After months of frustrated head-banging and high blood pressure, the time has finally come to replace my erratic and badly behaved desktop PC. Even though as a family we own 2 laptops, a desktop pc is still needed to manage our wireless network and perform multimedia tasks for which laptops aren't really designed. Consequently I do not need a fancy machine, just a basic model which will do the things I need it to do. Neither do i need a monitor, since i have a perfectly good flat screen monitor already.
I was wondering which brands/makes were 'in' these days and which ones were best avoided. I have had desktop PCs from Advent and Compaq (current machine, not a good buy) and have Fujitsu Siemens and Asus laptops.
Can anyone help please. After buying somewhat of a white elephant last time i am somewhat wary this time around.
What make(s) of PC (desktop or laptop) do you have and are you happy with it?
Mines is a 'bitsa' i.e. bits of this and bits of that.
I went to a computer shop and had one made up with only the software & hardware I needed.
To hell with buying all those other bits of software that comes with special offers that only help to slow the processor down.
I used to only like desktop computers.
Bought a Samsung laptop, and to be honest I have been converted. Its great I can take it out in the garden to work or in the kitchen to do recipes off line.
My desktop computer is Compaq, but I have changed bits over the years. Its now just used as a server for the laptops in the home to share files etc.
I know they are not very cool but Dell make very acceptable units - I have my DELL XPS systen and it is lovely but I buy Dell for work and I have just taken some out of service that have been kicking along for 7 years.
However whatever PC you get these days will suffice HP Compaq are as good as Dells as are most makes these days.
http://www.europc.co.uk do a good line in returned units which usually come with a three year warantee. I've bought hundreds - all Dells!
But I do agree with Tee Gee - most PCs come replete with bloatware so, if you can always ask for a base install OS only. Most of EuroPC's models are business units which dont have all the crud on...
If i was you i would build my own for about £200-£300.
If you need some help please shout, i will gladly point you in the right direction.
Im good with computers, not so good with veg, so an exchange would be good.
You scratch my back and ill like it.
I agree with potatoehead and build you own for a fraction of the price, i build around 50 a year for friends, family and work mates and their friends and families, its very simple and very quick to do at a fraction of the price of a branded comp.
Also you can manage your network with a laptop just as easily as with a desk top.
Thanks for replies. Much appreciated.
Whilst i can see your point about building your own or at least geting someone to build one for you to your specs, i am somewhat wary of doing so since while in know what sort of thing i want in the way of HDD and memeory i do not have a clue what to go for in terms of processor, grapics card, sound card and other hardware. I wouldnt even know where to start as far as a case goes. I may still have to go down the 'off the peg' route' as normal
While i was looking around the other day, i kept coming across 'reconditioned' PCs which I imagine are fully overhauled and upgraded second hade machines. I was most surprised to see even PC World selling such machines. Does anyone know more about this? Is it an avenue worth exploring?
Where else can i look on the 'net for PCs? I have looked at sites such as PC World, Amazon and individual PC manufacturers and brands. Where else can i try?
Thanks
my stepson is a tech guy and works for pc world and currys. hes coming round about 12.00 and thats the sort of thing he does ill ask him what he thinks and let you know.
Thanks
OK been having a think about this. I want a basic machine rather than some fancy media centre type with lots of bells and whistles. If i were to design or even build my own machine i would need to know what was the best hardware to go fo that would suit my needs.
Processor speed
Ram size
Optical Drive
Sound Card
Graphics card
Other (Motherboard, chipsets etc)
The one thing i do know is that i want a decent size HDD, but there again i dont know if the specs of the other hardware limits the size of HDD you can have or if there are compatability issues to be over come when you are starting from scratch.
Been looking on EBAY for PCs and hardware. Seems like you need to know what spec you are looking for on there as they categorise machines by the various specifications as much as anything else.
Any advice would be welcome.
start with the mainboard that will determin the speed and type of processor and type of memory (most boards will come with onboard sound so no need to buy a card and you can also get onboard video)the size of the processor wants to be as fast as you can afford the bigger the number the faster the processor 2000 and above but also you want it to be dual or quad core. i prefere AMD to intel but they are as much as a muchness.
Ram size no less that 2gb but upto 8gb but again the speed is in mhz but the motherboard will tell you type supported. hdd as big as you can afford cos you always fill them but no less than 160gb but upto 2 TB.
512mb graphics as a min but upto 1gb again the mainboard will determin type of card supported.
most cases come with power supply around 400watt but i always go for around 550watt.
A DVD writer drive.
Thanks for the info. Very usefull.
I have to say its a bit of a minefield out there. Hard to sort out what you really want.
ive just ask Simon re the refurb units and he says the ones from the dixons group pc world etc are actually less likely to go wrong compared to a new one because of the amount of testing that they have to go through before leaving the line, any faulty parts are replaced with brand new stock not refurb stock.
they then go through other QA processors before being ready to go back out.
I bought a desktop four years ago from a local computer shop, it was a fraction of the price being charged at the big stores and I have been able to go back and ask for impartial advice whenever I need it. Something did go wrong once and I took it back, got it repaired for £20 within 24hrs.
My advice? Support your local shop!
I agree with katynewbie. If you do go down this route all you need to do is tell him what you're going to use it for and he'll build it around that.
I usually buy an end of line, ex demo Acer from Staples. My present one is an Acer Aspire X3810 Core 2 Duo, 320GB HDD, 2GB RAM (max 8GB), 9 USB ports, SATA port and all the other usual ports. It was £250 (Tesco £360), then a further £15 discount for ex-demo. It had Vista installed which I promptly removed and installed Ubuntu/Linux v10.04 with Open Office, The Gimp, Firefox & Thunderbird. I added some other Free Open Source Software and now have a fast small tower type computer which just keeps going without any errors.
My stepdaughter and her family (Windows users) come to visit and use my computer without any queries, it's so easy to use.