New desktop computer for around £300-£400

Marty_J

sweetstudent wrote: »

Do MacMini come with Airport and Bluetooth

They do, but they didn't receive their rumoured upgrade at Mac World today, so I'd advise anyone thinking of buying one to hold off for a bit.

Come on Apple, pull your finger out!

mazz1953

This site sells systems refurbished by Dell with a 3-year warranty at a good price, so worth having a looking. They also sell other refurbished Dell bits including monitors and hard drives. http://www.mcscom.co.uk/section.php?xSec=28

sweetstudent

Marty_J wrote: »

They do, but they didn't receive their rumoured upgrade at Mac World today, so I'd advise anyone thinking of buying one to hold off for a bit.

Come on Apple, pull your finger out!

Was only asking for a friend who wants a mac but doesnt wanna pay iMac prices.

Nothing can prise me from my beloved MacBook!!!!!

beachbeth

Im after a similar spec computer. Ive got a good printer and good speakers and so don't need these but want a faster and more efficient computer than the one Ive got and a nice widescreen tft (if thats what they're still called!:o ) I don't know whether to go for Windows Vista Home or Ultimate though? Whats the difference?

I also want to burn cds/dvds and like the idea of having one with HD too. I store photos and some music on my pc and spend a lot of time on the web but don't really do any gaming. Not sure which memory is right for me? Would rather have a little too much than find I haven't got enough. Anyone suggest which is the best to go for?

DatabaseError

^ one with HD? hd what? hd dvd (the now defunct format) HDMI video/audio output?

sweetstudent

beachbeth wrote: »

Im after a similar spec computer. Ive got a good printer and good speakers and so don't need these but want a faster and more efficient computer than the one Ive got and a nice widescreen tft (if thats what they're still called!:o ) I don't know whether to go for Windows Vista Home or Ultimate though? Whats the difference?

I also want to burn cds/dvds and like the idea of having one with HD too. I store photos and some music on my pc and spend a lot of time on the web but don't really do any gaming. Not sure which memory is right for me? Would rather have a little too much than find I haven't got enough. Anyone suggest which is the best to go for?

Why not go for a MacMini, there much better than Vista, more reliable and more secure. Plus they also have the added benefit of iLife!!!!

I know as an Apple fan i am biased but having used Vista for over a year i was glad to be using a decent OS

[Deleted User]

beachbeth wrote: »

I also want to burn cds/dvds and like the idea of having one with HD too.

Do you mean a blue-ray drive? If you had a blue-ray drive, appropriate graphics card and HDMI out - you could play High Def videos on your TV.

Yes.. you can also watch them on your monitor if you wanted (you don't need any special setup to watch 'high definition' movies on a PC screen.. they're usually higher resolution than a HD TV anyway) but if you want to watch blue-ray movies you'll need a blue-ray drive and a graphics card that will support the digital rights management. You won't get this for sub-£400.

GunJack

don't know if anyone's mentioned it earlier, but pcworld (i know, I know ) were advertising a pretty good-spec quad-core desktop in their sale for £300, with 192 TFT I believe...may be worth checking out....

beachbeth

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Do you mean a blue-ray drive? If you had a blue-ray drive, appropriate graphics card and HDMI out - you could play High Def videos on your TV.

Yes.. you can also watch them on your monitor if you wanted (you don't need any special setup to watch 'high definition' movies on a PC screen.. they're usually higher resolution than a HD TV anyway) but if you want to watch blue-ray movies you'll need a blue-ray drive and a graphics card that will support the digital rights management. You won't get this for sub-£400.

Yes I meant blu ray. I noticed 21-23" screens with hd and dvd drives with blu ray capability on the Dell website. I didn't think about having to have a graphics card to support this. Would this not automatically be included in a Dell pc with a blu ray drive? My pc is in my dining room but luckily I recently had a new lcd tv in there that is hd ready. However this is only 15" and so the pc screen would be larger.

ih8stress

MartyJ: Thanks for extolling the virtues of Macs
Database: Thank you for defending/replying on my behalf
NickMidgley: Thank you for answering my queries on SATA and dual dvds
Ringo: I am hoping to use Picasa on my new computer, having found out about it from this forum
Penrhyn: Do you have any recommendations other than Dell?
Gunjack: Can you please tell me which desktop it was in PC World

Thanks again for all the input. A few people suggest building one myself (not a hope in hell). Can anyone recommend someone in Doncaster, S.Yorks?