System advice

mp7125

Hi, I'm looking to purchase one of the following two systems. I already have a external monitor + speakers. Both systems will come with Windows 7 loaded.


1. Intel E5500 Pentium Dual Core Processor - 2.80GHz
Asus P5G41T-M LX Motherboard, On-board Audio, LAN, Graphics
8GB Kingston DDR3 Memory
2x 250GB Western Digital SATAII Hard Drive, 7200rpm
Sony 24x DVD-Rewriter, Multi-Format Card Reader
Black Micro-ATX Case with 500w Power Supply
Belkin N+ 802.11n Wireless USB F5D8055nt
£275

2. i3-540 Core i3 Dual-Core Processor - 3.06GHz
Asus P7H55D-M PRO, On-board Audio, LAN, Graphics, HDMI, DVI
8GB Kingston DDR3 Memory
2x 250GB Western Digital SATAII Hard Drive, 7200rpm
Sony 24x DVD-Rewriter, Multi-Format Card Reader
Black Micro-ATX Case with 500w Power Supply
£315 with 8GB Memory
£340 with 16GB Memory


Any advice on which system to go for? Alternatively, would it be better to go for a laptop with a similar spec for the same price?


Any advice greatly appreciated.


Thanks

victor2

Obviously depends on what you're planning to use the system for, but I'd go for the i3 based unit. It has considerably better performance than the Pentium one and is well worth the little extra cost IMO. Just go for the 8GB memory if cash is a little tight. You can always add more memory later (just make sure it's left with empty slots), where upgrading a processor is a much more costly exercise.

Edit:
You'll need to add a wireless adapter to the second one if you intend to connect to the internet that way.