What do you think - buy a 19" TFT or buy a new PC?

swebb

I've had my PC 4.5 years now. It's a P4 1.8GHz, 512mb RAM, 2 HDD (1 = 76GB, other = 40GB), 19" CRT monitor, decent NVIDIA graphics card (128mb), DVD rewriter, with XP.

I want a 19" tft and see decent ones around £200 mark. Question is, do I buy the monitor or sod it and buy a new PC (which I'd rather not do as it'll cost more). I've had no real problems with my PC (touch wood).

I don't really do much gaming, mainly office stuff, watch DVDs and internet.

What do you think?

Omertron

Spend the money on a good monitor and then you can upgrade the PC at a later date

amcluesent

Buy a monitor - but maybe a 16:10 widescreen so you can watch DVDs without the letterboxing? I'd hold off buying a new base-unit until the dual-core CPUs lose the premium price tag, maybe after Xmas 06.

rsykes2000

amcluesent wrote:

Buy a monitor - but maybe a 16:10 widescreen so you can watch DVDs without the letterboxing? I'd hold off buying a new base-unit until the dual-core CPUs lose the premium price tag, maybe after Xmas 06.

16:10 sounds nice until you start watching DVDs filmed in Cinemascope 2.39:1 when you'd still get letterboxing.

happenstance

amcluesent wrote:

Buy a monitor - but maybe a 16:10 widescreen so you can watch DVDs without the letterboxing? I'd hold off buying a new base-unit until the dual-core CPUs lose the premium price tag, maybe after Xmas 06.

The thing is there will always be some new technology out there as a reason to wait to buy after it goes down in price.

Anyway id say upgrade as almost 5 years is long enough and a new computer with 19in should only be 500-600 in total with the monitor.

alared

I would change the whole lot.
Dell have an offer on at the mo with a 19" tft,80gb hard drive,512 memory,cd-r/dvd for £329

irnbru_2

swebb wrote:

I've had no real problems with my PC (touch wood).

You've answered your own question.

A bit more RAM wouldn't go amiss either.

isayoldchap

alared wrote:

I would change the whole lot.
Dell have an offer on at the mo with a 19" tft,80gb hard drive,512 memory,cd-r/dvd for £329

Remember to go through https://www.quidco.com to get the dell cashback

hobo28

Depends on how flush your feeling. If money's tight then just go for a TFT. I think Aldi are still selling the 19" ones.

If you can afford it, get the Dell. Nothing like a new PC now and again. Its like buying a new car. You often don't NEED it, you just want it!

Aliktren

alared wrote:

I would change the whole lot.
Dell have an offer on at the mo with a 19" tft,80gb hard drive,512 memory,cd-r/dvd for £329

Games released in the next 18 months will need at least 1g/b RAM (20-30), the 19" TFT needs to be 4ms response ideally, the one quoted is analogue 8ms (so some games will "smear")

Also, as the original poster said "mostly for games" then another 50-100 would be in order for a graphics card, and probably a sound card (20-30)

Personally speaking, the thing is with PCs is that there is always some downside of "supervalue", a corner is cut somewhere, if you use a PC for gaming then a £300 PC is unlikely (not impossible, but unlikely) to be up to playing the last games without spending another £200 on extra bits at least.

My advice, buy some more memory and a decent 19" monitor (4ms response or better - I bought a lovely samsung earlier in the year, so I can recommend that), that will extend the life of the PC quite a bit (maybe 12 months), waiting for "the next big technology" is not a good reason to offset the purchase, since invariably that "next big thing" will be immediatly followed by something else even bigger.

This advice is mute if you dont insist on playing the latest games, but in that case the monitor would still be your best bet

hobo28

The OP said "I don't really do much gaming, mainly office stuff, watch DVDs and internet."

A fast TFT screen/good graphics card etc. is nice to have but not top priority if your just surfing & watching DVD's.