Desktop PC.......windows 7 or 8?

**Patty**

I'm looking to upgrade my youngest's desktop.....he's almost 12.

He currently has an old XP media suite that was given to us by my Dad when he moved house about 6 years ago. We've noticed some incompatibility issues recently since young un moved to secondary school, with him being unable to open files (that contain his homework lol) and general Word problems, so after a mini windfall, we feel an upgrade is due.

As i'm aware, this weeks latest technology is 6 months out of date by next week but, i would prefer to get something half decent that will hopefully last him the next 5 years. That takes him to the end of GCSEs.

Now i know Win7 is compatible with schools software as he has to access some stuff on my PC and there's no issues with whatever the school use there......but i'm unsure as to Win8.

So basically, he needs to do his schoolwork upto gcse level. He likes to play games (Minecraft etc) so it needs to be fairly speedy on the processor front, he'll need to store stuff and create stuff so graphics & sound......

Am looking for suggestions. I have an Advent quad core which apart from powerpack issues has served me very well but last week i was told by a repair shop to avoid them ......who knows eh?

Budget is around £500-£700 ish.

closed

your compatibility problems probably relate to applications or settings, not operating system.

laptops are better value imo - £350 buys a good one, add in office, and you'll have money to spare to buy another in a few years.

powerpack issues?

**Patty**

closed wrote: »

your compatibility problems probably relate to applications or settings, not operating system.

laptops are better value imo - £350 buys a good one, add in office, and you'll have money to spare to buy another in a few years.

powerpack issues?

Am pretty certain the compatibility issues are from it being a pre-2003 version of XP...however, i cannot alter the settings. The machine was previously owned by my Dad & he has passworded some of the apps & settings.....and now can't remember the password. :cool:

I don't wish to buy him a laptop at this stage.

The powerpack issues are that none of them seem to last longer than 12 months. Its an easy fix.....one in, one out. Just a pita.

NiftyDigits

We can easily update the current PC to make it compatible for now. We can install the latest version of XP and applications. There is nothing that won't be compatible.
That way you can wait for a bargain, instead of making the mistake that you did.

Does this machine have a brand name and model number? Does it have a Microsoft COA sticker stuck to it?

closed

Without any details of what these compatibility issues are (office 2003 not xp 2003), and what you mean about passwording applications, difficult to give advice, but most problems can be fixed.