I've been using a bottom feeder Dell for years, and it has been working fine.  I've been eyeing the prof builds, but it seems to be another $1k or so to even get anything.  I have no time to build one and don't even want to go that route if possible.  The new bottom feeder Dells in the $4-500 range seems like they'd work for me, going by what my Dell Dimension has done for me over the last 5 years or so.

However,  looks like a custom build is the only option if I want to hang on to the Echo Layla 3G...  It works fine for me and is cleaner than my sound source playing.  But...like everything, looks to be outdated nowadays.  So...another $500 or so for a new audio interface too?

Nothing wrong with the Layla.

Do the Dells not come with a PCI slot?

It looks like the 3G is supported at least up to Windows 7.

ive read quite a few threads on the layla having issues, but mostly with the new versions of sonar x1 and x2
you didn't mention what your using so I cant really go in to detail, sorry.
but there are a few fixes out there.
hang on to this
http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2207638&mpage=2

good luck.

don't understand why you wouldn't build your own.
haven't got the time ?
it takes like 2 hours.

you can build a pc 2 times better quality and performance for under 500.00
if you want a copy of my book, just pm me.

watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFZ7ZrsTl3g

the book will take you an hour to read and you can reference it when your building.
not to mention you know who built it,you know theres quality in it.
those 400.00 dells are mass produced ans quality control is a joke.
 
by the way, I will give you a copy free. 

what ever you decide, best of luck.

Doubtful you'll find any current commodity PC (Dell, HP etc.) with native PCI support, or even with a PCI slot at all, not even on a high-end X79 box (no PCI slots on Alienware X79 afaik).

So if you want to keep using your Layla 3G, then custom-built would be the way to go, with a native PCI motherboard (B65/75, Q67/77 or X79) to be safe (although I've seen a few unconfirmed reports of some PCI interfaces working on Z68/77 boards).


EDIT: recall now that a while back when I was looking into notebooks,  I did come across some biz/corporate desktop Q77-based PC offerings from HP/Compaq (or maybe it was Dell?) with native PCI slots. There was one model with 3x PCI slots and another with a single PCI slot which could both take full height cards.  I do remember that the model with 3x PCI stood out at the time, because I hadn't come across any Q77 motherboards with that many PCI slots (almost all are microATX with only 1x or 2x PCI), and also because it  could be set up in either a tower or desktop configuration.


Not sure about the pricing as I wasn't shopping for a desktop, but do recall it was available with up to an i7-3770 cpu (not the "K" version cpu, since Q77 doesn't support overclocking), so could make for a pretty powerful system. Anyway, might be worth looking at "corporate" and "business" line PCs.