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I'm looking for a new PC

TheBearNecessities
TheBearNecessities Posts: 116 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
edited 12 May 2009 pm31 2:15PM in Techie Stuff
Not sure if i'm posting in the right place but ive looked for a guide, and i've tried a few discussion forums on this site, to no avail?Is there a guide somewhere I've missed? Is there a 'great best value PC hunt' thread that i've missed? If not, I'm buying PC for the mother in law, they just want to use it for surfing and emailing, perhaps letter writting. nothing hugely demanding.What I'm looking for is the best way to get the best spec for about £300?Are their any sales on / vouchers (can't see anything in those sections)? should I go for those new smaller more compact PCs - they seem better value, can't remember their proper name. I'm sure I'm not the only person on here with these quite general requirements so any help/thoughts you have please do help out, because it will surely help many others on this site too. Thanks folks</p>
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Comments

  • 4743hudsonj
    4743hudsonj Posts: 3,298 Forumite
    edited 12 May 2009 pm31 2:14PM
    Not sure if i'm posting in the right place but ive looked for a guide, and i've tried a few discussion forums on this site, to no avail?Is there a guide somewhere I've missed? Is there a 'great best value PC hunt' thread that i've missed?
    If not, I'm buying PC for the mother in law, they just want to use it for surfing and emailing, perhaps letter writting. nothing hugely demanding.What I'm looking for is the best way to get the best spec for about £300?Are their any sales on / vouchers (can't see anything in those sections)? should I go for those new smalled more compact PCs - they seem better value, can't remember their proper name.
    I'm sure I'm not the only person on here with these quite general requirements so any help/thoughts you have please do help out, becaus eit will surely help many others on this site too. Thanks folks

    do you need a monitor too?

    also, space saving pc's will be a bit of a hard find for your budget.
    (good ones anyways)


    if they have a pc with any sort of monitor that isnt the big old crt ones then i would keep that to save money and get a better tower instead


    something like this which will do fine for web browsing and stuff
    http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0881119915.1242137261@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadehfdgfmhjcflgceggdhhmdfhj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=568573&category_oid=-33354

    or something a tad over budget, but the performance difference is significant and this is certainly more future friendly with a triple core processor.

    http://www.dixons.co.uk/martprd/store/dix_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0881119915.1242137261@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccckadehfdgfmhjcflgceggdhhmdfhj.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=122260&category_oid=



    those are pretty good but are just guidlines so look around a bit still,

    your other option is to go to a local computer shop and ask them to build you a tower, this way you can get only the things you need.
    Back by no demand whatsoever.
  • Yes I need a monitor. Doesn't have to be a flatscreen necessarily but that would be ideal.
    Smile and be happy, things can usually get worse!
  • Is there any alternative / scaled down solutions?What I'm getting at is I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who ONLY want internet access and a word processor.Is there not any technology solutions out there that provide the two things above and little else?Surely most folk are getting ripped off paying hundreds of pounds and they probably barely use any of the technology/functionality their PC is capable of.
    Smile and be happy, things can usually get worse!
  • i8change
    i8change Posts: 423 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    PC for the mother in law, they just want to use it for surfing and emailing, perhaps letter writting. nothing hugely demanding.
    These are quite cheap and compact for £199. They come with keyboard and mouse so you only need a monitor for the other £100 to complete.
    Install "Openoffice" and "Avira Antivirus" for free and it will do everthing they want.
    Only downside is no DVD drive, but USB ones are available.

    http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5070107/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|12108629/c_2/2|cat_12108629|Computers+and+laptops|12108658/c_3/3|cat_12108658|Desktop+computers|12108676.htm
  • 4743hudsonj
    4743hudsonj Posts: 3,298 Forumite
    Is there any alternative / scaled down solutions?What I'm getting at is I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who ONLY want internet access and a word processor.Is there not any technology solutions out there that provide the two things above and little else?Surely most folk are getting ripped off paying hundreds of pounds and they probably barely use any of the technology/functionality their PC is capable of.

    theres not alot out there no

    like i said your local computer shop will build you one

    from what it sounds you need the following

    -A small hard drive 100gb max (40 will be fine if they dont save any music videos photos etc)

    -a single core processor with around 1.5ghz clocking speed (dual cores are more future friendly but basic applications only use one core usually so its better to have a faster single core in your case)

