Best time to buy a new PC??

alexalexalex

I am thinking of buying a new PC as my current one is on its last legs and will need replacing very soon. I normally just replace my PC when it finally gives up and packs in and buy one from an advert in PC shopper or something - but that was before I found this site.

So now I'm wondering if I should be getting ready to replace it now or if it would be cheaper for me to wait until, say, after christmas? Do computer sites like Dell have January sales? Are they any good? Would I be better off just using one of their special offers they have from time to time like free delivery and £30 off certain models?

I would be more inclined to buy a complete system rather than build my own as I'm not looking for a mega gaming rig or anything, though I would like it to be able to run a few games should I want to and I also want it to last a few years without having to be upgraded too much.

I know whatever I buy and whenever I get it it's going to be outdated within a couple of months anyway, I don't mind that too much as long as it can keep up with what i need for a few years

So anyone got any ideas? should I just do it now or wait a while?

Thanks

John_Gray

It's largely going to be a matter of speculation until after the event!

There may be good pre-Christmas deals offered, but if the credit crunch means that few people buy PCs, then the New Year may see all sorts of sales!

Or it may be different... Your Pricing May Vary, to mis-state the usual YMMV.

mikegahan

Withe the inpending credit crunch there are likely to be good deals both before and after Xmas though experience dictates that the best time to buy is in January as dealers with have a lot of stock to move & not many buyers. There are specially good deals in end of range machines that suppliers want to move. for example see the front page of laptops direct:
http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/.
The samsung R60 plus is a good machine as I have one myself and the Acer has won awards. But there is much advice on this forum on the stickies at the top with detailed advice. Also depends what you want; you may be happy with a netbook, if you did not want to store a lot of photos or music and did not want to play cds and dvds. And u are right in that technology and specs are moving very fast, and the good news is that in relative terms they have never been cheaper. There is advice to avoid certain suppliers like PC World so do your research

[Deleted User]

Erm, never? 6 months after you buy your PC, it will cost less and you'd get better specifications for the same money.

Personally, i bought my last PC 2 years ago from the Dell Outlet website: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfh&~ck=betafrbsd

It cost £280 (no monitor) and is still going strong. Only thing i'm considering upgrading is the hard disk. Otherwise, i can still do plenty of stuff on it (browse the net, edit photos and video)

Airwolf1

I always look at Dell's latest offers, then ring them up and I generally get around £50 extra off a £450 machine, or get extra hardware added or something similar. If the 1st sales rep you speak to won't be forthcoming, then simply ring up and speak to another agent.

This has worked with the last 10 machines I've bought for different friends and family.

onthemend

I would suggest waiting until after Christmas, I find that PC suppliers tend to try & offload all existing stock cheaply when in fact just after Xmas better spec PC's appear.

Fifer

I second Ringo's suggestion of the Dell Outlet store. In the past I've always built and upgraded my own PCs, but just bought an Inspiron 530 (Core 2 E7200, 2GB, 360GB HD, Vista Premium, no monitor) for £207 inc VAT and delivery. I couldn't get close to that price DIY and this has a year's warranty.

Dobiesmon

Hi Fifer
On the computer you brought from dell outlet would you be able to play games on line

isofa

As long as you need it, now is a good time to buy. You can put off buying constantly for the next best deal, (as Ringo says earlier), but as soon as that appears, if you wait a bit longer, another better deal will appear etc.

The only reason I'll be waiting personally until next year, is for for USB 3 to be rolled out and integrated into motherboards.

Check out the best dell deals here: www.dmxdimension.co.uk

Fifer

Dobiesmon wrote: »

Hi Fifer
On the computer you brought from dell outlet would you be able to play games on line

I'm not a gamer so others could probably advise better, but I think you'd need to add a decent graphics card as the integrated graphics probably wouldn't cope with too many games. Other than that, I think it would be fine.

nomoneytoday

PCs are always cheaper and faster, AFTER you have bought one.
Moores Law states they willl double in speed and halve in price regularly lol

Your best bet is to look at Dell Outlet, DMXDimension and UKhotdeals from time to time, when a good deal comes up - jump on it