New Home PC

[tjdixon911]

Need a new home PC but not really sure what I want to go for, only use it for general typing, emails and internet (dial up, the amount we use it at home not worth getting broadband!) and downloading Photos.

Any suggestions on what to get, our one at the moment is a Pentium 133 I think (8 years old, so anything new is going to be better!), don't want to spend a fortune 5-600 max!

Been looking at the Dells.........

[plotloss]

How do you rate your computer knowledge?

If its fairly good and you understand whats going on then I would avoid a big firm.

If you dont then its Dell all the way.

£500-£600 should EASILY get you a machine capable of what you want it for.

[tjdixon911]

My computer knowledge is limited, I know how to use it but nothing to do with the workings! Its just things like the amount of memory I need etc I'm not sure of!

[plotloss]

Basically you want the most RAM, Ghz and Hard Disk space as you can get for the upper end of your budget.

Your budget, even at the bottom end, far exceeds your requirements machine wise.

So would you rather save money or be overspecced?

[docevi1]

You need to decide what the most important thing you'll be doing is - for instance if you're simply typing letters & playing on the net you don't need latest spec but for image manipulation and viewing, the "newer" the better IMO.

I'd be inclined to wander to Dell and get one of their boxes. Foolproof, works out of the boxes, is nigh on silent and well speced.

Personally I'm still running a 3year old box and it's fine and I do everything you do and play the latest computer games as well

[Liszt]

Recent experience has show that Dell has slipped a little in the last 6-12 months.

I know someone who has just ordered a new box from Mesh.

Seemed to be good value.

[tjdixon911]

Mesh? Have you got a link?

[docevi1]

www.meshcomputers.com

this one looks like it'd suit you nicely - £399 all in with 17" CRT monitor. Add 512Mb of Ram, an upgrade to XP Pro and seperate drives instead of Combi and you're at £574. Not a shabby PC at all.

The only thing is that it comes with Lotus Works not Office - thats an extra £139 if you buy it off them.

>> Edited by docevi1 on Tuesday 3rd August 15:17

>> Edited by docevi1 on Tuesday 3rd August 15:17

[onedsla]

I got my mum a 'b' grade HP desktop (P4 2.4Ghz, 512Mb, 40Gb) from microwarehouse for £300 (monitor not included) - the packaging was very slightly damaged but the computer was fine. Worked out of the box and next day delivery. Something like this would probably do as good a job as anything else about.
Dave

[Mr E]

Mesh are good boxes.

I actually bough my Median from PC World. Cracking deal for £700 (and this was 6 months ago)

AMD 3200+
1/2 Gig ram
160Gig HD
DVD-RW
DVD
FX5200 with 256Mb of Ram.
Lots of other stuff.

(Graphics card needs updating, but that's about it)

[simpo two]

Hi Tom,
If budget's not a problem but you like style, get a 17" TFT instead of a CRT. Fantastic things!

[tjdixon911]

Don't need anything fancy, this one looks good!

Its a Dell 2400 Desktop
*Intel Pentium 4 Processor
(2.80GHz, 512kB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
*Microsoft Windows XP Home edition
*512MB DDR RAM
*80GB Hard Drive
*15" Flat Panel Monitor
*8xDVD+Rewriter Drive
*Microsoft Works 7.0
*Free Dell Printer 720

£649 A bit above what I wanted to pay but it looks good to me. Any thoughts?

[rsvmilly]

Dell were advertising a PC & monitor for £399 inc vat and delivery on the telly last night.

For what you're after I'd say it would be fine. Spend the balance of you budget on a track day. (Or maybe a printer)

[tjdixon911]

Everyone keeps telling me I need atleast 512Mb ram, I guess I can get that one for 399 upgraded to this before delivery?

Dell seems to have a load of deals ending today, do they tend to start a new the next day?

[docevi1]

tjdixon911 said:

Everyone keeps telling me I need atleast 512Mb ram, I guess I can get that one for 399 upgraded to this before delivery? Dell seems to have a load of deals ending today, do they tend to start a new the next day?

