New computer needed - advice for an idiot please
Discussion
Since moving to this house around 6 years ago we have been bumbling along with a broadband speed of around 2 mb. However I am told that fibre to the premises will be available next month which will give us anything between 50 and 80 mb speeds.
Consequently, thoughts are now turning to a new PC as the current one is creaking at the seams (even for offline stuff) but I have no idea what to get or even where to start -the current last one was an impulse buy from PC World so you can tell how much I know!
So - any advice on what to go for, specification, where to get the best deal and how much to pay please? No gaming or graphics requirement, it will only be used for general browsing and home office type use really. I don't want a laptop but other than that I'm open to suggestions.
Many thanks.
Consequently, thoughts are now turning to a new PC as the current one is creaking at the seams (even for offline stuff) but I have no idea what to get or even where to start -the current last one was an impulse buy from PC World so you can tell how much I know!
So - any advice on what to go for, specification, where to get the best deal and how much to pay please? No gaming or graphics requirement, it will only be used for general browsing and home office type use really. I don't want a laptop but other than that I'm open to suggestions.
Many thanks.
A basic PC these days is an i3 CPU with 8GB RAM, a 1TB hard drive, and Windows 10 for about £400, e.g.:
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-3650-desktop/pd?...
You can spend more to get more. For basic use there will be little benefit to you in getting a better CPU (an i5 or i7) or more RAM (say, 16GB or more). A better upgrade would be a solid state disk (SSD) and it is cheaper to buy them separately and swap them over yourself. It's only a little more complicated than unplugging the old one and putting in the new one.
You'll find no end of help to spend your hard earned here.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-3650-desktop/pd?...
You can spend more to get more. For basic use there will be little benefit to you in getting a better CPU (an i5 or i7) or more RAM (say, 16GB or more). A better upgrade would be a solid state disk (SSD) and it is cheaper to buy them separately and swap them over yourself. It's only a little more complicated than unplugging the old one and putting in the new one.
You'll find no end of help to spend your hard earned here.
Get a bog standard £300~ PC. People with far too much disposable income will come on here and tell you to buy a 1k-2k Mac, but you won't ever use the extra performance as a casual user.
It all comes down to how slick and shiny you want it to be, and whether you want to be able to brag to your friends about how much you spent on it.
It all comes down to how slick and shiny you want it to be, and whether you want to be able to brag to your friends about how much you spent on it.
BIGDAI said:
Since moving to this house around 6 years ago we have been bumbling along with a broadband speed of around 2 mb. However I am told that fibre to the premises will be available next month which will give us anything between 50 and 80 mb speeds.
Consequently, thoughts are now turning to a new PC as the current one is creaking at the seams (even for offline stuff) but I have no idea what to get or even where to start -the current last one was an impulse buy from PC World so you can tell how much I know!
So - any advice on what to go for, specification, where to get the best deal and how much to pay please? No gaming or graphics requirement, it will only be used for general browsing and home office type use really. I don't want a laptop but other than that I'm open to suggestions.
Many thanks.
It might be worth getting the current PC serviced. You'd be amazed how much of a mess they can get into with programmes installing themselves and slowing everything down. If the old PC is a decentish spec then it will probably be OK once it's had a bit of maintenance.Consequently, thoughts are now turning to a new PC as the current one is creaking at the seams (even for offline stuff) but I have no idea what to get or even where to start -the current last one was an impulse buy from PC World so you can tell how much I know!
So - any advice on what to go for, specification, where to get the best deal and how much to pay please? No gaming or graphics requirement, it will only be used for general browsing and home office type use really. I don't want a laptop but other than that I'm open to suggestions.
Many thanks.
If you don't have a geeky teenager in the family to do it for you then it'll probably be somewhere around £50 for a local company to do it.
OP: Does your current machine have an SSD in it?
If not, seriously consider just upgrading from HD to SSD. You'll be amazed how much life can be breathed into an old PC by doing this. SSDs really are the best performance upgrade these days - even better than doubling the memory (which may not make much difference at all, depending on your usage). An SSD will improve performance for all usage patterns of a PC.
People will tell you that the only way to do it is a clean re-installation of the operating system. Whilst I agree that it's the best way, you will still get a truly massive improvement from an SSD even if you just clone your existing HD. And it's a whole lot less hassle, with no need to worry about licence keys, re-installing software, etc etc.
I used the free version of Macrium Reflect to clone my HD to an SSD. Start by making a recovery bootable CD first - I found I needed this because initially the newly-cloned SSD didn't boot, and I needed to boot from the Macrium recovery disc and tell it to fix the problem (essentially rewriting the boot sector of the new drive). It's a zero-risk process because ultimately if you really can't get it working (you will) you can always just plug your old HD back in and you're back where you started.
If not, seriously consider just upgrading from HD to SSD. You'll be amazed how much life can be breathed into an old PC by doing this. SSDs really are the best performance upgrade these days - even better than doubling the memory (which may not make much difference at all, depending on your usage). An SSD will improve performance for all usage patterns of a PC.
People will tell you that the only way to do it is a clean re-installation of the operating system. Whilst I agree that it's the best way, you will still get a truly massive improvement from an SSD even if you just clone your existing HD. And it's a whole lot less hassle, with no need to worry about licence keys, re-installing software, etc etc.
I used the free version of Macrium Reflect to clone my HD to an SSD. Start by making a recovery bootable CD first - I found I needed this because initially the newly-cloned SSD didn't boot, and I needed to boot from the Macrium recovery disc and tell it to fix the problem (essentially rewriting the boot sector of the new drive). It's a zero-risk process because ultimately if you really can't get it working (you will) you can always just plug your old HD back in and you're back where you started.
