New PC - help me choose please!

niccy

oh and the missus;)

faz7875_2

niccy wrote:

oh and the missus;)

No comment

motorguy

faz7875 wrote:

Laptops are not very good really. For lots of reasons, some are below:

1, What you get is pretty much it - not very upgradable at all and when it's out of date... you have to get a new one (ie probably after 3 years if you need to be up to date)
2, Everything is usually 'onboard' - ie soaks up PC resources because doesn't have dedicated resources
3, What do you do if the screen goes after your warranty runs out? - buy a new laptop. What do you do if your monitor goes? - buy a new monitor (not a new pc)
4, Processors for laptops are designed to be less power hungry due to batteries, the knock on effect is that they tend to be more expensive but outperformed by a pc equivalent

I could go on and on but, the best advice is... if you need a laptop then buy one, if you don't need a laptop get a pc. PCs are much more cost effective and efficient in the long run.

(PS Like ur cat!!!)

HTH:D

Pretty fair comment although when a laptop screen goes it tends to be the inverter - probably £40 plus fitting or the backlight - maybe £30 plus fitting. Even if the LCD unit itself - quite rare - goes these days you can get another fitted.

Another reason we have found why people buy a laptop - even though by normal definition they dont 'need' a laptop, is that you don't need a dedicated space in your house to have it set up, ie its not taking up space in the dining room or a bedroom. Sounds fairly dumb but we've had a lot of people change to laptops for that reason...

Oh, and back to the OP - personally i'd check out Dell. Keep an eye out on the 'grabbit while you can' board for the latest deal. I'm not a big fan of the 521 as its a 'half height' case meaning you cant fit standard graphics cards, modems etc. Also it can only accept one DVD drive rather than having a DVD rom & DVD writer fitted. If the budget (or the deal!) stretches to a 520 then thats a better buy.

Oh, that Ebuyer deal that someone posted for less than £330 looks excellent value!

BillScarab

Personally I wouldn't buy laptop unless you really need it to be mobile. The keyboards are horrible and the screens are too small. I know several people who have bought laptops then ended up buying separate keyboards and monitors to make them easier to use.

Desktops still seem tend to be cheaper than an equivalent laptop. If you're really tight for space they're worth considering but if you have room I'd always go for a desktop.

tigs78

Thanks to everyone for their input, it's much appreciated. She went for the Dell C521 - added an internal modem (in case sky's 16 days to install turns into 60, this way they can at least get on via dial up) and speakers and then knocked down the warranty to a 1 year collect and return - came out at £378.


PROCESSOR

---

AMD® Athlon™ 64 Processor 3800+
OPERATING SYSTEM

---

English Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
HARDWARE SUPPORT

---

Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only
MONITOR Dell™

---

19" Value Flat Panel (E197FP) - UK/Irish
MEMORY

---

512MB DDR2 533MHz Memory
HARD DRIVE

---

160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
OPTICAL DRIVE

---

16 X DVD +/- RW Drive
GRAPHICS CARD

---

Integrated nVidia® GeForce® 6150 LE graphics
KEYBOARD

---

Dell™ Black Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
MOUSE

---

Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black
MODEMS

---

Dell™ v92 Data/Fax Modem
SOUND SOFTWARE

---

Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
SPEAKERS

---

Dell™ A225 Stereo Speakers
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE-Microsoft® Works 8 - English

faz7875 wrote:

(PS Like ur cat!!!)

Thanks, yours is pretty cute too!

Russ66

tigs78 wrote:

She went for the Dell C521 - added an internal modem - came out at £378.


PROCESSOR

---

AMD® Athlon™ 64 Processor 3800+
OPERATING SYSTEM

---

English Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
HARDWARE SUPPORT

---

Collect & Return, 1 Year Service only
MONITOR Dell™

---

19" Value Flat Panel (E197FP) - UK/Irish
MEMORY

---

512MB DDR2 533MHz Memory
HARD DRIVE

---

160GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
OPTICAL DRIVE

---

16 X DVD +/- RW Drive
GRAPHICS CARD

---

Integrated nVidia® GeForce® 6150 LE graphics
KEYBOARD

---

Dell™ Black Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Ire (QWERTY)
MOUSE

---

Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black
MODEMS

---

Dell™ v92 Data/Fax Modem
SOUND SOFTWARE

---

Integrated 7.1 Channel High Definition Audio
SPEAKERS

---

Dell™ A225 Stereo Speakers
MICROSOFT SOFTWARE-Microsoft® Works 8 - English

Nice buy, they should be very happy with that.

Personally tho, I would have spent the extra £23.50 on a dual core rather than the modem. Could you not use the modem from their old pc temporarily.

tigs78

To be honest neither of us would have the first clue what a 'dual core ' is so didn't know it was worth upgrading to

I'm fairly sure the modem she has at the moment won't work with dial up, I say that because we have the same modem (came with Utility Warehouse broadband) and when I moved in the summer and was waiting for broadband to be 'activated' on my line I couldn't get dial up to work through my existing utility warehouse modem but when I plugged the cable into the modem in the back of my PC it worked!

Glad you think it's a 'nice buy', I'm always nervous about spending somebody elses money for them on a potential lemon!

Russ66

AMD site HERE

Any other posters think that the Dual Core (Recommended for Vista) is worth the £23.50 upgrade??

tigs78

OK, I'm worried now.... She has already ordered and paid so she doesn't have the option to upgrade anymore. Will the PC run OK with Vista? Is it worth her transferring XP from the old computer (if that can be done - have a techie brother that could help if it is possible) to avoid any problems?

Russ66

The PC will be fine as it is, don't worry.:j

The point I was trying to make is that I thought it was a worthwile upgrade for the money which is why I asked if anyone else had an opinion.

You can phone DELL C/S tomorrow and upgrade if required, just quote your order number.

You have had a really good deal for the money.
Though a modem would be less than a tenner even in PC World:eek: