Home PC - Surf the net broadband, kids games & Basic Apps

Joelsy

Hi all, I use these things all day everyday at work, but don't know a lot about them.
The time has now come to replace the home PC.
I want to use it for:
Broadband surfing.
Kids games -ie not cutting edge stuff.
Basic office apps.
CD & Photo editing.
I would like recommended specs
intersest free credit if possible
Flat Panel monitor.
Budget i suppose £500 tops.
Please help!!!
Confused.

Malestrom

JAL Jenny
£399.00 Incl. VAT

A 2 Year Parts and Labour On-Site Warranty (monitor 3yr Swapout), Lifetime Technical Support

PROCESSOR - AMD 2800:
MOTHERBOARD - Asrock K7Upgrade-600 ATX 400Mhz FSB Socket A Motherboard, 4 PCI, AGP 8x, ATA133,8x USB 2, 1x 10/100 LAN 2x DDR Slots, Upgrade slot for a Socket 754 Board
MEMORY - 512Mb PC 3200 DDR
HARD DISK - 120Gb 7,200rpm Hard Drive
SOUND - C-Media AC-97
GRAPHICS CARD - ATi Radeon 9200 128Mb DDR
MODEM - Intel Hardware PCI V92 56K Modem
DVD ROM - 16x DVD ROM
CDRW - 52x32x52 CDRW
MONITOR - Viewsonic UltraBrite E72f+
SPEAKERS - Altec Lansing 2120 Speakers
FLOPPY DRIVE - 3.5
KEYBOARD - Logitech Wireless Multimedia
MOUSE- Logitech Wireless Optical Wheel Mouse
CASE - 350Watt Midi ATX Tower
SOFTWARE - Windows XP Home Edition , Fax/Answerphone software, Nero Burning Rom, InterVideo DVD Software, all original CD's are shipped with the System

Go to Upgrades, remove CRT Monitor, add 15"TFT and the total including free delivery to the UK is £478. Personally I would select the 'no monitor' option, then buy a 17" TFT from Aria for about £135, making a total of £454 - so less money for a better spec. They offer the following interest free deal:

BUY NOW PAY LATER : This is a loan that you take on any system over £399.00. The loans start date is deffered for 6 months, at the end of the six months you can either pay the original cash price, 0%, or the loan starts.

There are cheaper Dell deals about, but this system is a better spec IMO, more upgradeable, decent-ish graphics, etc.

Joelsy

Malestrom wrote:

JAL Jenny
£399.00 Incl. VAT

A 2 Year Parts and Labour On-Site Warranty (monitor 3yr Swapout), Lifetime Technical Support

PROCESSOR - AMD 2800:
MOTHERBOARD - Asrock K7Upgrade-600 ATX 400Mhz FSB Socket A Motherboard, 4 PCI, AGP 8x, ATA133,8x USB 2, 1x 10/100 LAN 2x DDR Slots, Upgrade slot for a Socket 754 Board
MEMORY - 512Mb PC 3200 DDR
HARD DISK - 120Gb 7,200rpm Hard Drive
SOUND - C-Media AC-97
GRAPHICS CARD - ATi Radeon 9200 128Mb DDR
MODEM - Intel Hardware PCI V92 56K Modem
DVD ROM - 16x DVD ROM
CDRW - 52x32x52 CDRW
MONITOR - Viewsonic UltraBrite E72f+
SPEAKERS - Altec Lansing 2120 Speakers
FLOPPY DRIVE - 3.5
KEYBOARD - Logitech Wireless Multimedia
MOUSE- Logitech Wireless Optical Wheel Mouse
CASE - 350Watt Midi ATX Tower
SOFTWARE - Windows XP Home Edition , Fax/Answerphone software, Nero Burning Rom, InterVideo DVD Software, all original CD's are shipped with the System

Go to Upgrades, remove CRT Monitor, add 15"TFT and the total including free delivery to the UK is £478. Personally I would select the 'no monitor' option, then buy a 17" TFT from Aria for about £135, making a total of £454 - so less money for a better spec. They offer the following interest free deal:

BUY NOW PAY LATER : This is a loan that you take on any system over £399.00. The loans start date is deffered for 6 months, at the end of the six months you can either pay the original cash price, 0%, or the loan starts.

There are cheaper Dell deals about, but this system is a better spec IMO, more upgradeable, decent-ish graphics, etc.

Thanks for that - it sounds awesome - but is there a link or a company name?

Sheel

It could be this one

Jal Jenny

Joelsy

Sheel wrote:

It could be this one

Jal Jenny

Apologies - I thought that was some kind of user name - ooops.
Thanks

Sheel

Joelsy , i've just read THIS on the Vent board :eek:

Joelsy

Woah - looks poor thanks for the heads up.
- I had my eye on the Dell deal for £449 at the moment. Dimension 3000, 17"tft 512ram 80gb hard drive , but wanted to see what alternatives were recommended.
Anyone else got any other ideas.

splat1

I had problems getting pre sales support from Del let alone post sales support. I know that there are some good priced Del machines around ( look in the grab it while you can section) but I ended up buying a Mesh computer, much better value for money and the service I received from them was polite and personal. Admittedly I had a strange problems with the PC when it was delivered - got on the phone to them, it was picked up, fixed and sent back wtih the minimum of fuss, well recommended

https://www.meshcomputers.co.uk

Malestrom

Ahh yes, apologies for not posting the link, thanks Sheel. Most people seem to be saying that JAL are excellent and my friend has just recently ordered a JAL Jenny so we'll see how that goes. You can always find people who have a bad experience with a company so i'm not sure I would let the post on the Vent board sway me - there seem to be relatively few for JAL when I googled for complaints.

chillipepper_3

Take a look at the emac, not sure on current price but can't be far from budget. Easy use, used by lots of schools, and all in one package.

try apple website wednesday mornings do refurb special deals and also you can get discount if you purchase it for educational purposes for the kids.

Joelsy

Intersesting - I've never heard Apple recommended before and I dont know why. I know graphic design types use them, but I've never even seen one in the flesh.
This isnt a computer forum I appreciate that, but can anyone enlighten me.