I need a new PC and have no idea what to buy - please help

BrokeBrunette

I don't venture onto this board much so please be gentle with me )

I need to buy a new PC as mine is definitely on the way out and I don't want to wait till it dies and I lose everything.

I'm a confident user but not a techie and have no idea about what sort of pc to get, or the best place to look for advice on the best one to get for my money. Could someone please either: point me in the right direction of where I could get some advice, or maybe give me the benefit of your knowledge. I have a budget of approx £1000

I use my pc to play poker, but not really any gaming as such. Kids use it for college work and browsing but I would like a fairly decent, fast spec one as they download videos etc.

I also want to get a larger screen, perhaps 24inch, would I be better off buying everything seperately or a package?

I've had a quick look on sites such as Dell, but as I've never bought one before I just have no idea. I see things such as Celeron and others and don't know what is best (

I'd appreciate any help whatsoever, as I really don't want to waste my money.

gonzo127

well if you have about £1000 to spend i think a good starting point would be this system http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Infinity_i7_Andromeda_SE

comes with the intel core i7 cpu which is one of the best CPU's about at the moment which is not horrendiously priced

6GB of DDR3 ram which should be more than enough RAM and is the latest standard for RAM so will have upgrade options in the future should you need them

the rest of the system also has pretty good upgradeablity so you can have a play with it to try and get the spec your after so think of things such as do you actually need the graphics card or could you down grade it and maybe change the DVD-RW for a blue ray player and a bigger hard drive, of course keep an eye out on the reviews and benchmarks of the graphics cards to make sure any you go for can do what you need.

another forum to check out for ideas and info would be the bit-tech forum in the hardware section

closed

What makes you think it's on it's way out?

Backup, and you won't lose anything

£1000 is overkill for your usage, you could buy 2 or 3 laptops for that, all capable of video.

Donnie

gonzo127 wrote: »

well if you have about £1000 to spend i think a good starting point would be this system http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/Infinity_i7_Andromeda_SE

comes with the intel core i7 cpu which is one of the best CPU's about at the moment which is not horrendiously priced

6GB of DDR3 ram which should be more than enough RAM and is the latest standard for RAM so will have upgrade options in the future should you need them

the rest of the system also has pretty good upgradeablity so you can have a play with it to try and get the spec your after so think of things such as do you actually need the graphics card or could you down grade it and maybe change the DVD-RW for a blue ray player and a bigger hard drive, of course keep an eye out on the reviews and benchmarks of the graphics cards to make sure any you go for can do what you need.

another forum to check out for ideas and info would be the bit-tech forum in the hardware section

You are just getting overexcited and a bit silly I'm sorry to say.

Knowing the expected usage, it's quite irresponsible to suggest such a machine. Certainly no need for garish blue lights. What are you thinking?

A much more sensible suggestion would be a PC and a laptop within budget.

gonzo127

Donnie wrote: »

You are just getting overexcited and a bit silly I'm sorry to say.

Knowing the expected usage, it's quite irresponsible to suggest such a machine. Certainly no need for garish blue lights. What are you thinking?

A much more sensible suggestion would be a PC and a laptop within budget.

lol i was thinking as hightlighted 'starting point' - the case is just the base model and can be changed so it doesnt have the garish blue lights, same as every other part in the system can be changed,

yes the OP could buy 2 laptops or cheap systems for the budget which would be fine for the next 2-3 years on the usage stated and might even be a better choice as it would give each child (guessing 2 kids) their 'own' laptop to work with and spend the remaining ~£200 and a slight upgrade and big monitor for current system

however the system in the spec should last a while longer probably in the region of 5 years plus without breaking any form of a sweat,

just putting out a potential system spec (wasnt even really looking at the case, more the basic spec) which could be gotten with the £1000 budget - also leaving £150 for a monitor which can buy a 24" monitor with

Donnie

Any good quality machine capable of driving a 24" monitor would do the trick. Absolutely no need to spend that kind of money on a PC unless you have specialized needs.

BrokeBrunette

Thanks for the replies so far. Just to clarify, I cannot use or do not need a laptop. I have a hand injury that needs me to sit at a desk and use a proper mouse. Kids don't need laptops as they have use of one, that I never/cannot use.

I just wanted to get a really good pc that will last me years,as I won't be in the position to pay for one again, as I spend a lot of time on it, and I do mean a lot lol

I'll have a look at your suggestions, only just got home so haven't had a chance yet, but I do appreciate any advice - thank you.

tronator

BrokeBrunette wrote: »

Could someone please either: point me in the right direction of where I could get some advice, or maybe give me the benefit of your knowledge. I have a budget of approx £1000

For this money you could almost get two computer. My current PC I bought about three years ago from Dell for ~£300 without OS. It's still more than sufficient for my needs. Only the video encoding I do could be a bit faster.

Have a look at Dell. The inspiron 560 for £299 without monitor sounds ok for your needs. I don't know whether 2GB RAM is enough for Windows these days. The Windows experts here will know better...

When buying at Dell, always go for the standard specs within their range. If you chose the next bigger hard disk for instance you could buy a bigger hard disk for the difference somewhere else...

Donnie

BrokeBrunette wrote: »

Thanks for the replies so far. Just to clarify, I cannot use or do not need a laptop. I have a hand injury that needs me to sit at a desk and use a proper mouse. Kids don't need laptops as they have use of one, that I never/cannot use.

I just wanted to get a really good pc that will last me years,as I won't be in the position to pay for one again, as I spend a lot of time on it, and I do mean a lot lol

I'll have a look at your suggestions, only just got home so haven't had a chance yet, but I do appreciate any advice - thank you.

The laptop wasn't for you. It was to keep the kids off your PC. But you say the kids have the use of one, so maybe it's not needed.

Spending more on a PC gives no guarantee that it will last any longer than a less expensive model.

A mix of quality together with good customer service together with a good onsite service sounds more suitable for your situation.
Hopefully someone will come up with some sensible suggestions.


Not recommending it as such, but Aldi have this MEDION® AKOYA® P4020 D (MD 8870) with 21.5" Touchscreen monitor and a Freeview tuner(check that it can resolve HD) for £599. Comes with a three year warranty.

More details

BrokeBrunette

closed wrote: »

What makes you think it's on it's way out?

Backup, and you won't lose anything

£1000 is overkill for your usage, you could buy 2 or 3 laptops for that, all capable of video.

well it's really old and so slow that it takes ages just to load every page, and as for trying to play poker, total nightmare. Someone did suggest wiping it and starting again but I want to keep everything I have on here so not really feasible. I wouldn't have a clue how to back up anything and there is so much stuff on here it would take ages.

kabayiri

Aldi do PCs every now and then for about 500 quid. They seem well specced, guys at work have bought them.

They are branded as Medion.

Three year warranty too, which can't do any harm

You could add a 24" monitor on top for between 150 and 200 notes easy.