New desktop- what to choose

RachelD

I need a new desktop, monitor, keyboard .
I've previously used Dell and never had much problem with them. I use the PC for office tasks, photos, surfing, email. The only games I play are versons of Scrabble on Facebook. I may add music tasks when I retire.
My main hobby is genealogy and I also want a mini notebook to take to record offices/libraries when researching. It has to be lightweight, very lightweight, and able to run my genie programme too. (Legacy)

I currently use Win XP, Zone alarm firewall and AV, Antispyware. I am blaming ZA security suite for slowness in my PC and have seen recommendations on here for free AV/AS systems. Is there a good free firewall? Is Vista OK to use now?

I have looked at Dell and Overclockers but am unsure what to buy as a main OC and mini notebook, Budget about £700 for both. Any advice welcome

posted_2

If you have a router, a software firewall isn't essential, as you have found out, Zonealarm slows things down. XP and Vista have their own firewalls anyway. Are you replacing it because it is slow, because that is fixable without spending much or any money. For netbooks, I'd go an have a look at some, to make sure you are happy with the screen and keyboard, and make sure you get a windows variant, rather than Linux.

DCFC79

Before you spend money id make sure that theres nothing you can do to the current machine eg add new ram, use a better firewall and anti virus, uninstall programs you dont use. If it were me id rather explore these options first before i spend money on a new machine, but the choice is entirely upto you, there could be other options you could explore and im sure someone will be along soon to mention them

RachelD

Are you replacing it because it is slow, because that is fixable without spending much or any money.

It's about 6 or 7 years old.
Probs

• To-day I wanted to download some photos from a memory stick. The PC has 2 USB sockets and I've added a hub with 4 extra sockets. Whether plugged in direct or to the hub, I kept getting an error message that there wasn't enough power. I'd used the same device on my sister's new machine with no probs at all.
• I can't get any sound either.
• I thought I could go wireless with a new machine.

Thanks.

posted_2

Is it a powered hub, what other usb devices are plugged in- have you tried removing the hub, and plugging it in direct? Sound - are sound drivers installed, in control panel, system, device manager. Any pc can be made wireless, for the sake of £15 - only really useful if you want to move it away from the router

Marty_J

If you already have a monitor and the rest, a Mac Mini might be an option. You would get an excellent photo application called iPhoto with it, as well as iMovie, iDVD, and Garageband which is a great music recording and arranging application. You wouldn't need to bother with all the security programs which are currently slowing down your PC. It also has 5 USB ports and a FireWire 800 port, so you wouldn't need to use your USB hub any more.

They start at £499, so that would leave you £200 to get a netbook to take to records offices with you.

John_Gray

You might be well advised to wait until Windows 7 comes out - if you can wait that long!

macman

RachelD wrote: »

It's about 6 or 7 years old.
Probs

• To-day I wanted to download some photos from a memory stick. The PC has 2 USB sockets and I've added a hub with 4 extra sockets . Whether plugged in direct or to the hub, I kept getting an error message that there wasn't enough power. I'd used the same device on my sister's new machine with no probs at all.
• I can't get any sound either.
• I thought I could go wireless with a new machine.

Thanks.

Just fit a 4 port internal PCI USB card which will then gives you 4 more USB ports and no hub power problem. Cost about £15, 10 minutes to fit it yourself.
Sound is certainly fixable but we would need more info.
You can buy a wireless adapter for a desktop machine for about £20.
If you want/can afford a new PC, fine, but the above problems don't on their own make your current machine time expired.

totalsolutions

Fix up your current PC / Ram re-install OS , etc.
Windows 7 is out and working fine here on a Desktop and my new Samsung NC20 which I suggest you look into getting one.

macman

6/7 year old machine with XP is probably running with only 256MB or 512MB of RAM if it's never been upgraded-can you advise how much is currently installed please. Increasing that to say 1GB would be a cost effective way of speeding up your machine. If you can post which model Dell it is we can advise upgrade options and prices.
Biggest limitation on a machine of this age is usually the hard disk capacity, probably no more than 60/80GB?

RachelD

6/7 year old machine with XP is probably running with only 256MB or 512MB of RAM if it's never been upgraded-can you advise how much is currently installed please. Increasing that to say 1GB would be a cost effective way of speeding up your machine. If you can post which model Dell it is we can advise upgrade options and prices.
Biggest limitation on a machine of this age is usually the hard disk capacity, probably no more than 60/80GB?

Thank you all for your input. Good guess or good knowhow!.

It's Dell Dimension 8200, Pentium R 4 ,
CPU 1.8 GHz,
256 Mb RAM.
Windows XP.
Never been upgraded. I'd certainly consider an upgrade and would be grateful for a description of what I need to buy. I could probably find someone with the expertise to do it, since my skills in that direction are non-existent. I'm not unhappy with XP Home

Can't find the info on the hard disk size. It doesn't seem to be on the System Inf screen.
Thanks again,

Rachel