Too much choice for specifics. You're safe with i3/i5 and 8GB of RAM for most things, an SSD is faster, but the current machines with i3 and 1TB spinning drives are fine and have more storage.
The brands with arguably the best online diagnostics and support are Dell, HP and Lenovo. After that you're into configs, from behind-the-monitor vesa mounts like the Optiplex M3040 micro, desktops like the HP Pavilion range, and all-in-ones.
Prices change by the minute; Dell have pop-up Doorbuster deals, HP's mailing list offers discounts. The High St stores like Staples and PC World have flash sales of older stocks.
Price-wise, a Dell Optiplex M3040 in either micro or mini-tower is about £350 or less, about £400 gets you an 8GB machine with an i3.
If you have a student in the house with a verifiable *.AC.UK email address all the big manufacturers offer student discounts.
Dell Outlet has cancelled orders; Vostro and Optiplex are 'work' machines with less gloss but more cooling, tool-less hardware replacement, remote diags, and long support life, Inspiron are the home machines.
HP Pavilion are the domestic range. That leaves Lenovo, Asus and Acer.
About the only place you can still get a new Windows 7 machine is from Dell, or the specialist suppliers like Novatech or PC Specialist. Windows 10 now rules uber alles.
I have just updated three machines here, and went for 8GB Dell Optiplex M3040 i3's with Windows 7. Very snappy in use. £350.
(Adobe InDesign and document/artwork production.)
HP Pavilion and Lenovo variations are in the stores and have similar specs/prices.
We are moving from the giant desktop towers of old here, recently whacked in a £100 2TB ShareCenter NAS and couple of SSD-equipped 15.6" laptops, can work almost as well on the i3 laptops with everything stored and backed up on the NAS.
The brands with arguably the best online diagnostics and support are Dell, HP and Lenovo. After that you're into configs, from behind-the-monitor vesa mounts like the Optiplex M3040 micro, desktops like the HP Pavilion range, and all-in-ones.
Prices change by the minute; Dell have pop-up Doorbuster deals, HP's mailing list offers discounts. The High St stores like Staples and PC World have flash sales of older stocks.
Price-wise, a Dell Optiplex M3040 in either micro or mini-tower is about £350 or less, about £400 gets you an 8GB machine with an i3.
If you have a student in the house with a verifiable *.AC.UK email address all the big manufacturers offer student discounts.
Dell Outlet has cancelled orders; Vostro and Optiplex are 'work' machines with less gloss but more cooling, tool-less hardware replacement, remote diags, and long support life, Inspiron are the home machines.
HP Pavilion are the domestic range. That leaves Lenovo, Asus and Acer.
About the only place you can still get a new Windows 7 machine is from Dell, or the specialist suppliers like Novatech or PC Specialist. Windows 10 now rules uber alles.
I have just updated three machines here, and went for 8GB Dell Optiplex M3040 i3's with Windows 7. Very snappy in use. £350.
(Adobe InDesign and document/artwork production.)
HP Pavilion and Lenovo variations are in the stores and have similar specs/prices.
We are moving from the giant desktop towers of old here, recently whacked in a £100 2TB ShareCenter NAS and couple of SSD-equipped 15.6" laptops, can work almost as well on the i3 laptops with everything stored and backed up on the NAS.
Edited by Slushbox on Sunday 4th December 09:05
Don said:
The OP doesn't want a laptop. But that's great value computing you've got there...
I've got a £200 LG Chromebase for browsing which sits in the living room, use it everyday for most stuff and its fine, have upgraded it from 2gb ram to 8gb though.My Linux laptop hardly gets a look in these days.
BIGDAI said:
it will only be used for general browsing and home office type use really.
Many thanks.
Ah look the PH apple brigade are out wanting you to spend a minimum of £1050 on a 21" computer...Many thanks.
21" iMac...
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
1920x1080 sRGB display
Dell do a 21" AIO for £669 at the same spec.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-22-3264-aio/pd?o...
RobDickinson said:
Ah look the PH apple brigade are out wanting you to spend a minimum of £1050 on a 21" computer...
21" iMac...
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
1920x1080 sRGB display
Dell do a 21" AIO for £669 at the same spec.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-22-3264-aio/pd?o...
Not to mention the fact that the iMac hasn't been updated since 2013. Even the ridiculously expensive Mac Pro still uses the Xeon E5, DDR3 and a FirePro GPU.21" iMac...
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
1920x1080 sRGB display
Dell do a 21" AIO for £669 at the same spec.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-22-3264-aio/pd?o...
Monty Python said:
RobDickinson said:
Ah look the PH apple brigade are out wanting you to spend a minimum of £1050 on a 21" computer...
21" iMac...
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
1920x1080 sRGB display
Dell do a 21" AIO for £669 at the same spec.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-22-3264-aio/pd?o...
Not to mention the fact that the iMac hasn't been updated since 2013. Even the ridiculously expensive Mac Pro still uses the Xeon E5, DDR3 and a FirePro GPU.21" iMac...
1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB of onboard memory, configurable up to 16GB
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 6000
1920x1080 sRGB display
Dell do a 21" AIO for £669 at the same spec.
http://www.dell.com/uk/p/inspiron-22-3264-aio/pd?o...
An iMac is major overkill for what the OP wants.
A cheap PC with a solid state drive will be absolutely fine.
I've just looked at the Mac Pro for another thread. Base model is £2999!
funkyrobot said:
I've just looked at the Mac Pro for another thread. Base model is £2999!
Yes but typically the usage of the thing is 4K video editing with two or three 4K screens going simultaneously. The next hardware up for doing that is a custom deck from Avid. You could be into 50-100K.Gassing Station | Computers, Gadgets & Stuff | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff