New PC - which PC? I am useless..

pickledonionspaceraider

Hello there,
I am in dire need of a new PC and am pretty much clueless of what to buy, best deals around at the min etc. I was hoping a techie person might give me some ideas. My budget is £500 max, i only use it for general browsing, but may have more than one thing running at a time, dowloading, microsoft office, internet, that kind of thing. However it IS a family computer and my son runs world of warcraft at times. (The pc we are getting rid of is very very old and has very low memory/terrible grahics etc, but manages to run world of warcraft to a satisfactory standard). I would like something a bit more up to date than we have, and would like the power to download and burn dvds. my old pc had a dvd burner, but never would even let me watch dvds which was always a mystery to me..

One ive been looking at at pc world is:-

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1903235577.1266236313@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfdadejjfdfljdcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=123246&category_oid=

but have also found one that seems very similar and cheaper (cheap is good lol) I dont know wht the above pc would be able to do, that the below one wouldnt be able to do?:-

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1903235577.1266236313@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfdadejjfdfljdcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=004762&category_oid=-37542


or if there are any better deals? any advice on this is appreicated as I am totally at a loss

many thanks

Basil1234

argggggggghhhhhhh not the dreaded pcworld custoooooommmmeerrr.
have a look
at http://www.dell.co.uk/
or dell outlet for deals without monitors on destops and cheap lappys but you need to add £21.54 onto final price for delivery but is alot cheaper this way as well
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dfo

my advice avoid pcworld like the rip off merchants they are!

Basil1234

also you havent said what you want it for? films dvd or bluray? games? etc etc
what is your budget you want to spend other than cheap some figures would be good start no?
and what you want for your money e.g. monitor or no i already have a decent monitor, printer or no i don't need a printer the one i got is good enough. etc etc etc

pickledonionspaceraider

thanks basil, the most i could spend is £500. as i said mainly for general surfing with a bit of gaming. i do need a new moniter, the only thing worth keeping is my printer

cheers

Basil1234

may i suggest this system http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/minicat/new/upsell/inspiron-560-d005634?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

but has Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 Graphics not a separate card. specs for this are at http://www.intel.com/technology/graphics/gma.htm?iid=tech_graphics+gma
so check this first to see will cope if not a huge gamer then this will do nicely very good machine overall for budget. is dual core core 2.93ghz which will do more than your needs.

also you can upgrade from 21.5" mon to a 23" for £10 as well just choose when going thru all the bits

will now go have alook at dell outlet for you

pickledonionspaceraider

you are right about pc world being rip off merchants..after sitting here doing some research i found pc world were advertising a SALE a packard bell imedia at £399 'down' from £509...yet the every day price at currys is £339! gah!

Basil1234

and currys are rip of too with comet being slightly better but not much.
right looked at dell outlet and tbh the dell deal above is best i can see from them. some peeps may have some puters to show you such as ebuyer they know of but for your budget is best you can get. so for £459 can get all plus upgrade to 23" mon. if you where nearer the £600 mark could have got one with a deicated graphics card my advice buy that one see how you go,with your games you may need to buy a separate card later as a possiable but without knowing what you want to play specs wise is guessing in the air.


dell spec

• Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor E7500 (2.93 GHz, 3 MB L2 cache, 1066 MHz FSB)

• Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English

• 4096MB Dual Channel DDR3 1066MHz [4x1024] Memory

• 640GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive

• DVD +/- RW Drive (read/write CD & DVD) with DVD Burn software

• Integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500 Graphics

• Integrated 7.1 channel audio

Dell ST2310 23" Full HD Widescreen Monitor - UK/Irish [add £10.00]

pickledonionspaceraider

brill, am just checking out the dell site now. games wise, the only game that will be played is world of warcraft by my son

pickledonionspaceraider

also forgot to say.. would probably prefer a desktop set up, as the family dog has slept under the pc table since she was a puppy! sorry i should have mentioend this sooner probably

Basil1234

right just got back from asda had to get stuff in for work tonight.
right it will cover it no probs for your gaming then and is a desktop so the dogs still cool or warm depends how close she wants to sleep to the computer

exup

Although I cant build it for you - I have just built a gaming PC for myself and with windows 7 home premium OEM - this came to £430.
If you dont have a friend who could build one for you, maybe you could approach a local computer shop (recommended if possible) that could build to your spec for this amount of money?
If you are interested in what components I went for then let me know and I will post them up .