New desktop computer for around £300-£400

Sput2001

I've had a quick look at PC World and they seem to mention SATA Hard Drives - is this a type or make?

It's the type of connection between the hard drive and the motherboard. IDE used to be the standard connection, now it's SATA. You'll probably find they're all SATA nowadays, which is fine. Nothing to worry about.

They also mention dual layer dvd writers. Can you use ordinary dvds and cds with these? My current computer doesn't have a writer (told you it was old!) so this is a whole new territory for me.

Again, dual layer DVD writers are pretty much the norm nowadays, and yes, standard DVDs and CDs will be fine with it.

I'd go with Dell before PC World, but with Dell it helps if you have a fair bit of an idea of what you're looking for.

DatabaseError

Marty_J wrote: »

Get a Mac.

Can we have a link to the new Mac desktop PCs for"£300-£400" with the 2-4gb of ram and the 250Gb+ HDD specified by the OP.
...also..will his old keyboard + mouse work with a mac, or is he best getting them from apple @ £62?

Thanks

Marty_J

DatabaseError wrote: »

Can we have a link to the new Mac desktop PCs for"£300-£400" with the 2-4gb of ram and the 250Gb+ HDD specified by the OP.

External HDDs are pretty cheap these days (internal ones are even cheaper). The OP won't be needing 4 GB of RAM to use OS X.

Also, Sanora isn't the OP.

...also..will his old keyboard + mouse work with a mac, or is he best getting them from apple @ £62?

Any USB keyboard and mouse will work fine. But yes, the Apple ones are very nice (the keyboard is the nicest one I've ever typed on).

Thanks

You're welcome.

Now, can we have a link to the new Dells which come with photography software like iPhoto?

Also, the OP wanted something for web-browsing; what is it about the Windows web browsing experience that you recommend to others? The viruses? Keyloggers? Trojans? Spyware? Malware?

Do tell.

DatabaseError

without a breakdown (cba)
external HDDs are cheap, but I guess they were hoping for a 1 box solution.
4gb not required for osx -great! (especially at the price apple charge for ram)
any usk keyb+mouse will work - good to know @ the price of them!
no idea what iphoto does, but, then again, i never have had a dell, and I don't imagine I ever will, so can't suggest the alternatives (though I understand iphoto is brilliant at what it does...whatever that actually is)
the windows web browsing experience...er...I use firefox with a couple or 3 addons and feel very secure, I could use safari (if I liked it) but...

My post wasn't to bash macs (an earlier post by myself suggested one) but pointing out that a mac didn't fall within the OPs remit, in the same way as someone asking about family hatback cars wouldn't be directed towards buying a cateram (though the cateram may be far superior in many ways), so feel free to climb down from your ever so slightly high horse.
:A

[Deleted User]

Marty, you've not posted a link to a Mac that costs between 300 and 400 quid new, as the OP wanted. If you want some good photo software (very similar to iPhoto) you can install the Google pack, which comes with Picasa - an exceptional photo organisation and manipulation tool. I believe it will be available for the Mac later this year.

As part of the pack, you also get virus and spyware detection. Free

Now, please find a thread for people asking for £600 - 1200 computers to occupy

Marty_J

DatabaseError wrote: »

without a breakdown (cba)
external HDDs are cheap, but I guess they were hoping for a 1 box solution.
4gb not required for osx -great! (especially at the price apple charge for ram)
any usk keyb+mouse will work - good to know @ the price of them!
no idea what iphoto does, but, then again, i never have had a dell, and I don't imagine I ever will, so can't suggest the alternatives (though I understand iphoto is brilliant at what it does...whatever that actually is)
the windows web browsing experience...er...I use firefox with a couple or 3 addons and feel very secure, I could use safari (if I liked it) but...

My post wasn't to bash macs (an earlier post by myself suggested one) but pointing out that a mac didn't fall within the OPs remit, in the same way as someone asking about family hatback cars wouldn't be directed towards buying a cateram (though the cateram may be far superior in many ways), so feel free to climb down from your ever so slightly high horse.
:A

That's fair enough, but the OP wanted a computer to use for photography, and that's something Macs excel at. As pointed out, they come with iPhoto which makes organising and editing your photos super-easy. It also makes great slideshows, and it's a breeze to put them onto a DVD with iDVD. Macs can also open a wide range of RAW files right out of the box.

Couldn't agree more about the RAM; Apple are having a laugh with their prices.

[Deleted User]

Picasa deals with RAWs, I use it with my SLR quite a bit, usually for previewing before i unleash Lightroom 2 (which works fine on my 1gb windows XP machine, bought for £280 from Dell two years ago)

Marty_J

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Marty, you've not posted a link to a Mac that costs between 300 and 400 quid new, as the OP wanted.

I did in my first post in this thread. For that matter, I did in my second post too.

If you want some good photo software (very similar to iPhoto) you can install the Google pack, which comes with Picasa - an exceptional photo organisation and manipulation tool.

Does it integrate with other software the same way iPhoto does?

I believe it will be available for the Mac later this year.

That's good to know, it took them long enough.

[Deleted User]

Picasa integrates with Picasa online galleries, facebook, Flickr, Google earth (for geotagging). It does basic video editing, DVD slideshows, collages. I can order prints from bonusprint, foto.com etc direct from your albums. It does timelines, screensavers, posters, uploads to blogs, open your images up in any installed graphics package..

Actually, it's one of the first tools i'd install on a new PC (also available for Linux). http://picasa.google.com/

edit. Your first post was to a £390 mini mac, without a screen. Try again

Marty_J

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Picasa integrates with Picasa online galleries, facebook, Flickr, Google earth (for geotagging). It does basic video editing, DVD slideshows, collages. I can order prints from bonusprint, foto.com etc direct from your albums. It does timelines, screensavers, posters, uploads to blogs, open your images up in any installed graphics package..

But it doesn't integrate with iMovie, iDVD and iTunes. Similar, but not as good.

edit. Your first post was to a £390 mini mac, without a screen. Try again

Did the OP say they didn't have a monitor?