The comp itself with lots of USB ports, a fast processor, an unholy amount of RAM and a sweet ass video card.

I have software out the wahoo and can install my own OS and everything else no problem.

Your recommendations would be much appreciated.