Dad needs cheap PC
Discussion
My dad has finally outgrown my old Pentium 2 with Win 98 that I gave him. He now wants a WIn XP (not bothered about Vista) PC with 512MB RAM, CD/DVD writer and not a lot else as he will use it for internet, word processing and storing photos from his digital camera and nothing much else.
He's seen an Acer for about £240 from MISCO which seems reasonable (comes with LCD monitor too) but has anyone got experience of Acer and anyone else recomment anything else? Mainly he wants something relaible up to around the £300 mark!!!
He's seen an Acer for about £240 from MISCO which seems reasonable (comes with LCD monitor too) but has anyone got experience of Acer and anyone else recomment anything else? Mainly he wants something relaible up to around the £300 mark!!!
meeja said:
I ordered a Dell with a pretty decent spec for under £400 as a replacement for my Dad's ageing machine just before Christmas. It came with a 17" flat panel too!
When you are looking at Dell pricing though, bear in mind they charge £60+vat for delivery!!
Yes I know!! He's actually got a flat panel monitor that I gave him so only a barebones PC needed. I'll check!! Thanks!
Try www.eclipsecomputers.com or have a look at ebuyer to what they have on offer.
garyhun said:
Also... I've always used Intel chips but the Dell AMDPCs are a lot cheaper. ANy issues with AMD I should be aware of...or really for his use not a concern?
Never know an AMD chip to fry itself yet, unlike Intel Pentiums.
If I were going for a cheap PC I'd look at Dell first if it was a retailer. Or find a friend who knows about building them and get one built from parts myself for even less. That way you know what is going into it and what you want, what you need and what you don't need. The only expense will be XP but I think you can still get upgrades as long as you still have the older Win98.
FourWheelDrift said:
garyhun said:
Also... I've always used Intel chips but the Dell AMDPCs are a lot cheaper. ANy issues with AMD I should be aware of...or really for his use not a concern?
Never know an AMD chip to fry itself yet, unlike Intel Pentiums.
In the olden days, they were hotter than their Intel counterparts. These days they're slightly less potent than their Core 2 Duo equivalent... slightly... in that Windows will take approx 0.1ms longer to load... so not really important unless you like benchmarking the machine until it breaks
However, they are substantially cheaper per pallet than Intel hence most of the cheapo machines are AMD based. Personally given the choice I'd much rather have a £499 machine with a X2 than a Celleron. To be honest, as the person above said, a £299 jobbie from PC World (if they still have any at that price) would do for web surfing, picture viewing, typing, printing out stuff, watching movies.... pretty much anything your average person gets up to. Probably an IGP solution in those systems but might play a mean game of Civ3 or Civ4 if seriously pushed... which will keep your old man amused for donkey years
garyhun said:
Yes I know!! He's actually got a flat panel monitor that I gave him so only a barebones PC needed. I'll check!! Thanks!
Same here.... Dad already has a fairly decent flat panel, but Dell didn't give the option of no monitor.... so after comparing the two, I sold the old flat panel to a neighbour for £80.... which made the Dell £305 including delivery!
Jinx said:
Yeah... but a month for delivery?!
Jinx said:
That's a great price...and 1GB RAM!!! Cheers!! He can wait that long!
Just for surfing the net a bit of WP and digi cam pics ? Needed the same thing for my oldest boy - didnt need the latest greatest so picked up a refurbed P3 800Mhz with 256MB Ram, genuine Windows Licence new keyboard and mouse and a 17 inch CRT for £70 inc delivery from ebay. Very good machine it has been. Spent an extra £40 on another 512MB and a 128MB AGP graphics card , so for £110 he's got a very good internet and WP machine. Why spend more :-)
Jinx said:
Just a couple of comments; The HP Pavilion I bought a year or two ago for my wife (admittedly from Morgan Computers & not DABs) is a heap of poo. It's dead slow and crashes all the time. And DABs have something of a reputation for being hard to get hold of - not a combination you want, really.
zumbruk said:
Just a couple of comments; The HP Pavilion I bought a year or two ago for my wife (admittedly from Morgan Computers & not DABs) is a heap of poo. It's dead slow and crashes all the time. And DABs have something of a reputation for being hard to get hold of - not a combination you want, really.
Never had a problem with dabs myself (recently a graphics card didn't arrive - they sent a replacement a day after I dropped them an email).
I'm tempted to pick up one of those P4's for my sister (she needs a basic surfing/working machine)- I'll post up if I find any problems with it.
GregE240 said:
FourWheelDrift said:
Never know an AMD chip to fry itself yet, unlike Intel Pentiums.
Gary, take a look at Dells Outlet, or alternatively EBuyer or Mesh Computers. Edited by GregE240 on Wednesday 3rd January 13:13
Yep... more good advice. Cheers!!! I'm going to start with a run down to PC World on Friday and go from there.
rodney59 said:
His fingers are toooo big
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