Advice please? A New PC For around £700 or less!

Foto John

Foto John

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Any recommendations please anybody? I've got some Christmas money plus a little savings and would like a new PC, any deals out there?
I've been looking at Dell as I can buy over the net in Belgium, what do you lot reckon?
Pentium 4, 2.9 Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 17" TFT........etc.etc..........Approx. 900 euros (£600) Any good?


Cheers :beerjug:

John
 
Hi John,
You can't go wrong with the Dell. Good brand, pretty good customer support, and should last you well. Sometimes Dell will do a deal too - usually by throwing in some additional RAM if you try to push them a bit. Start by asking for a price on a lower spec machine, then "let yourself" be talked into the one you want with a sweetener of the RAM.
It's either that or "build your own" from top spec components (which I do). Avoid the cheap nasty brands.
Merry Christmas!
 
Ive had a Dell Dimension 4600 for approx 2mnths (Ithink it was £379 +£23 for an A drive). Cant fault it, seems as though its the same spec as you stated above with 160MB hard drive and 512MB ram. Spot on for the money.

My daughter got the Dell Dimension 3000 for Xmas, performance seems fairly compatable, but it only has 256Mb ram. Only I cant remember what we paid for it (Ithink it was around the £329 mark) , I do remember that the prices on their website were quite a bit lower (and with a higher spec machine) than those being advertised at the time on the telly by Dell.

I would recommend them, ordered and they were delivered about 3 days later. Complete with all the loaded software packages and the discs.

Steve
 
Thanks for the advice chaps....................a Dell it shall be then ;) .

Will post the details of what I get when I get it.............only thing is, I've got to wait until the 1st of January before I've got my money together :( .


Thanks once again :thumb !
 
Looks like a Dell is out of the equation as everybody I've asked in Belgium says their customer service is very poor over here. A pity because they do have some very nice systems!
Inge (SWMBO) though wants me to only purchase from a shop and not over the 'net, as if anything goes wrong we can just take it back to the shop and deal with people face to face.
Also she'll be putting in a good share of the cost (as my Christmas & Birthday presents) so she gets a say in what I buy.

So, what do you all think of this offer then?

Pentium 4 3.0GHz - Intel
DDRAM 256MB
S-VGA A-Open GF4 MX 4000 64MB
monitor 17“
Floppy drive 3“1/2 1.44MB
Hard disc 80GB 7200RPM
DVD
CD-rewriter
Audio on board
Speakers 2x120W
Microsoft mouse & keyboard
network card
4 x USB 2.0 ports
MS WINDOWS XP NL
MS WORD, MS WORKS,
MS ENCARTA World Atlas, MS Picture It!,
MS Autoroute Express Europe
899€ (Approx £600)


It's unbranded and put together in a independant computer shop in Ostend, Belgium.

Cheers :beerjug:

John
 
Should be OK. The processor is quick enough. The main constraints will be memory and graphics.

You probably will want to slot at least another 256Mb in there, if not 512Mb more if you want to play any of the decent games out there. Memory appears to be about £20-£30 for 256Mb these days.

Also, decent games need a decent graphics card. You may in future want to upgrade the card to a 256Mb card like an Radeon 9800 or above - you'll get awesome graphics performance from something like that.
 
Memory in a new Dell is DDR2 400Mhz make sure it's DDR2 I bought wrong memory first time!You will also have to buy a pair for best performance. Delll is a good machine and had good service from them.
 
Belgian John said:
So, what do you all think of this offer then?

Pentium 4 3.0GHz - Intel
DDRAM 256MB
S-VGA A-Open GF4 MX 4000 64MB
monitor 17“
Floppy drive 3“1/2 1.44MB
Hard disc 80GB 7200RPM
DVD
CD-rewriter
Audio on board
Speakers 2x120W
Microsoft mouse & keyboard
network card
4 x USB 2.0 ports
MS WINDOWS XP NL
MS WORD, MS WORKS,
MS ENCARTA World Atlas, MS Picture It!,
MS Autoroute Express Europe
899€ (Approx £600)
Click to expand...

I'd advocate a Dell TBH, good machines but as you have said their customer service isn't brilliant, unless you like holding on the phone. That being said, they are a big company and will sort anything for you... eventually.

As for the spec....not brilliant IMO.

Not enough memory. You want 512 if your buying a new machine.

Hope you dont want to ever play games with that graphics card. Which by the way you have written it down is built into the motherboard? Just make sure it has a AGP slot.

80gb HDD - Neither here nor there TBH, bigger is better etc etc.

I'm guessing the screen isn't a TFT. Dell usually have deals on these and once you've used one, you wont go back to a CRT. Less eye strain - more space.

The DVD you have put down will be a combo DVD-ROM / CD-RW. So it writes CD's and only reads DVD's. Horses for courses, but I would want a DVD-RW.

On-board audio - again cost cutting measures. You dont say what kind.

