Time for a new pc or laptop - help please.

toby_puppy

Just a bit ofadvice please.

My aceraspire pc has broken after six years, so I’m looking to replace it.

It was theone where you didn’t have a big tower, the actual pc was more like the size ofa large book, which was ideal because it fit on my desk. So, if I did get a new PC, I would want onethat was quite slim as we haven’t got a lot of space.

My friendssay I should get a laptop as I have wifi, but I’m not too keen on the “mousepads”on the laptops, would rather use a proper mouse.

To sum uphere’s what I need and don’t need-

A computerfor web browsing, facebook, emails, occasional youtube – that type of thing.

No gaming ordownloading of films required.

Plenty ofsafe storage space for photos.

Also have toinput a lot of accounts data when I work from home, so would need a goodkeyboard.

Would prefera large monitor preferably 17 inch, or no less than 15.

Another thingputting me off laptops is battery life, don’t want it to be constantly goingflat, although people have said the HP ones are good.

Any tipswould be gratefully received. Thanks.

watcher27

Regarding not liking laptops because of the battery life or trackpad, Why dont you just buy a wireless mouse and leave the laptop plugged in??

We got our laptop for the same reason as you, lack of space! But its never left the house. It sits on the dinning table permanently plugged in and with a wireless mouse.

It also has the added benefit of being able to move it around should we need to. Like browsing the web while sat up in bed or while watching TV etc.

gonzo127

safe storage for photos - what ever you get make sure you do at least one of the following
1/buy a external hard drive to back your photos up as well as having a copy on your system
2/buy some online storage - this will eat broadband usage limits if you have them but is very useful as it means you have always got a off site copy just incase your entire house burns down which if happens could wipe out any hard copy back ups you have made in your house
3/DVD copies

otherwise how much are you looking to spend?

as above you can hook a laptop up to a proper keyboard, proper mouse and bigger monitor if you require plus have the added bonus of being able ot use it as a laptop when desired.

other options

nettop - something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/319565-acer-aspire-revo-rl70-nettop-pc-pt-sj4e2-002 add a nice monitor (size of your choice) and away you go unfortunatly these are not a high power option and can in some instances being less powerful than a laptop (the e450 desktop cpu in this is more powerful than the e450 laptop cpu but will be less powerful than a proper core i laptop cpu)

a mini pc http://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/category/special_pc or http://www.dinopc.com/shop/pc/mini-pcs-computers-sff-small.asp- these can be full fat pc's just in smaller cases, they of course command a premium over simular speced big pc's but can give more power than a laptop

toby_puppy

thank you both, ha ha, had never thought about leaving the laptop plugged in, doh! seems like a good idea.

I was thinking of a maximum spend of £300. I already have a decent monitor that I can use, so if I do go with a pc, it would be just a base unit.

the pc I had did seem to labour a bit when I had several windows open, sounded like it was whirring a lot - it think its an athlon 1024 mb ram, not sure how this compares to current day standards? (as you can see, i'm not techie at all

not sure if i'd get a better deal in store, say currys or pc world or buying something online?

as i said, it won't be used for gaming or downloading/watching films, so don't want to be paying for things that I'm not going to really benefit from.

toby_puppy

i like the look of the mini pc's that you posted a link too - are they a good spec for what i require?

watcher27

How about this? Only £30 over your budget!
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/hp-pavilion-g6-1325ea-15-6-laptop-red-11884755-pdt.html

toby_puppy

thanks watcher, this is the one i'd been looking at on there at lunchtime actually - maybe because it's red and I have a cream and red colour scheme in my lounge - seems very good price though too.

closed

how did the aspire break?

toby_puppy

hi closed,

we just went to switch it on last night and it was dead. then it was making a very faint bleep when I pressed the on button and the blue light flickered. this is the first time in 6 years it's had anything go wrong on it.

a couple of people have mentioned power supply/motherboard, but have said i'd probably be better off putting the money towards a new one rather than start throwing money at this one.

byjimini

Get an ipad on the finance option, £30 a month with the extended warranty over 2 years.

Cisco001

I can't manage to find a decent slim tower worth recommending with £300...
I don't recommend intel atom cpu as they are too slow.

For around £330, you could consider dell
http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=d0066s02&model_id=inspiron-660s&c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1