    -integrated graphics, as low as possible really unless they plan to run video on the internet in which case you may want slightly higher, 512mb integrated will suffice for video rendering if required

    and errrr thats it?


    you may want other stuff like usb's and stuff but its up to you

    what i have given you is a cheap no thrills pc for basic web browsing and office apps like word.

    so yeh call around locally and ask who can build this for how much (with a monitor)
    Back by no demand whatsoever.
  • 4743hudsonj
    4743hudsonj Posts: 3,298 Forumite
    i8change wrote: »
    These are quite cheap and compact for £199. They come with keyboard and mouse so you only need a monitor for the other £100 to complete.
    Install "Openoffice" and "Avira Antivirus" for free and it will do everthing they want.
    Only downside is no DVD drive, but USB ones are available.

    http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5070107/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|12108629/c_2/2|cat_12108629|Computers+and+laptops|12108658/c_3/3|cat_12108658|Desktop+computers|12108676.htm

    thats very good! thats another no hassle version to my complicated way:P

    i never thought to look at argos
    Back by no demand whatsoever.
  • i8change
    i8change Posts: 423 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    thats very good! thats another no hassle version to my complicated way:P

    i never thought to look at argos
    They look great in black and can be attached to the back of some monitors. Think the Asus guarantee is 2 years as well. Also very quiet, almost silent.
    I think a lot of people only need something like this for their requirements.
    If you get one this is the link to the forum for it.
    http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewforum.php?id=51

    Best of luck.
  • i8change wrote: »
    These are quite cheap and compact for £199. They come with keyboard and mouse so you only need a monitor for the other £100 to complete.
    Install "Openoffice" and "Avira Antivirus" for free and it will do everthing they want.
    Only downside is no DVD drive, but USB ones are available.

    http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5070107/c_1/1|category_root|Office%2C+PCs+and+phones|12108629/c_2/2|cat_12108629|Computers+and+laptops|12108658/c_3/3|cat_12108658|Desktop+computers|12108676.htm

    Can I ask, why does it have "Internet Only" plasterred all over it? Surely it comes installed with Windows so it's not only for internet? for example it has USB ports and the hard disk is ample so it could easily handle someone saving photo's from a digital camera onto the hard disk? and it comes with word processing software installed so it can do that!.saying "internet only" is strange advertising surely?
    Smile and be happy, things can usually get worse!
  • 4743hudsonj
    4743hudsonj Posts: 3,298 Forumite
    asus have really hit the nail on the head with the eee range, theyre brilliant but not for me.
    Back by no demand whatsoever.
  • i8change
    i8change Posts: 423 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Combo Breaker
    edited 12 May 2009 pm31 3:04PM
    Can I ask, why does it have "Internet Only" plasterred all over it? Surely it comes installed with Windows so it's not only for internet? for axample it has USB ports and the hard disk is ample so it could easily handle someone saving phtot's from a digital camera onto the hard disk? and it comes with word processing software installed so it can do that.saying "internet only" is strange advertising surely?
    It comes installed with XP (1GB RAM) and will do everything except heavy graphics work from what I hear due to the limitations of the low power Intel Atom processor and onboard graphics. I definately think it is not just for Internet only. If you look on the forum link I have given you will probably get an idea of it's ability/limitations. Or google for reviews of PC's using the Intel atom processor like the Shuttle.
    Here is a one review of a similar PC, with the Intel Atom and onboard graphics, that shows roughly what it can do:-
    http://www.tomshardware.com/news/shuttle-x27-sff-atom,6228.html
    "Because the X27 uses Intel’s GMA 950 integrated graphics, it is obvious that this PC would never be used for gaming purposes, or even for watching HD content. But that isn’t the target market, as is also evident by the use of an Atom 230 at the heart and a single DDR2 DIMM slot capable of holding only 2GB RAM. The X27 is directed towards the basic home theatre and an office environment in need of a bit more eye candy. Capable of running single applications such as email clients, web browsers and office software, as well as watching DVDs, the Atom processor is a good choice of processor for the task because it keeps power consumption down and therefore reduces the need for noisy fans cooling hot components. Of course, the Atom doesn’t have nearly enough horsepower to be used even for relatively simple multi-tasking, despite having Hyper-Threading capabilities."
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