Which PC is best for me?

marcusrapid

Hi all

Just wanted some techie advice on what PC to buy? I basically want a pc (desktop) for internet browsing, watching iplayer, and doing basic work on record keeping and looking after my bills on excel etc....

I do not want to play games or do any art graphic work etc. I want to pay arounf £350. It looks like the best deals are the computers you pick and choose components? So which hard drive, speed etc would I need for these basic functions? I wouls also like a large monitor for viewing the iplayer etc...

Many thanks in advance

Marcus

gonzo127

well the good news is pretty much any computer you can buy today will do those tasks with relitive ease, just a couple of questions to help clarify things for suggestions

what do you class as a large monitor?
are you after a monitor included in the £350 max budget?
are you planning on streaming your iplayer or downloading it and watching it once downloaded?
do you need it wireless?
does it HAVE to be windows based?
and do you have a legal RETAIL copy of windows on a old computer which you would be happy to re-use?
would you be willing to build one yourself?

marcusrapid

In reply to above:

what do you class as a large monitor? 21 inch or above
are you after a monitor included in the £350 max budget? including monitor
are you planning on streaming your iplayer or downloading it and watching it once downloaded? both
do you need it wireless? yes wireless
does it HAVE to be windows based? no does not need to be windows based
and do you have a legal RETAIL copy of windows on a old computer which you would be happy to re-use? no
would you be willing to build one yourself? depends how hard it is? never tried but would be willing to give it go??

enigma52

go and annoy PC world staff for an hour or two by going and having a play with all the ones in their store you like the look of, BUT DO NOT BUY FROM THERE, just make a note of make/model for reference later on

turbobob

Possibly a nettop would do the job. Say one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172706 and a 22" monitor e.g. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155601

This nettop includes a dual core Atom on the Nvidia Ion platform which I think is adequate for your stated uses. It includes wireless networking, and pre installed Windows 7, but unfortunately no optical drive. One could be added by USB though.

el_gringo_3

It's very easy to build one yourself, but tbh if I was you i'd but a cheap tower off ebay minus hard drive, and splash the cash on a copy of windows 7 home (about £60-70 OEM), a nice big monitor and a hard drive, should come in about the budget point, although you might need a keyboard and mouse and possibly even a seperate soundcard, as the quality of most on board ones aint too great. You can pick up a decent soundcard for ten to fifteen quid.

Don't bother forking out for Office, open office Math does all that Excel does and Open Office is free...

Marty_J

turbobob wrote: »

Possibly a nettop would do the job. Say one of these http://www.ebuyer.com/product/172706 and a 22" monitor e.g. http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155601

I would recommend against a nettop. I know you're not exactly doing anything taxing, but they're very underpowered and you'll want a new computer within a year.

el_gringo wrote: »

Don't bother forking out for Office, open office Math does all that Excel does

It's called "Calc".

And I would strongly disagree that it's as good as Excel.

Perhaps it would suit the OP's needs, but let's not pretend that it's something it isn't.

turbobob

Well yes the nettop is less powerful than a current "proper" desktop. A Celeron E3200 will seriously outperform any current Atom processor. I think the dual core Atom and Ion combo is better than most though (it won't have trouble with HD video AFAIK). The trouble here is the budget.

This offers a lot for the money - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/176488 - bizarrely they are offering models made by the same company with a lower spec (1gb memory, when that has 4gb, and a slower processor!) for more money. You'd need an operating system and a wireless card to complete it.

penrhyn

Why do you think you need a wireless desktop?
Wired is always more reliable.
Browse around here for some ideas.

https://www.dmxdimension.com

marcusrapid

Is it easy to install the operating system?

nembot

Yes, especially with the later OS's such as Windows 7.