Sounds like everything which can be built into the board has been :rolleyes: BTW, its usually good practise to disregard whatever they are bundling with the PC in terms of extra software and peripherals when comparing as the quality of the bundled 'stuff' is usually crap.
 
Thanks all once again for your advice :thumb!
I've managed to convert Inge's thoughts to a Dell ;) , as I don't think I will get a better deal anywhere else.
As Mike said, Dell are a massive international company, so a quick call or e.mail to the H.Q. in the USA or wherever should move some goalposts :D !
I shall mostly be using the PC for photoshop applications and some internet downloads and maybe watching DVD's as I don't possess a DVD player yet (am I the only one who hasn't seen L.W.R. yet? ;) ).

This is the one I was looking at, with the 17" ultra sharp TFT monitor which bumps the price up a bit. Other things include Dell stereo speakers, though I'm not sure what DVD/CD Rom combo or whether to go for a floppy disk drive? Considering that in the last five years or so I've never used the floppy disk drive on the PC I have now.
Considering what I've asked and the fact I don't own a game, ~(though I could always be convinced to play one :D) furthermore, I don't want the price to rise to much more than €1000 inc. BTW (VAT).
So....................What are my best options please?
 
Looks like a good machine to me, althought I cant read most of it :D

* Processor, RAM :thumb
* Forget the floppy, get the USB key. Far more usefull
* Get the PCI Express graphics if you want to play games or even try and install em.
* I would perhaps make do with the 15" TFT and beef up the bits you will have trouble upgrading. You could always buy a bigger monitor later? personal choice TBH, I've got a 17" TFT :beerjug:

TBH, Nice PC, whatever you add will be icing on the cake.
 
Thanks once again Mike et al :thumb

I've just ordered this:



1 Dell Dimension 5000 Gold (D01503) Nieuw !
Dimension 5000 Standard Features: Intel® 915G Express chipset
Uitgerust met Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system
Support for Dual Channel DDR2 at 400MHz
Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 900
PCI Express 16x graphics cards
7 USB 2.0 ports : 2xPCI slots, 1xPCIe x1, 1xPCIe x16 slot
Dell Solution Center

Dimension Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (UK)

Online Aktie: Aktie: 100,- (excl. BTW) Online korting

Transport kosten: Aktie : Gratis transport

Dimension Support Service: 1 jaar collect & return (-EUR - 99,00 EUR)

Dimension Complete Care Accidental Damage Cover: Geen

Dimension Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 540 met HT technology (3.2GHz, 800MHz fsb, 1MB cache)

Online Aktie - Dimension Geheugen: Aktie : 1024MB PC-3200 Dual Channel DDR2 400MHz [2x512]

Dimension Harde Schijven: 160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA met 8MB DataBurstTM cache

Dimension Floppy disk drive/ Card Reader: Geïntegreerde 9 in 1 geheugenkaart lezer (+ EUR 20,00 EUR)

Dimension USB Memory Key: -

Dimension Grafische Kaart: 128MB PCI Express™ x16 ATI Radeon™ X300 SE met DVI/VGA - TV out via S-video port en dual monitor support

Dimension Monitor: Dell 173FP 17" Entry FlatPanel (no DVI)

Dimension Dual Monitor Support: Geen

Dimension Optioneel 2e monitor: Geen

LCD TV: -

Dimension Optical drives: 16x DVD+/- RW (DVD Rewriter)

Dimension Speakers: Harmon Kardon AS500PA Flatpanel Speakers ( Alleen bestelbaar met Dell 173FP) (+ EUR 30,00 EUR)

Dimension FireWire (i-Link): Geen

Dimension TV kaart: Geen

Dimension Geluidskaart: Geïntegreerde geluidskaart

Dell Picture studio: Paint Shop Pro 8.0 (trial version) & Paint Shop Photo Album 4.0 (trial version)

Dimension Modem: Geen

Dimension Wireless Netwerk: -

Dimension Keyboards: Slimline US PS/2 Keyboard (Qwerty Nederland)

Dimension Muis: Dell Wheel PS/2 muis

Systeemdocumentatie: Engelstalige systeemdocumentatie

Dimension Software: Microsoft® Works 7.0

Dell Axim Handheld: -

Micro-Portable Projector and Accessoires: -

Installatie op locatie: Geen

Digitale Camera's: Not Included

Dell Printers: Geen

Dell Printer Accessoires: -

Dell Printer Service Upgrades: Geen Printer Service Upgrade

Data Transfer / Migration: No Transfer

Dimension Accessoires: -

Dimension - Online training: Geen

Software & Peripherals - Special Promotions: -

Additional Software: Geen

Super Game Pack: Geen

Dimension Security Software: Geen Norton Internet security abonnement




Te betalen Bedrag
(incl. BTW, Recupel en transport) 1060,99 EUR


Cheers :beerjug:

John
 
Well done John, now you can watch all those dodgy DVD's you pick up at the petrol stations on your journey around Europe....
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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