The time is now right......

[Banger]

To get a new PC. Over the years i have got budget PC's but thanks to a win in the courts over a well known holiday company i am getting a 'dogs danglies' one.

Now i want a good un with great sound quality video etc as this is what i enjoy most. Over the past year i have put up with 128mb ram and have been unable to upgrade as the cheap unit i bought would not fit it.
So i am pissed off with a PC that runs like treacle! Its been like driving a Tank with a 50cc engine in it and has driven me to insanity at times so i want a 'Whack of number of rams and turn my tank ito a ferrari.

I am prepared to go to£1500 .
I know you have heard these requests before but you know my priorities. I dont play games but use the net alot.

So does anybody know a PC with priorities to those above.

Would apprciate your views as ever.

Thanks

 

[Big Lee]

Don`t know much about `puters but if you haven`t already get broadband
Wanadoo is doing 1mb(?) for £17.99 a month

 

[Banger]

Thanks Lee but i am on al broadband and its great, no download limit , online live help-superb, and ok its a bit more pricey than some of the others by a few pounds but i have used the help on many occasins and the un-limited download is invaluable all for maybe £5 a month more .

No its the PC i am more interested in.

Thanks anyway mate

 

[Big Lee]

My pleasure

 

[Eddy802]

Alienware

These guys do some excellent packages, and "tune" the PC toward particular tasks, Audio, Video, Office, Home etc.

This link is to the section tuned for Audio....

Alienware

 

[cookie]

you certainly won't have to spend 1500 quid to get what you want. once you rule games out of the equation, cost drops like a stone.

for surfing & general office apps. with ability to manipulate photo's & suchlike i'd look for a spec similar to the pc i built for myself last week:

Windows XP. home edition is fine.

CPU: AMD Athlon 2800+XP. hard to find now as they are NLA. AMD Sempron 3000 is similar, but you'd not notice the difference if you got a sempron 26 or 2800 IMO. AMD 64 or pentium 4 is overkill for what you want.

intel celeron is another alternative. go for a 2800 & up.

RAM: 512Mb DDR

hard disc: bigger the better & 2 drives are better yet. one of mine has 2 x 160GB HDDs & the other has a 40 & a 60GB. i'd see 80GB as a minimum if you don't download much.

cd writer is a must, dvd writer as required.

spend some of the money left over on upgrading to the best monitor you can find + a decent keyboard & mouse. these 3 items are what you spend all your time dealing with and are the most important items presuming a decent spec PC.

ps. don't pay too much attention to "upgradability". by the time you want to upgrade (2/3 years?) no new componants will fit your old motherboard & you'll be better off starting from scratch.

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

search for tobers thread a couple weeks ago - re new 'puters.

He's got a good one and knows what he's talking about .

putr box for £700 - can't go wrong - but sue him if it does

 

[cookie]

IIRC tober's pc was something of a gaming beast.

edit: not quite but getting there.

 

[mikeh501]

My 2p FWIW......

Goto Dell. You cant go wrong, especially if your not that interested in playing games.

Start with this @ £459
Dell 5000

Goto "customise and buy" button in green

Upgrade 2.8ghz processor to 3.0ghz Pentium 4 processor with HT £35
Upgrade 80gb Hard disk to 160Ghb hard disk £70
Option Upgrade 17" CRT to 17" Flat panel £163
Option Upgrade CD Re-write to DVD-Rewriter+CDRW £58
There are more options, whatever takes your fancy but the base PC is very good.


Alternatively, Dell offer a box similar to what I said above at £629 ready to go.

Dell 5000 + Majority of options above and others


Finally if you want to start at a lower price point then you could go for the Dell 2400

Me, well I build my own.. but thats only because Im a techie and like to specify each bit and upgrade a lot. Helps doing it for a living too.

Cookie - Just looked at the Tobers link. That PC is hardly a beast, lol

 

[Geoff2]

Regards to your sound quality, most Pc's have good sound cards in them, but the speakers they provide are crap to say the least. Spend a decent amount on speakers £50 minimum and you will not be disappointed. If you go to the PC supermarkets, most of them will be using their good quality speaker systems. I paid about £80 for mine some 4 years ago and I am very happy, I've put all my CDs and vinyls onto the PC, using Real jukebox and usually when on the net I grab a can listen to the music and surf

 

[Snooky]

Check out the guys I have arranged a deal with, in Discount offers thread, they sell the HP media center PC which is pretty impressive and cheaper than you may think, although you will need to add more for a monitor of flat panel but they sell everthing HP/Compaq, worth a try after weighing up any other options.

 

[Aidan1150]

Hi Banger,

Given that you have up to £1500 to spend, I would say that mikeh501 has made a very good suggestion with the Dell 5000.

You could then use the Customise & Buy option to upgrade to a 17"TFT screen as opposed to the 15" offered in that package. You will really notice the difference.

As Cookie says, do get a good quality keyboard and mouse too.

Happy shopping