Advice on which PC to buy please

EverDecreasingCircles

I'm going to buy a new PC but I could really use some advice on what to get.

I mostly use it for entering competitions - so visit lots of websites in a short space of time.

Also use it for letters, storing photos, and would like to use my Ipod on it so storing music.

I have no idea where to start or what I need. Should I get more memory or a bigger hard drive?

Thanks in advance.

googler

I'm on the verge of doing the same, and I think my route will be -

Solid-State Primary Drive, big enough for the OS with some room to spare.

Conventional HDD Secondary Drive(s) for ALL the data. Photos, music files, docs, spreadsheets etc

Lots of RAM

If someone is selling a PC with a 2Tb single HDD, you don't HAVE to leave it that way - you could buy that, make the 2Tb the secondary and install an SSD as the primary.

spannerzone

Almost any current PC will suffice for the OP, what you're doing is essentially basic chores which any half decent PC will cope with.

Remember that getting a bigger hard drive might help until it fails so always consider having a seperate backup like a plug in USB hard drive to copy important things to.

If it's a desktop then to be honest a Pentium or i3 with 2GB ram or more and 1TB hard drive is probably going to be more than ideal. Of course some will tell you to get 8GB ram, 3TB hard drive, SSD drive, quad core CPU and the like.

Current desktop that I'd consider is this one
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cheap-dell-pc-windows-8-i3-2130-1tb-hard-drive-4gb-ram-wireless-usb-3-265-87-6-tcb-1476460?page=1

spannerzone

googler wrote: »

I'm on the verge of doing the same, and I think my route will be -

Solid-State Primary Drive, big enough for the OS with some room to spare.

Conventional HDD Secondary Drive(s) for ALL the data. Photos, music files, docs, spreadsheets etc

Lots of RAM

If someone is selling a PC with a 2Tb single HDD, you don't HAVE to leave it that way - you could buy that, make the 2Tb the secondary and install an SSD as the primary.

That's what I did, I got a Dell XPS desktop at a stupidly cheap price, added an SSD for the OS and the 1TB for storage and the PC flies. Is it needed for everyday use? well it makes the PC boot fast and work quicker but does add another £70+ to the cost and some time to sort it out.

grumpycrab

EverDecreasingCircles wrote: »

...Also use it for letters, storing photos, and would like to use my Ipod on it so storing music.

spannerzone wrote: »

...Current desktop that I'd consider is this one
http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/cheap-dell-pc-windows-8-i3-2130-1tb-hard-drive-4gb-ram-wireless-usb-3-265-87-6-tcb-1476460?page=1

Yes, I suggest the dell also. There's no monitor with it though (and no keybooard or mouse with the one shown BUT dell provide them -by default - for about £12 extra).
There is one problem with "Windows 8" and that's a word processor. Microsofty Essentials
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-live/essentials-other-programs
includes Email but no basic word processor. Options (amongst others) are:-
- use wordpad
- use the free OpenOffice
- get somebody to install Office 2010 Starter for you (NB. Office 2003 wont work with 8)

spannerzone

Oh good point about the word processor. Of course you could always buy Office 2013 if it's needed.

EverDecreasingCircles

Thanks. I have a new (6 months old) monitor. Also have a new keyboard sitting her unused so that's no problem.

I'd need a word processor though, will look into Office 2013.

Jivesinger

grumpycrab wrote: »

(NB. Office 2003 wont work with 8)

Well Microsoft certainly don't support it.

I already had Office 2003 so when I upgraded my old laptop to Windows 8 I tried reinstalling it.

There were a couple of errors at installation time that seemed only relevant if I was using an old FoxPro database, and I notice that my Outlook mail rules don't work properly, but by and large Office 2003 in Windows 8 has seemed usable for what I've done with it so far.

Jivesinger

spannerzone wrote: »

Oh good point about the word processor. Of course you could always buy Office 2013 if it's needed.

With Office 2013, the pricing and licensing terms of the versions you buy forever has got less favourable, and the pricing of Office 365 (which is a yearly subscription) is more favourable. However if you don't renew at the end of the year, I believe everything becomes read-only and I guess you may lose access altogether eventually.

Microsoft clearly wants you to go for the subscription route.

But if you don't fancy that, I'd look at Office 2010 rather than 2013, as I think the Home version may still have 3 licences in one package.

The equivalent 2013 version only has one licence in the pack unless you move to the yearly subscription.

closed

the pc you're using should be capable of all that, so anything will do.

Daniel_Hyatt

You only need a very basic system to do what you looking for it to do.

I recommend - something Dual core

2-4gb RAM

250GB hard drive

Windows 7 home premium

you should be able to pick something that will do that for less than £300.00