Help/advice please

The_Old_Bag

Hi techies, i would really appreciate your advice.

I have used computers as part of my job for decades and have an old PC and use of dd laptop at home, but want one of my own.
I currently use them for internet and using MS office software - excel/word etc

I will not be playing 'games' on laptop, but perhaps download films in the future.
Mainly use for internet and as before, MS office etc.

I see folks on HUKD seem keen on this deal.
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/inspiron-15r-intel-core-i5-3210m-win7-hp-15-6in-1tb-1gb-amd-radeon-hd-7670m-386-1378193?page=2#comments
What are your views ?

I am an old bag - so beyond RAM etc I am confused about need for graphic cards (and which one is best, will it use too much power) processing speed, battery life etc etc.
Just as I get my head around one thing, something else is flagged up as important.

Also - I have heard so much criticism of Windows 8 - should I pay to have it upgraded or leave it as Windows 7.

Many thanks for any advice comments - please be gentle - I am definitely not a techie.:o

jbainbridge

It looks like a good one - I like the current Inspiron 15 it seems well built. If you can achieve that price you are doing well.

For your needs keeps this in mind -
- i3 processor fine - i5 better but not necessary
- atleast 2GB ram - more is fine
- 320GB disk fine - more is fine
- don't worry about graphics - if you want to play games you need better

Windows 7 is fine - 8 will be a flop <my opinion>. There are ways of making 8 more usable so don't worry too much about which one is supplied.

Johnmcl7

I don't think you're going to benefit from a dedicated graphics card, for most people using PCs at home the main use of the graphics card is for gaming while it can also be used for 3D art and design work plus more recently for helping the main processor in CPU intensive tasks like video rendering.

There's also advantages to not having a dedicated graphics card as the machine is normally cheaper, power consumption and heat are lower which means quieter running.

If the machine comes with Windows 7 I'd just stick with it, personally I'm quite impressed with some of the features in Windows 8 but for a standard machine you're not missing out much.

John