All-in-one desktop?

AliceBanned

PasturesNew wrote: »

Catalogue companies are always the most expensive way to buy stuff....

Many people buy good stuff from ebuyer, at very reasonable prices, which also offers some finance options. http://www.ebuyer.com/finance
They even have a 6 months 0% deal.

Find the best kit to meet your needs, then investigate options to buy .... don't start by picking an overpriced catalogue company and being fooled by their 0% offers as their prices are usually stupid-high to start with.

Thanks - I think I bought a washing machine from them years ago. Forgot all about that website, I'll have a look.

Yes I have been doing my best to resist the temptation of the catalogue since my LBM. Doing quite well so far. :A

Then they start sending me special offers - 24% off if you buy electricals in the next 24 hours - nope, still not too tempted. .

I owe £100 on that account and after that may close it, as it is too tempting to not shop around and just shop online thinking it is free, with "buy now, pay later". But I am looking at reducing my debts right down, hopefully eventually to zero, apart from mortgage, so this kind of company doesn't help if charging inflated prices.

AliceBanned

NiftyDigits wrote: »

So that's a no to that DELL.

Anyway, there are even cheaper laptops available, such as this Medion Akoya E6234 for £170.99, replete with Microsoft Office 2010.
It's a bit more useful than the DELL.

As an example of the ridiculous prices charged by the 'catalogues'....

This Medion AIO is bigger than the Lenovo, having a Full HD screen,(Medion is owned by Lenovo anyway) but is just £313.49

£700 for a 19.5" non-Touch screen is ludicrous.

Wouldn't recommend an AIO anyway.

Thanks. Actually there was a terrible review of the Dell cheapo laptop, which did put me off. I would pay £100 for an emergency laptop maybe..just to tide me over. But I wouldn't get one for that.

AliceBanned

Cisco001 wrote: »

Personally would get standard desktop due to the ease of maintenance.

OK thanks. I did wonder about that. Are there any that aren't so large and bulky? I guess not as this then causes the problem of high maintenance..?

AliceBanned

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Standard desktops are the cheapest, then laptops and all in ones come next.

All in ones have a lot of heat problems because of their "sleek" design and in fact many of them do use laptop components as these are designed for use in small enclosures. They also tend to suffer from the similar problems for repairs and upgrades because of their custom cases etc.

If you want powerful then desktop is the way to go. If you want the best of both worlds then maybe a laptop + a monitor/keyboard/ mouse so you have a big screen experience at home but can still take it on the road. All in one is for if style is more important than performance.

That's a good idea ..may be the best way to go but then I suppose to get the equivalent power of a desktop I will be looking at high end laptops?

InsideInsurance wrote: »

PS. I love my all in one iMac despite the above

They do look fab.

AliceBanned

Or I could get an Ipad (or other tablet but I like the Ipad) for out and about, and a desktop for at home. :cool:

AliceBanned

Oh. Just looked at Ipad prices on Ebuyer.:(

I like them as they are light and slim, with good display. My eyes get tired as I am at a PC a lot, so clear screen helps I think.

My friend has the Nexus (not the latest) and puts in his jacket pocket but I think it's a bit thick looking and much heavier.

InsideInsurance

AliceBanned wrote: »

That's a good idea ..may be the best way to go but then I suppose to get the equivalent power of a desktop I will be looking at high end laptops?

They do look fab.

Mine is 4.5 years old now so not as good looking as the current ones but similar. Just a bit fatter and older, matches me

Having replaced the HD with an SSD (horrible job that I wouldnt wish on anyone) and put more ram in (the only official user doable job) it still is more than adequate for Photoshop/ Illustrator that my wife done and web browsing/ excel spreadsheets I do. Still havent managed to get it to stall or pause when doing anything otherwise I may have had an excuse to use the wife's student discount and get a Mac Pro


Laptop + monitor etc is going to be the most expensive option but its the most versatile. What are you actually doing that you need a top end machine? The average user, not a gamer, really doesnt need much more than a basic modern system and speeding up is normally better done with SSDs and RAM initially rather than higher CPUs or GPUs

AliceBanned

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Mine is 4.5 years old now so not as good looking as the current ones but similar. Just a bit fatter and older, matches me

Having replaced the HD with an SSD (horrible job that I wouldnt wish on anyone) and put more ram in (the only official user doable job) it still is more than adequate for Photoshop/ Illustrator that my wife done and web browsing/ excel spreadsheets I do. Still havent managed to get it to stall or pause when doing anything otherwise I may have had an excuse to use the wife's student discount and get a Mac Pro


Laptop + monitor etc is going to be the most expensive option but its the most versatile. What are you actually doing that you need a top end machine? The average user, not a gamer, really doesnt need much more than a basic modern system and speeding up is normally better done with SSDs and RAM initially rather than higher CPUs or GPUs

I think I just need a good, brand new PC that is reliable for average work. I don't do any gaming. I may watch movies on it sometimes. It would be good to have a disc drive - call me old fashioned.

I'm afraid I am a complete beginner on RAM GB etc and what it all means - so I won't really know what I'm buying. I am sure I need to do a bit of research. I don't know what HD or SSD is.

Mac Pro looks like a nice machine..I am not sure what I will be doing in the future workwise - anything that might related to publishing, but mainly copy editing so just Word and Excel! Just not sure what I will need for the future but nothing more than the average office PC I guess. I have not got into doing any design work but this is a possibility in the next year or two.

NiftyDigits

£250 should get you a decent enough Tower when you are ready to buy.. Budget another £100 to £130 max for a 24" IPS monitor. You can get a 27" monitor for that these days, but you might prefer an IPS screen.
Don't get less than a 24" monitor for home working....which of course is of benefit for viewing varied media.

AliceBanned

NiftyDigits wrote: »

Start saving. Come back when you have perhaps £350.

What's the brand name and model number of the laptop?

Not sure of model number; it is HP Pavilion Entertainment PC.