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I am now mabe not about to replace an ageing pc.

smoky_joe
Posts: 88 Forumite

My faithfull old i-friend pc which has only ever neaded a new power pack and has never had any viruses is now 7 years old and past its best, it is now very slow and under powered infact most mobiles will have more power nowadays,
I think now is the time to upgrade to a better quality computer which will be mainly used for
1-internet
2-childrens homework
3-downloading music, films
4-the odd game
As we are used to windows xp and can navigate our way round quite easily would we get to grips with the macs os in the same way,(never used one before)
Are there any good Christmas deals about as ive seen a 20.5inch i3 imac all in one pc for £899 which to me sounds to good to be true,
Is there anything else out there i should be looking at or would the imac be a good enough pc for family use.
Thanks for reading this and all help will be appreciated.
I think now is the time to upgrade to a better quality computer which will be mainly used for
1-internet
2-childrens homework
3-downloading music, films
4-the odd game
As we are used to windows xp and can navigate our way round quite easily would we get to grips with the macs os in the same way,(never used one before)
Are there any good Christmas deals about as ive seen a 20.5inch i3 imac all in one pc for £899 which to me sounds to good to be true,
Is there anything else out there i should be looking at or would the imac be a good enough pc for family use.
Thanks for reading this and all help will be appreciated.
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Comments
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with a bit of work, you could probably make it fast again
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849!!
> . !!!! ----> .0 -
with a bit of work, you could probably make it fast again
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2436849
yes i hear what you are saying but 7 years ago we paid £350 for it which was very cheep for a pc, so i would say its not really economical to try and work with it as its just to small and outdated.
here are the specs of our pc.
Technical Specification – EVE2 C2134x
Motherboard
VIA PLE133T + 686B
Processor
Intel Celeron 1.3ghz Tualatin
System Memory
128mb 168pin SDRAM 3.3v (PC133),
Hard Drive
40gb UDMA HDD
Optical Drives
16x DVD Rom Drive
Floppy Drives
1.44mb 3.5” FDD
Video
Trident Blade 3D VGA Card integrated
Audio
Embedded in 686B
Modem
56k V.90 fax modem
Ports
2 x USB Ports, 2 x RJ45, 1 x DB-9 serial port, 1 x DB15 VGA port, 1 x DB25 parallel port, 3 x audio jacks: line in, line out and mic in, 1 x PS/2 keyboard port, 1 x PS/2 mouse port, 1 x game/MIDI port
IrDA Interface
IrDA connector onboard for wireless connectivity
Software
Windows XP Home Edition preloaded and Recovery CD
Microsoft Works 2000 v6 preloaded and Recovery CD0 -
It is outdated, but it depends on what you use it for.
The low ram is probably the main cause of slowness.
You could get 3 laptops for the price of the imac!!
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It is outdated, but it depends on what you use it for.
The low ram is probably the main cause of slowness.
You could get 3 laptops for the price of the imac
It takes close on 10 minutes to start up and 5 minutes to shut down, there is no point asking it to do more than one thing at a time as it freezes and then you have to wait for 5+ minutes, anything else done on it also takes forever and useually results in giveing up:rotfl:
I know the imac is expensive but they just look so nice and even though the screen is double the size of our pc it would still take up less room due to being all in one,
I look on it as hopefully lasting 5 years so that works out at only £200 a year so not to expensive.0 -
Re :-I am about to replace an ageing pc.
Swap you for an ageing wife
Mind you Closed is as Close as you get for making it perform (assuming there is no Malware) :cool:
4.8kWp 12x400W Longhi 9.6 kWh battery Giv-hy 5.0 Inverter, WSW facing Essex . Aint no sunshine ☀️ Octopus gas fixed dec 24 @ 5.74 + Octopus Flux leccy0 -
It's probably slow because you have too many startup apps, and too little ram to fit them in, pruning them (or backing up and reinstalling windows) would speed it up until you get a new one. If commit charge > installed ram (physical ram total), machines go slow, figures are in task manager
Depending on the age of the kids, they might all be fighting over one machine in years to come, which is one of the reasons I suggested laptops, but if you want an imac, go for it.!!
