Help please - Are any of these Specs any good?

Anic

Hi

I hope some of you excellent people can help me choose a new PC as I am okay when it comes to using what is in front of me but when it actually comes to deciding what to go for I get totally confused with the different processors, etc.

The ones I was looking at were:-

Acer at Ebuyer

Gateway from Tesco

Fujitsu from Dabs

I know people recommend Dell but I don't really know what to opt for and gets totally confused when I keep going for what they recommend and it costs me a lot more than I expected.

The reason I had looked at the Gateway one was because it is a Gateway PC I have at the moment and have had for about eight or nine years now and (touch wood) up until the last few months when a few problems started to happen, I have not had any major problems with it. I am still working with Windows 98SE but thought it was time I upgraded before things start to slow down or not work properly at all.

Basically what we use the PC for is word processing, internet browsing and the odd game, not much more than that.

Can anyone help which if any would be the best to go for above and if not, a better option. My budget is around £400 but could go up if andybody found something that would benefit me by paying the extra.

All help gratefully recieved.

SteveCutler

From a quick look, the difference between the second (Gateway) and third (Fujitsu) is...

The Gateway is £30 more expensive, but you get: 90GB hard drive extra (which to be honest, going on what you use it for I don't think you'd fill it anyway), and you get the keyboard, mouse and speakers.

So, ignoring the first (which I'll have a look at now), the choice out of the last 2 is whether you think £30 is worth the keyboard, mouse and speakers.


Considering the first, it looks to have a very good processor and plenty of RAM (more than the others), a very decent hard drive and it's the cheapest too. You also get the keyboard and mouse. Going on that, the first (I think) is most suitable.

However, I'm not very good with hardware and so I'd wait for people to correct some of the things I've said before you make a decision: I'm very likely wrong on some aspects :rolleyes:

I also haven't considered graphics cards when comparing: which are important for gaming. So could somebody who knows about graphics cards comment too


Hope it kinda helps, and if I've said something wrong could somebody please correct me :beer:

Freebyman

Hi, also having looked at the above 3 PCs, I really would have to say the one from ebuyer looks the most attractive due to the memory etc.

However Im no expert, but if you are playing games it really pays to have a better graphics card.

Anic

Thanks both for your replies.

Although I say it is used for playing games - it isn't a lot of games that is played on the PC. Just the likes of roller coaster tycoon, transport tycoon, etc. Would the graphics be okay for the likes of these or would I still need something better.

If I need somethign better and went for the one from Ebuyer, how easy it is it to put in a new graphics card? Would it be something a complete novice like me could do? Would I know what/where to put it easy enough if I opened the PC?

GreenNotM

Hi Anic - if you can wait - wait till MS Vista is available, in a few months. That will save you upgrading and keep you current for another 7/8 years.

BTW The systems you listed do not have monitors have you already a TFT screen ?

Anic

GreenNotM wrote:

Hi Anic - if you can wait - wait till MS Vista is available, in a few months. That will save you upgrading and keep you current for another 7/8 years.

BTW The systems you listed do not have monitors have you already a TFT screen ?

Thanks GreennotM - yes have a TFT that I got during the summer

If I do wait till Vista comes out how much more do you reckon a new PC will cost then?

GreenNotM

It should not cost anymore and the specifications will be better.

The chips in the PCs you listed are "last year's" models, P4's and AMD 64x2. Quad core processors are due and Vista will need higher specs for DirectX 10, so this years models processors will be reduced in price etc.. Getting a PC with Vista installed will also save you the bother of upgrading.

Just seen this on Ebuyer a new pc - with this years chip for 399 http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116053 as you see there will always be 400 quid pc's unless there is a major fire at a memory manufacturer ...:rolleyes: but that was a few years ago.

Sorry if that has added any confusion ...

Anic

GreenNotM wrote:

Just seen this on Ebuyer a new pc - with this years chip for 399 http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/116053

Thanks.

If I went for this one - would it run okay with Windows Vista as I notice on Ebuyer's website some PCs are eligible for free Vista upgrades

nintendosensei

I agree with the waiting game, but disagree over the ebuyer computer. Wait for say 2 months and take a look-see at what you can get. Look for DDR2 memory especially, and look for an AMD unless you intend to buy an extremely good computer. Intel have the high end market at the moment, but anything less than the best and the AMD's are so much better.

opportunity_cost

I'd also highly recommend you to wait for Vista so that you get a system pre-loaded with Vista but if you don't wanna wait till January the 30th (Vista release date), the £330 Acer PC from ebuyer you mentioned in your original post is a good choice and it's also good value for money.

That Acer PC is Vista Premium Ready[1], has a good processor you won't need to upgrade for a few years and enough memory at 1GB (so no need to upgrade that either). The graphics card is a budget card but it's adequate for the sort of games you mentioned. You can find a review for the GeForce 6100 here.

Nevertheless, fitting a new video card is a fairly easy task, even for a novice. See this installation guide.



[1]It comes with an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (which is 2 GHz processor), the required 1GB of memory and a graphics card (GeForce 6100) that meets the graphics requirements too.

Vista requirements

NVIDIA GeForce 6100

GreenNotM

Hi Anic I just gave the ebuyer pc as an example of how the prices fall for PC's with newer processors. There will be a good spec PC out there for £400 with Vista preloaded, when you are ready to buy in Spring 07 - leave the early adopters to sort out the problems for MS...

As you have never upgraded from W98SE via ME or W2K or XP, I do not imagine you want to do an upgrade of XP to Vista and learn two new operating systems. If a PC does not come with the upgrade, it will cost upto £100 for an upgrade ( maybe more not sure prices are set, need to wait till 01/07)