I need some help choosing a pc

[lemonoo7]

We currently have a Packard Bell EASYNOTE TE11HC, the other day my other half spilt a glass of wine over it and it now appears to be dead.

We have decided to get a desktop pc, mainly for web browsing, using tux guitar, and hopefully playing the odd game including Rocksmith.

The three I've seen in my budget that seem ok are:

A HP Pavilion 500-400na
http://www.woolworths.co.uk/hp-pavilion-500-400na-...

Zoostorm AMD A8 7600 2TB 12GB Desktop PC - Grey
http://www.argos.co.uk/m/static/Product/partNumber...


Or something like this
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191097275818

Are these any good for my needs, it's been a long time since I bought my last pc. Budget about £400. Or any others worth considering?

Cheers

Edited by lemonoo7 on Thursday 29th January 12:55

[grumbledoak]

They don't appear to have screens - what do you propose using?

And then, as ever, go have a look at Dell Inspiron Desktops to see what £500 get you and see if you can get it for £400 on Dell Outlet. You may need to check daily for a few days.

[lemonoo7]

Thanks for the reply, we have a spare flat screen TV which I was aiming to use. Is there any difference between a monitor and a lcd TV?

I'll have a look at Dell, I had heard on here that they can make it difficult to upgrade in the future, is that true?

Cheers

[mebe]

Check the inputs of your tv match the outputs of your candidate pc.

[grumbledoak]

lemonoo7 said:

I'll have a look at Dell, I had heard on here that they can make it difficult to upgrade in the future, is that true?

It depends what you want to upgrade. PC components are standardized - that's why they all plug together. True, Dell do want you to buy a new one each time and some parts are Dell specific, but you can get a new graphics card or extra RAM. Dell keyboards and mice are very good, you won't want to swap those.

Don't get conned onto the eternal upgrade cycle, it's a very expensive way to run a PC. It works out far cheaper if you just buy a new Dell every five years and don't upgrade it. Why do you think businesses do exactly this?

Edited by grumbledoak on Thursday 29th January 20:25

[The_Jackal]

Dont bank on the output from a pc on a TV looking that great.

[lemonoo7]

The tv has VGA and hdmi inputs, I didn't realise it may look poor. It's a 21" tv.

I see what you're saying about the likes of Dell I'll keep an eye on the outlet store.

Thank you for all the advice

[Martin4x4]

http://www.ebuyer.com/662249-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7...

A TV will not give good results

http://lifehacker.com/5884040/is-it-okay-to-use-an...

[chengy]

Any reason why the potential purchases are mostly AMD? Intel seems to be the stronger manufacturer for processors.

[Who me ?]

Try aria.co.uk.
For example - http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/Home+and+Office/Next... for a system ,and http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Monitors+%26+TVs for monitors.

[GrumpyTwig]

Martin4x4 said:

http://www.ebuyer.com/662249-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7...

A TV will not give good results

http://lifehacker.com/5884040/is-it-okay-to-use-an...

Sorry but such a sweeping statement is never the whole story. A good quality TV with minimum 1080p would be fine and is fine. I've been using my TV as the primary monitor for years, it gets a variety of use from video/photo editing, TV and films, gaming, light word/office use.
The picture is crisp and even in windows 7 if you need to the UI scales relatively well, in >8 it's even better.

TV is only a 42" LED Samsung, nothing fancy.

[lemonoo7]

chengy said:

Any reason why the potential purchases are mostly AMD? Intel seems to be the stronger manufacturer for processors.

Not really, just the ones I found in my budget, although the other half has now said the budget can be £600, which in that case I have seen this:

PC Specialist Fusion Gamer Pro Gaming PC, although again amd

http://m.ebuyer.com/657809

Any good?

[dcb]

chengy said:

Any reason why the potential purchases are mostly AMD? Intel seems to be the stronger manufacturer for processors.

Because Intel have 85 % of the market ?

Monopolies are to be avoided for a healthy marketplace. Look at the mess
Microsoft has made of the software market with their near-monopoly.

Anyway AMD are cheaper.

[grumbledoak]

dcb said:

Anyway AMD are cheaper.

And you can save a bit on your central heating bills too. Assuming it's gas, obviously.

I like your thinking.

[lemonoo7]

grumbledoak said:

And you can save a bit on your central heating bills too. Assuming it's gas, obviously.

I like your thinking.

So I can say to the other half after a while the pc will pay for itself? I'm liking that!

[Martin4x4]

GrumpyTwig said:

Sorry but such a sweeping statement is never the whole story. A good quality TV with minimum 1080p would be fine and is fine. I've been using my TV as the primary monitor for years, it gets a variety of use from video/photo editing, TV and films, gaming, light word/office use.
The picture is crisp and even in windows 7 if you need to the UI scales relatively well, in >8 it's even better.

TV is only a 42" LED Samsung, nothing fancy.

No. TV and Monitors are designed differently to be optimal to different purposes. As an analogy why did you choose a Megane when you could have a Land Rover? It suited your needs and Land Rover suits mine.

At the same size and resolutions a TV is just not as appropriate for PC work. TVs have high viewing angle which is fine for motion video but are not as crisp as a monitor. The pixels are designed to bleed to some extent to give the perception of smooth motion and gradients. They are therefore not good for use with text which favours crisp definition. You're mostly using it for video so a TV is suitable for your needs but less so for the OP, who said he was mostly using it for web browsing and music with some gaming.

Edited by Martin4x4 on Sunday 1st February 11:26

[GrumpyTwig]

Martin4x4 said:

No. TV and Monitors are designed differently to be optimal to different purposes. As an analogy why did you choose a Megane when you could have a Land Rover? It suited your needs and Land Rover suits mine.

At the same size and resolutions at is just not as appropriate for PC workd. A TV have a high viewing angle which is fine for motion video but are not as crisp as a monitor. The pixels are designed to bleed to some extent to give the perception of smooth motion and gradients. They are therefore not good for use with text which favours crisp definition. You're mostly using it for video so a TV is suitable for your needs but less so for the OP, who said he was mostly using it for web browsing and music with some gaming.

If you read my post at no point did I suggest a bias towards video I spend a lot of time just using it for general web browsing and it's never been less crisp than the dedicated PC monitor that sits next to it as a second display. You can insist I'm wrong all you like but it's just a real world experience I was offering the OP rather than a potentially dated article.

[Martin4x4]

At the moment Intel are providing better performance in the mid and upper price bands. AMD are most suitable were price is the most important factor. At a budget below £400 and limited processing demands I would suggest going with AMD to free as much cash as possible towards the other components. At £400+ for base unit I suggest looking for an Intel i5 based. On graphics a gamer should be looking towards Radeon but Nvidia gives better value for a more general purpose PC.

At £600 I suggest going for a good quality monitor around £100 either for these would be excellent.

£128 http://www.ebuyer.com/603605-iiyama-prolite-e2483h...
£100 http://www.ebuyer.com/616182-lg-22m45hq-22-led-vga...

Then around £500 for something like this.

http://www.ebuyer.com/671353-zoostorm-gaming-deskt...

Alternatively, have you considered building your own custom machine?

Edited by Martin4x4 on Sunday 1st February 11:33

[lemonoo7]

The above has no operating system though, does it have to be windows? I did considering building my own but thought better of it as I wanted one in a hurry, but I've flapped all week about what one to buy, I could've got the the parts by now and built one

[Martin4x4]

Ops, missed that. You can get an OEM edition of Windows 7 for about £35. However since you're scrapping the notebook you could legitimately transfer the licence#. You'll just need to borrow a standard install disk.