Would you change anything on this PC - £600?
Discussion
I've resigned myself to the fact that I need a bit of an upgrade in the PC department and have been looking around to see whats available in the £600-ish region.
I've spotted this one on the mesh website, which looks pretty good for the money - unless anyone knows better? I'm really out of touch with what makes a good machine these days!
www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=121551
I'm not interested in building one myself - far too much opportunity for something to go wrong or be incompatible. The machine will be mainly used for engineering/cad work and general home use/surfing PH! I don't play games at all, so no need for any fancy game optimised items!
I've spotted this one on the mesh website, which looks pretty good for the money - unless anyone knows better? I'm really out of touch with what makes a good machine these days!
www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTVIEWPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=121551
I'm not interested in building one myself - far too much opportunity for something to go wrong or be incompatible. The machine will be mainly used for engineering/cad work and general home use/surfing PH! I don't play games at all, so no need for any fancy game optimised items!
Looks like a very good spec to me, though no monitor is included (take it you will use the existing one).
One thing I would think about though, is that Windows XP is going to be replaced by Vista in January. Now, I am not advocating that it will be the Holy Grail of Operating Systems or anything and completely bug free....but I think anyone buying a new PC with an O/S already installed should be made aware that something new is on the horizon. No price for Vista yet, but I would expect around £100, so that is £100 within the price of any new computer if you can wait until after Xmas.
One thing I would think about though, is that Windows XP is going to be replaced by Vista in January. Now, I am not advocating that it will be the Holy Grail of Operating Systems or anything and completely bug free....but I think anyone buying a new PC with an O/S already installed should be made aware that something new is on the horizon. No price for Vista yet, but I would expect around £100, so that is £100 within the price of any new computer if you can wait until after Xmas.
i agree. I've been advising my clients (that want to buy computers for xmas) to wait a few months until Vista is released next year.
Not only will the new machine (which will run Vista) be Vista compatible, it will also be of better spec than now and that they won't have to upgrade to Vista in a few years (about 5) when XP will be 2 generations old (maybe).
TUS 373 said:
Looks like a very good spec to me, though no monitor is included (take it you will use the existing one).
One thing I would think about though, is that Windows XP is going to be replaced by Vista in January. Now, I am not advocating that it will be the Holy Grail of Operating Systems or anything and completely bug free....but I think anyone buying a new PC with an O/S already installed should be made aware that something new is on the horizon. No price for Vista yet, but I would expect around £100, so that is £100 within the price of any new computer if you can wait until after Xmas.
One thing I would think about though, is that Windows XP is going to be replaced by Vista in January. Now, I am not advocating that it will be the Holy Grail of Operating Systems or anything and completely bug free....but I think anyone buying a new PC with an O/S already installed should be made aware that something new is on the horizon. No price for Vista yet, but I would expect around £100, so that is £100 within the price of any new computer if you can wait until after Xmas.
Thanks for the feedback TUS!
Yep, planning to use my existing monitor - got an excellent 19" TFT, although I'd be tempted to get another at some point as the graphics card on that machine has dual-output! I did look at systems with monitors (Mesh also do an excellent system with a 22" widescreen for similar money) but it seems that to achieve that for the price they cut back on the RAM and graphics card.
I wasn't too worried about getting a machine with Vista - should I be? I figured that XP will be supported by Microsoft and software developers for years to come so having Xp shouldn't be a problem for a while yet?
Shame about the XP home, then again might not make any difference to you? (Pro gives you more flexibility in networking options), Would deffo try to go dual-monitor if you've got the room now your graphics card supports it. Once you get used to it it's a pain to work without them. A nice pair of 30" apple screens should do the trick... or would that blow the budget a tad 
aldi said:
Shame about the XP home, then again might not make any difference to you? (Pro gives you more flexibility in networking options), Would deffo try to go dual-monitor if you've got the room now your graphics card supports it. Once you get used to it it's a pain to work without them. A nice pair of 30" apple screens should do the trick... or would that blow the budget a tad
Not planning to network so Home should be ok (certainly caused me no problems on my current machine)
Twin 30" monitors would be nice but I'd be surprised if they didn't tip me over the £600 I intend to spend
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