> . !!!! ----> .0 -
I know the imac is expensive but they just look so nice and even though the screen is double the size of our pc it would still take up less room due to being all in one,
I look on it as hopefully lasting 5 years so that works out at only £200 a year so not to expensive.
Yes I agree , but if you want my opinion (well you didn't specifically say you don't) If the screen dies, the hard disk dies, then you may have a very expensive house brick to repair, or call in your warranty (how much for a 4 year extended warranty) . Buy a mac by all means (did i say that spits,spits and spits again), but all-in-ones not my choice it's like a MFP .(kind regards Jack of all trades but when on strike sod the Fax/Print/Copy I am in Unison with the others)4.8kWp 12x400W Longhi 9.6 kWh battery Giv-hy 5.0 Inverter, WSW facing Essex . Aint no sunshine ☀️ Octopus gas fixed dec 24 @ 5.74 + Octopus Flux leccy0 -
i also do not like all in ones, also you will find mac's are not the best for games depending on how interested you are in that (with kids it could become more important within the next 5 years)
so the options
imac - there will be a learning curve, think of the exact programs you want to use and see if they do a mac version and look at the prices of these as they are usually more expensive than the windows version, take into account that in a all in one, as stated, if something goes you will have a brick as you wont be able to fix it yourself - and dont beleive the hype, mac's do break as often as windows pc's as they use the same hardware! - also make sure you go into a apple shop and actually try one
windows pc - multiple options with that budget
get a good gaming system - will give you a very powerful system with this budget and a nice big screen
get a small form factor pc (or 2) - look at the acer revo - these computers are tiny, ok they will not 'game' but if space is a big factor this is a great option
laptop/s - you could get 2 reasonable laptops for your budget which will easily cover your requirements
or any combination of the above, such as look around some of the other threads and if you have £900 to spend you can quiet easily get a laptop for ~£350 and a acceptable gaming pc for the remaining £550 (including screen, keyboard, mouse and speakers)
any of these options with the relivent maintenance should last 5 years (not taking into account hardware failure which can happen to any computer)
i would also recommend poping in a 512mb stick of ram into your old computer (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/42158) and doing the maintenance suggested - ok it will never be a speed demon however it would make a back up system or just a browsing system, i would however perosnally recommend popping a Linux disto onto it in this instance and setting it up for duel boot (this is easy enough as it guide you through it), for example i run a old dell latitude x300 which has a 1.2ghz celeron cpu, 512mb ram and a 40gb hard drive (so simular spec just more ram) and with Lubuntu 10.10 on it, i have it booted up in around 40 seconds (and browser open) and closes down in around 5 seconds, it handles the net just fine (comes with chromium browser), and doesnt require any anti virus due to it not being targetted by virus's, and having a duel boot system will still give you the option to boot into windows if you need/want toDrop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0 -
Thanks to all for your input i did try to post last night but my pc went into windows explorer not responding mode and the only way i could get it to switch off was at the wall.
Any way there shouldnt be any fighting as we have a laptop for the bairns christmas and the mac was a presy for me to be honest but kids would be alowed to use it.
so now im a bit stumped i thought i had found what looked like a smart choice but now im not so sure, i dont need a gameing pc as we only play the odd game nothing to seriouse as we have games consul for that.
any recomendations then?0 -
Well a mac is not a dumb choice so to speak, it is an expensive choice for your stated usage, and since this is a money saving website we will advise you of such
As ever it really does depend on what you actually want it for and how much you want to spend for example
if space is your biggest issue the acer revo would be a great choice for a hell of a lot less money than a mac as even the top of the range revo is under £350 and it will power through your previously stated usage
If gaming is important (I know you have stated it isn’t but it’s an example) then you need a windows system
If security is you biggest concern then a pc with Linux on it is your best bet and is also cheap since the operating system is free and so are most of the programs
Although all that being said mac's are a good choice as their customer service is second to none, and they look great,
however they do come with a price premium, and that’s not just buying the system, all the software is more expensive, and if you don’t take out the extended warranty any hardware failures that can and do happen (since they use the same hardware that goes into windows and Linux systems these days they have the same sort of failure rate) then it becomes very expensive since you cannot easily DIY mac's
Just do not be pushed into believing that a windows system will not last, as really you know they do since your current one is 7 years old, if you are sensible there is very little reason why a windows system will not lastDrop a brand challenge
on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)0
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