Where to buy Desktop PC?

Cisco001

I suggest you could get a quad core machine, which probably last another 5 years.

http://www.ebuyer.com/579783-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1212
http://www.ebuyer.com/579786-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1214

Install free ubuntu or buy Windows

G42

I bought one from Envisage Solutions a few weeks ago. What I liked was that you can change anything about the system, even the case as they're built to order. Prices are very good, they respond to emails quickly and are very helpful.

Just find a system on their site and either buy it as it is or email them with any changes you want to make and they email you back with a quotation. The prices of the components they use are on their website so you can tailor the system to whatever your budget is. If you want to keep your existing hard drive for example and install it in the new system you can do that. Anything at all can be changed.

When it was delivered it was really well packed and emails were sent giving a tracking number.

http://www.envizage.com/

macman

Roundabouts wrote: »

Thanks everyone. My computer is an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8 GHz, 80GB HDD, 512MB RAM.

So the HDD is nearly full up and it only has 4 USB ports which makes it hard to connect up a full range of equipment (mouse, speakers, wireless network adapter, etc.) at the same time.

I have defragmented recently but that made little difference. I end up having to restart the computer every hour or so as it gets so slow. I did formet the HDD and reload all the software a year or so ago but that made little difference. I had just assumed that my computer is too old and slow to cope with modern computing technology and the internet. But maybe I'm wrong?

RAM at 512MB is totally inadequate, even for XP. Bump that up to 1GB (or 2GB if the system allows) and you should see a huge improvement. Not expensive.
USB ports-just get yourself a powered USB hub, or (better) install an internal USB PCI card which will give you another 4 ports. About a tenner.

Roundabouts

Cisco001 wrote: »

I suggest you could get a quad core machine, which probably last another 5 years.

http://www.ebuyer.com/579783-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1212
http://www.ebuyer.com/579786-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1214

Install free ubuntu or buy Windows

Thanks. That looks like a good deal. Can I not just install Windows XP again with the DVD I have for my present computer?

Roundabouts

macman wrote: »

RAM at 512MB is totally inadequate, even for XP. Bump that up to 1GB (or 2GB if the system allows) and you should see a huge improvement. Not expensive.
USB ports-just get yourself a powered USB hub, or (better) install an internal USB PCI card which will give you another 4 ports. About a tenner.

Great advice, I could possibly do that, I'm not too technical though. However, maybe I'd just be putting off the inevitable moment when I have to buy a new computer?

Cisco001

Roundabouts wrote: »

Thanks. That looks like a good deal. Can I not just install Windows XP again with the DVD I have for my present computer?

You can if you got retail version of XP, but MS stop supporting XP next year

agrinnall

I've noticed that some places selling PCs have started to put their desktop boxes underneath the display surfaces, which are used to show off the sexy laptops and pads. If you don't lower your gaze you might well miss the fact that there are desktops lurking below the shiny toys. One other thing is that a lot of them are now sold simply as the box without any peripherals (or perhaps with just a keyboard), so if you need a screen you might well have to add that to the displayed price.

Neil49

Roundabouts wrote: »

Thanks. That looks like a good deal. Can I not just install Windows XP again with the DVD I have for my present computer?

If you are going to hang onto this pc for another 6 or 7 years then I would recommend you install Windows 7 as a minimum. A friend of mine has Windows 8 but finds it awkward to use on a desktop as it tries to be a compromise between tablet and pc (and fails).

Alternatively you could install a free Linux based operating system and keep right up to date that way.

Either way, I think it would be a big mistake to stay with XP given that support, from both Microsoft and other developers such as Mozilla will cease. Google say they will continue to develop Chrome to support XP but for how long and MS will cease developing Internet Explorer support soon.

Cisco001

Roundabouts wrote: »

Great advice, I could possibly do that, I'm not too technical though. However, maybe I'd just be putting off the inevitable moment when I have to buy a new computer?

Do you know what motherboard you got?
If not, download CPU-Z to check it out.
We would need to know the model no. to check which RAM would work.

For HDD space, you can get an external HDD or grab one on ebay.

However, for a PC with 10 years old CPU, I don't know if you want to upgrade or just get new.

G42

Roundabouts wrote: »

Thanks everyone. My computer is an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8 GHz, 80GB HDD, 512MB RAM.

You'd be wasting your time thinking about upgrading this setup. You could do something with it but it wouldn't make much difference and your money would be wasted. Go for a completely new system. There's nothing worth keeping unless you like the system case. Your Hard Drive is too small, too little memory and your CPU is slow.

The Average CPU benchmark of your AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8 is 342.

I've just bought an Intel Core i3 3320 3.3GHz which has an Average CPU benchmark of 4219. My old AMD dual core was around 920 so I'm seeing a good difference and you would see even more if you bought something like that. I'm not into playing games but I do video processing and the difference in speed is really good.

Examples-

http://www.envizage.com/products/computers-performance-intel-based/pc---[int2030]--asus-p8h61-mx-usb3-intel-i3-3220-ivy-bridge-desktop-pc-with-4gb-ram-500gb-h.html

http://www.envizage.com/products/computers-performance-intel-based/pc---[int2032]--asus-p8h61-mx-usb3-intel-i3-3220-ivy-bridge-desktop-pc-with-4gb-ram-1tb-h.html

These both have USB3 onboard.

Windows 7 is the way to go now if you want support. Windows 8, even after the update to 8.1 is still rubbish for desktop PCs.

These are only my opinions and other people will have different ideas about processors. All I'm trying to stress is that you don't have to spend big money to get a good computer for general use.

Go here to check out Benchmarks of all CPUs - http://www.cpubenchmark.net/

See here for comparison between your processor and the i3 and others when you select them. -

http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/129/AMD_Athlon_XP_2200+_(AXDA2200DUV3C)_vs_Intel_Core_i3_i3-3220.html