Where do I get a cheap computer?

[Shnozz]

I want a computer for home. I have a laptop at work and thought I could just buy a modem and hook that up, but its quite old and slow and, more importantly, someone using it at home may accidently tap in the address of sites with pictures of naked ladies.

So I figured I would just get my own computer. I dont want anything flash or mega fast. Just capable of logging on the net, downloading music CD's (so i think that means I need a CD writer or something?). I want to pay as little as possible. Would I be able to find something second hand? If i have to buy new where is the best place? Any hints on what spec would be best in view of the limited uses for it?

cheers all

[joust]

www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

Give them a ring or visit them - they'll find you something to do what you want for a few hundred of squids.

J

[CarZee]

try Computer Exchange

http://www1.cex.co.uk/computing/

there might even be a branch near you..

[plotloss]

As you dont need the speed something like a Duron based system is going to be about right IMHO.

Probably looking at around £400 for something brand new with a 17" monitor.

Breaks down as:

£250 for CPU, mobo, RAM, HDD, Modem, sound card, CDRW
£50 for case, keyboard, mouse
£100 for the monitor.

HTH

Matt.

Edited to say: In fact, thinking about it you could probably reduce this cost quite dramatically by going for a board with an integrated video,sound card and software modem if you arent going to be playing games...

>> Edited by plotloss on Monday 16th December 12:53

[Woodster]

I got a good deal on one last November on QXL. It was an Athlon 1.4ghz with all the usual stuff for £346.
I'd recommend it to anyone, providing you get a supplier as helpful as the one that I got it through.
www.skytronik.com

[Shnozz]

thanks all - I am quite amazed at those new prices! I know nothing about computers and so just see the ads in the papers for about £800 - £1000 for the more basic models and assumed this was about the right bracket.

It wont be for games as I have a playstation for that so may be an option to dump off some of those cards.

Are flat screen monitors very expensive compared to the normal ones? I am not bothered particularly about looking flashy its just the area of my place where the computer would go is rather limited and a flat screen would be far better.

[Podie]

www.europc.co.uk

[plotloss]

Flat screens on average are about 2 to 3 times the price of an equivalent CRT.

So £240+ for a 15.1" is about normal.

Matt.

[rpguk]

Dabs do one for £160+VAT (£190 inc) its also worth rembering that a 15" one will be equivilant to a 17" CRT one

[icamm]

You could also look in the free-ads papers. As long as you get a minimum of about 600Mhz CPU then you should be okay for what you have said you want.

Get them to show you everything working though as to get new bits can be expensive and difficult to fit (depends on the PC make etc). However, you should be able to get a decent PC that will do web surfing/email for not alot of money.

Having just said all of that I have done a quick search on http://compute.loot.com and there are some seriously cheap looking new deals available and the 2nd hand ones are nearly as expensive.

[luca brazzi]

I know I shouldn't...but I've just got a 17" monitor for sale (bought a TFT today ).

Its a Philips 107S, yours for £50.
LB

[HarryW]

Shnozz dodn't forget there's Novatech down the road at Porchester. You can spec the machine to your requirements, v reasonable too, I think they're at www.novatech.co.uk Have a look you might be surprised how cheap things are now days! I think you'll struggle to beat them on price for most things, don't forget this is not second hand gear

H

[wedg1e]

My bro volunteered to get me some upgrades for my PC for Xmas, with the proviso that they would be used equipment (not a problem to me, the whole system came out of a skip! .
So he went looking on Ebay, and found that the average price of a Pentium 3 @ 500/ 550 Mhz is 30 quid. A 1.4 GHz Athlon or similar is about 50....

As luck would have it, I wandered into the shop of a TVR-owning mate and told him what I was after: in seconds he'd produced a P2/ 450 and a P3/ 550.
"Take your pick", says he, "And Merry Xmas!".

So bro will just have to get me a bottle of brandy instead...

Ian

[alan_driver]

CarZee said: try Computer Exchange

http://www1.cex.co.uk/computing/

there might even be a branch near you..

I would have to say i disagree. There customer service in the leeds branch is CRAP. The buy for stupidly cheap prices off customers that dont know better then mark the price up to stupid amounts that are more than retail price but second hand. i really cant see why anyone would buy from them.

as for a cheap computer, if you know what your doing, make one yourself. i saved a few hundred quid that way.

alan

[zippy500]

I allways steer clear of budget PC's because there customer backup is usually complete cack. PC's from good well known makes are not much more these days. I have an NEC that is in the price range you stated. I got stung once by a budget place, and luckily managed to get my money back after several months of wingeing. Thats not to say that a big suplier wont be as bad, but on the whole they are better and they do have better back up. i.e. Dell, Compaq, NEC etc.

[squirrelz]

There's always bargains to be had:
http://commerce.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config/frameset.asp?s=ukpad&l=en&m=gbp&c=622&n=1774&cu=ukpad&v=d&cc=&ogn=&kcd=&ad=&mc=&rs=&cuid=&cg=&pch=1&pn=-1&demo=&gc=&sbc=ukpadoptix&co=&b=38739

2GHz P4, 128Mb RAM, CDRW, 17" monitor, USB2.0 Windows XP etc etc

£386 inc VAT

You can specify upgrades to 256Mb, 2.4GHz etc..

>> DOH and just as I check it again, the price has doubled - must have been a mistake

>> Edited by squirrelz on Tuesday 17th December 09:41

[Ballistic Banana]

A currently have a 750mhz AMD Duron processor and am looking to upgrade it and have seen the same processor with 1.5Ghz would this just be a straight pull out and push.
I have upgraded my memory as a first and thought i would move on to the processor.

BB

[.Mark]

I second Novatech Phil, cheap PC's excellent customer service.

[mrsd]

Cheap flatscreens are pretty nasty on the whole, better to get a quality CRT for the same money. Most towns have a second user supplier of PCs. I got a box for web use for £150 (500MHz PIII, Monitor, no keyboard (£20 at PCWorld) from a supplier in Chesterfield. Take into account very little customer support if you take this route. You can easily add your own CD writer for about £30, if you don't get one included.

[gopher]

Don't touch Scan (IMHO)