Please could anyone have a look at these PC`s for me - sorry its a long one..

katies_mum

I am now loosing the will to live using daughters laptop..:o

Yesterday rang a local PC shop who build systems and they quoted me..

Slimline 300w black case,
intel i3 540 3.2 GHz
4 GB DDR3 1333 memory
500 SATA hard drive
DVD -RW sata drive
Windows 7 Home Premium
Card reader 6 usb
Wirleless dongle thingie
Free Bullguard internet Security for 12m
and they will but on Adobe etc for me £375

If I had E5700 dual core it would be £315

The ones I`m looking at from HP are : s5720uk
AMD Athlon 11 X3 445
nVIDIA MCP61p
4 GB (2 x 20 2 DIMM
500 GB SATA 3G (7200 rpm)
DVD writer SATA DV RAM and double layer supporting lightscribe
6 in 1 memory card reader
Ethernet 10/100
Wireless LAN 802.11
latest NVIDIA geForce 6150 DE graphics
VGA
High def audio 5.1
Wireless keyboard and mouse
1 external optical drive bay, 1 internal HDD bay
1 PCI express x 1 1 PCI Express x16 low profile
6 usb
2 audio
3 analog audio
Windows 7 home premium 64
Plus all the other stuff they intall, HP media smart suite, cyberlink DVD suite, internet expl, adobe, Windowd medic centre etc
This is £379 but I`m sure if I hunt around will find a dicount code for 10% so approx £340`ish.

or the next model up - hp s5740
has Intel core i3-550, intel 57 chipset,
4GB 2x2, 750 GB SATA
DVD writer SATA DVD RAM, 6 in 1 card reader,
10.100.1000 gigabit erthenet LAN
Wirleless lan 802.11
Integrated HD graphics upto 1.65 GB
TV (DVB-T) tuner card MPEG 4
VGA
High def audio 7.1
Wirless keyboard and mouse and HP Win Media Centre remote cont
1 external optical drive bay / 1 internal
1 PCI express x 1 1 PCI express x 16
8USB, 1 digial audio, 1 Firewire IEEE 1394
Genuine windows 7 home premium 64
This is £499 maybe with 10% off £450`ish (seems to have a lot more)

Want the best for the money processor etc ..and HP have been going a long time! (might just have been unlucky with the last one) thought built ones were meant to be slightly cheaper!
Any advice to point me in the right direction would be very much appreciated.. (did look at Dells as suggested but I had bad experience with them a few years ago and was put off also the dell desktop tower only lasted 18m)

As always I am very grateful for you help and advice

easyhost

my last dell desktop lasted 10 yrs and my current dell is 3 yrs old, so i recommend dell, but have you looked at the deals in the supermarkets

katies_mum

Nothing in our Tesco. Staples have no towers until maybe August!

I know quite a few people really rate Dell, but I spent a fotune calling non UK call centres etc etc and didn`t have a very good experience from the day the computer was delivered,

gonzo127

ok basic questions,

what are you going to be using the system for?

are you likely to think about upgrading your system in the future (do you have 'nearly' teenagers?) as those prebuilt systems will not really give enough power to add in for example a dedicated graphics card.

do you 'have' to have a named brand? you can get some more rounded systems by getting a custom build - by rounded i mean get it so all the parts are of good quality, most pre builts use high sounding headline parts but then cripple the build by using low end PSU/motherboard etc so that the system cant fully utilise the headline parts

do you have any space requirements? need a small case for example

what is your maximum budget?

Pinkypants

I have always thought that these 2 machines are cracking value.

http://dinopc.com/shop/pc/Duke-AMD-955-89p757.htm

http://dinopc.com/shop/pc/Duke-AMD-955-USB3-89p761.htm

katies_mum

Thank you both for replying, I do `word` stuff, surfing, a bit of stuff for work but doesn`t involve anything other than internet and word. I burn the odd CD`s and watch DVD`s. Our router is downstairs so need wireless whatever its called. I have a 22inch HP screen bought recently and wirless keyboard land mouse from the HP one. Daughter is 14 and has a laptop which I`m on at the moment and this will be upgraded for her Xmas pressie. I don`t think I would ever want to add to the system. I have microsoft office 2007 but need to get a new key! for it as its been used 3 times have been told can get a new number by ringing up and telling them old computer died..but don`t know who to call!

No don`t have to buy well known brand just thought HP as everything else we have in the house is HP. I did think the price quoted from the local shop might have been cheaper! but my problem is not really knowing much about this type of thing have always gone for a `make` with everything on it. I would prefer a small case but since having mine have heard that this could have been the reason it died!

Pinkypants those systems look ok thank you - I`ve not heard of this company before! 3 year warranty is very good (I know labour is covered but I havn`t a clue how much parts cost) I see I have to add a wireless thingie do you go for the USB or the wireless card? they don`t seem to do small cases on their list. Can you tell me if they come installed with adbobe, Internet explorer etc all the stuff the HP ones have on?

