Can anybody recommend a good PC?

marylee

I have approx £600 to spend and after reading somebody's post I am a bit put off with Dell. Thanks

Hintza

Have a look at the Novatech clearance section:-

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/clearance/K0

I have found them excellent

gizmoleeds

marylee wrote:

I have approx £600 to spend and after reading somebody's post I am a bit put off with Dell. Thanks

Dell are the biggest computer company in the world (I made that up but if I'm wrong then they're not far off). They have millions of customers, so of course there will be some who are dissatisfied. Just like there will be dissatisfied Asda shoppers, Play.com customers, BBC viewers and O2 subscribers.

I have a Dell. I have had a couple of problems requiring Dell's help. On both occasions I was pleased with the support they gave me. There are many happy Dell customers out there as well - far more than there are dissatisfied customers.

Dell regularly win customer satisfaction surveys, and IMO they deserve it. :beer:

belfastgal

I have a dell dimension 3000 its great. havnt had any problems at all...it was great value and looks very sleek and modern.......

mr_fishbulb

What will you be using the computer for?
If it's for editing digital photos then you will need to look for one with more ram, bigger hard drive and a large, good quality monitor.
If it's for gaming then you need to look for faster processor and graphics card.
If it's for general use then look for the best combination of all the components.

marylee

It's for general use, but do not know what to look for to get the best combination of all the components.

isgman

We use all DEll systems at work and have no major problems with them, there Tech Support is fine, so I would take a look at the Dell Web Site for your next PC
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=gen
Your should even get it by Christmas if you order soon :xmassign:

mr_fishbulb

marylee wrote:

It's for general use, but do not know what to look for to get the best combination of all the components.

That's a good point.

My parents bought a new machine from PC world (yeah I know what you're saying but it was a good deal and when it broke - must have come with a dodgy hard drive - they swapped it). I'm not sure if they do it any more, it's a Packard Bell 1517.

For £629 they got:
AMD Athlon 64 3200 processor (has about the same processing power as a pentium 3.2Ghz).
1024Mb ram (you can get either 512 or 1024, but the difference in price is so small i'd go for 1024).
200Gig hard drive (for storing photos on).
Integrated graphics (a basic graphics processor which uses some of the system RAM for it's own use - very basic but also cheap).
19" TFT Flat Screen monitor (free upgrade for buying online - nice and big for photo editing).

That sort of stuff would be fine for most people. If you want to spend a little more than £629 then upgrade the graphics card if you are going to be playing a lot of 3D games, otherwise get a printer or put it towards a broadband package.

mr_fishbulb

Go to PC world or somewhere to have a look around. That way you can see what you can get for your money, how big monitors are etc. But DO NOT buy from there straight away. Use the information to look online when you get home to find a deal now that you know what you are looking for. If you decide you do want a PC World one, then get the model number as you can usually get it cheaper on their online store and go back to the shop to pick it up (I know it's stupid but that's the way they work).

When is a good time to buy? Any time. People will always tell you to wait for the price or such and such to come down, or say there's a new version of that out next month, wait till then. The fact is, there is always a new version of something computery just around the corner, and the prices are always dropping so buy when you want. However if you don't need a PC till after Christmas then wait till January sales.

~Things to look for~

Processor:
Good - Intel Pentium 4 HT (Hyper Threading technology) 3.0 Gigahertz or over
Good - AMD Athlon 64 3000 or over.
Bad - Any Intel Celeron (these are slow and give a lot less power for only a little less money)
Bad - Any AMD Sempron (same as the Intel Celeron).

Ram:
Good: - 512 Megabytes
Better - 1024 Megabytes (1 Gigabyte)
Bad - Under 512 Megabytes

Hard Drive:
Good - 160 Gigabytes or more
Look For - If it has the letters SATA then you will have more options if you want to have a bigger hard drive in the future. SATA is a new type of connection to plug the hard drive in.

Graphics Card:
Alright - A graphics card which uses a part of the system memory as it's own. Only get this if you have 1024Mb ram and can't afford / don't want to buy a better model.
Good - Nvidia 6200 (and over) or ATI X300 (and over) with their own memory (128 megabytes).
Better (for games) - Nvidia 6800 (and over) or ATI X800 (and over) Only if you think you will be playing games, otherwise a faster graphics card is a waste as it will not speed up normal aplications.
Look For - PCI Express or PCI-E. This is a new type of slot the graphics card goes in and if you want to add a new card in a couple of years then you will have more options if you have this type of slot.

Overall:
USB Ports - 4 are good, 6 is better.
Sound - 4.1 or 5.1 is all you need unless you are planning to use your machine for DVD sound processing, then look for 7.1 or above.
Printers can be thrown in, but check and see how much you will be paying for a replacement ink cartridge.
Digital cameras can also be thrown in, but unless it's a well known brand, it will probably be rubbish (it might even be rubbish if it is a well known brand).
DVD Burner - look for a dual layer one. These can write to disks which store twice as much information on.

Finally:
Don't let salespeople sucker you in to getting an all-singing all-dancing Multi Media Centre. They are really for people who mostly want to record TV and watch DVDs. They're for use in the living room, and overkill for internet / word processing etc.

mr_fishbulb

Actually for sound, all you really need is 2 channel stereo, but get 4.1/5.1 if you want to watch DVDs on your computer.

marylee

Thanks for taking the trouble to answer my post and this excellent advice. I have printed it to check when I go to PC world. What do I look for drive if I buy from Dell. I have seen the 16xDVD+-/RW, will this burn CD/DVD. Thanks