Dell always have deals running, always!

You don't need 512mb of RAM, it's just that for the intial outlaw your machine will run potentially much smoother with applications such as image fiddling and lots of browser windows.

If I were you, I'd make sure I upgraded to XP Pro rather than Home (I'm lucky in that I get it for free anyway) but it's a far better option for everyone!

Looking at the machine you list there, why are you aiming for a tft screen? They add a fair bit onto the price of your box, and while the surface area is smaller & there isn't a large quality loss I don't personally see the benefit (for the price) yet. You may as well get a cheap PC (thats all you need) and spend the rest on something else.

>> Edited by docevi1 on Wednesday 4th August 16:31

[brumster]

I can't for the life of me understand why people are advising this guy to upgrade to XP Pro? WHY!?

[d-man]

I'd say 512Mb RAM is a sensible minimum for Windows XP if you're going to be doing any sort of image manipulation. Nothing is worse than running out of memory, no matter how fast the rest of your PC is you're gonna have to wait if it has to go to the hard disk.

As for Pro v Home, Pro has some extra admin tools and more powerful networking support but its really overkill for most home users. I think lots of people prefer XP Pro because the business orientated Windows NT / 2000 was far superior to the home Win 9x / Me and they assume this hasn't changed.

On the other hand, I still run 2000 because I can't see that XP offers me anything apart from a rubbish default interface and a whole load of memory bloat.

Dell make some decent machines and there are sometimes bargains to be had on their outlet site - <a href="http://www.dell.co.uk/outlet">www.dell.co.uk/outlet</a> Laptops from the outlet tend to be a better deal than the desktops though and do check that a special offer on the regular Dell site isn't better value than anything there.

Edit to say that XP Home doesn't support multi processors either, but that doesn't really matter here...







>> Edited by d-man on Wednesday 4th August 21:29

>> Edited by d-man on Wednesday 4th August 21:30

[docevi1]

Everything that d-man said is very true.

d-man said:

As for Pro v Home, Pro has some extra admin tools and more powerful networking support but its really overkill for most home users. I think lots of people prefer XP Pro because the business orientated Windows NT / 2000 was far superior to the home Win 9x / Me and they assume this hasn't changed. On the other hand, I still run 2000 because I can't see that XP offers me anything apart from a rubbish default interface and a whole load of memory bloat.

I only upgraded from 2000 as it was free through Uni (MSDA:AA) and found that XP was actually much better for what I did - messing about with pictures, playing games, programming in java, internet... as, well it simply was. As for Home vs Pro, well as I understand it home ties you're hands quite tightly in realms of what you can change/configure and misses out some of the important stuff from XP that I use - one assumes that other people will notice the limitations also.

[tjdixon911]

What are peoples thoughts on this? Just copied it across! So sorry if its a bit out of allignment!


SYSTEM SPECIFICATION
Dimension 2400 (System Identifier. EP0LH25H)
Dell Dimension 2400 Micro-Tower: Intel® Pentium 4 Processor 2.8GHz with 533MHz FSB, Integrated Audio/ Video/NIC
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

System Price £703.88
Promotion Discount (£224.99)
Discounted Price £478.89
Promotion End Date August 26 2004 05:00 AM Europe/London
Dell recommends Microsoft® Windows® XP


Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Memory: 512 MB NonECC 333Mhz DDR RAM Memory (1*512)
Floppy Drive: 1.44MB Floppy Drive
Hard Disk Drive: 120GB (7200rpm) 8MB Cache IDE Hard Drive
Modem: V.92 Data Fax Modem UK
CD Read-Write Drive: 48X/32X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
Software: Microsoft® Works® 7.0
Paint Shop Photo Album Standard Eng
McAffee Anti Virus 1 year English
MISC: MS, Intellimouse 2Btn Whl, MG
DMX Dell Media Experience
Dell Standard PS2 Keyboard

[tjdixon911]

Just checked I don't think that actually has a sound card!