Thanks again..your help if much appreciated.

spakkker

Under £250 delivered - http://www.ebuyer.com/product/255251
A wireless usb adapter costs from £5 eg. - http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Networking/cat/Wireless/subcat/Adapters---USB

Reactive

katies_mum wrote: »

I am now loosing the will to live using daughters laptop..:o

Yesterday rang a local PC shop who build systems and they quoted me..

Slimline 300w black case,
intel i3 540 3.2 GHz
4 GB DDR3 1333 memory
500 SATA hard drive
DVD -RW sata drive
Windows 7 Home Premium
Card reader 6 usb
Wirleless dongle thingie
Free Bullguard internet Security for 12m
and they will but on Adobe etc for me £375

If I had E5700 dual core it would be £315

The ones I`m looking at from HP are : s5720uk
AMD Athlon 11 X3 445
nVIDIA MCP61p
4 GB (2 x 20 2 DIMM
500 GB SATA 3G (7200 rpm)
DVD writer SATA DV RAM and double layer supporting lightscribe
6 in 1 memory card reader
Ethernet 10/100
Wireless LAN 802.11
latest NVIDIA geForce 6150 DE graphics
VGA
High def audio 5.1
Wireless keyboard and mouse
1 external optical drive bay, 1 internal HDD bay
1 PCI express x 1 1 PCI Express x16 low profile
6 usb
2 audio
3 analog audio
Windows 7 home premium 64
Plus all the other stuff they intall, HP media smart suite, cyberlink DVD suite, internet expl, adobe, Windowd medic centre etc
This is £379 but I`m sure if I hunt around will find a dicount code for 10% so approx £340`ish.

or the next model up - hp s5740
has Intel core i3-550, intel 57 chipset,
4GB 2x2, 750 GB SATA
DVD writer SATA DVD RAM, 6 in 1 card reader,
10.100.1000 gigabit erthenet LAN
Wirleless lan 802.11
Integrated HD graphics upto 1.65 GB
TV (DVB-T) tuner card MPEG 4
VGA
High def audio 7.1
Wirless keyboard and mouse and HP Win Media Centre remote cont
1 external optical drive bay / 1 internal
1 PCI express x 1 1 PCI express x 16
8USB, 1 digial audio, 1 Firewire IEEE 1394
Genuine windows 7 home premium 64
This is £499 maybe with 10% off £450`ish (seems to have a lot more)

Want the best for the money processor etc ..and HP have been going a long time! (might just have been unlucky with the last one) thought built ones were meant to be slightly cheaper!
Any advice to point me in the right direction would be very much appreciated.. (did look at Dells as suggested but I had bad experience with them a few years ago and was put off also the dell desktop tower only lasted 18m)

As always I am very grateful for you help and advice

I'd recommend buying from ebuyer, you'll get much better service and value for money.

A.Penny.Saved

As has already mentioned, pre-built systems tend to use low end parts where everything is included on the motherboard so separate graphics and sound cards are not needed. A motherboard is the main PC circuit board where everything fits into/onto and is the base of the system and will dictate whether any future expansion is possible.
Having everything built into the motherboard keeps the price low but can limit what the system is capable of. If you ever decide to add anything extra to the PC, like a separate graphics card, which would require a PCI express x16 connector, some low end motherboards might not have them. Also if you wanted to add something like a TV freeview or satellite card at a later date, you could find that you cannot do it because there are no free connectors to add one. If USB 3.0 isn't already a feature of the motherboard, which it probably won't be and you wanted to add a USB 3.0 card for faster USB transfers, unless there is a PCI express x1 connector, you couldn't do it.

The same can be said for hard drives because pre-built systems tend to have limit capability to add hard drives or the new faster solid state drives. They are rarely built for expansion.

However, if it is going to be a throw away system, like many things these days, and will only be kept for 2 years, having expansion capabilities might not concern you.

If you mighty expand then check the motherboard specification or post the model number to this thread so someone can check it for you.

I never buy pre-built systems because they are too limited for my needs where expansion is important. I now have 6 hard drives, 2 TV cards (dual tuner Freeview and dual tuner satellite), 5 optical drives, fan controllers and soon a USB 3.0 card and card reading bay. I build mine to my personal taste and I'm not one to go with the crowd.

closed

Is there something wrong with the laptop? If you want small you could plug it into your screen, and buy a replacement for your daughter early out of the money saved

Did the shop swipe your wireless card too?

katies_mum

Wow thanks all :eek:

A.Penny.Saved I think I understand what you are saying but looking at the spec for the HP ones they both have PCI express x 1 and PCI express x 16 (low). the dearer model also has the TV tuner card is this what you mean? not sure if the PCI express is a connector as not heard of it before.

I do think unless someone gives me a crash course in computers and technology then I`ll use it until it breaks then....mider you guys to death cos I`ll need another one..would like it though to last longer than 2y 5m.

I`m a bit scared about buying a `made up one` if you know what I mean.

closed - the wirless thingie on the HP was a little ariel thing that screwed into the back of the tower - I have that but don`t know if it works on its own or if it needed something inside the tower to work.

I appreciate what you say about plugging the laptop into my bits and pieces and someone else also suggested that but (new one not going to arrive until Xmas)

As you can tell I really am clueless at all this.