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New PC - what to look for?

F1F93
Posts: 366 Forumite
Hi MSE,
Both mine and my OH's laptops are on their way out and we'd quite like the look of a desktop as we don't really have any need for 2 laptops and could very easily share a desktop.
I've searched for PCs already and have found a few, but was wondering what is most important for best performance. I've narrowed it down to 3:
The Acer,
The HP,
and the Asus.
All three of these has something positive about it - the Acer has the highest cache and (according to CPU-world, I don't have a clue about this sort of thing) the best processor, the HP has a seperate graphics card, and the Asus has the highest clock speed by far.
So, which desktop would you go for and why?
I won't be doing anything major, mainly microsoft office, browsing the internet, skyping and music. Occasional streaming and gaming, but nothing too intense and gaming is NOT the priority (it is a nice to have, but as neither of our current laptops can cope with gaming we wouldn't miss it).
Thanks in advance,
F1F93
Both mine and my OH's laptops are on their way out and we'd quite like the look of a desktop as we don't really have any need for 2 laptops and could very easily share a desktop.
I've searched for PCs already and have found a few, but was wondering what is most important for best performance. I've narrowed it down to 3:
The Acer,
The HP,
and the Asus.
All three of these has something positive about it - the Acer has the highest cache and (according to CPU-world, I don't have a clue about this sort of thing) the best processor, the HP has a seperate graphics card, and the Asus has the highest clock speed by far.
So, which desktop would you go for and why?
I won't be doing anything major, mainly microsoft office, browsing the internet, skyping and music. Occasional streaming and gaming, but nothing too intense and gaming is NOT the priority (it is a nice to have, but as neither of our current laptops can cope with gaming we wouldn't miss it).
Thanks in advance,
F1F93
0
Comments
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None of them , the acer would be my suggestion out of those, but give it a while someone more knowledgeable will be along, and Currys/PC World is not the best choice of seller either. Dell Outlet will give you more bang for your quid, but NiftyDigits, and others will find you a better deal0
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None of them , the acer would be my suggestion out of those, but give it a while someone more knowledgeable will be along, and Currys/PC World is not the best choice of seller either. Dell Outlet will give you more bang for your quid, but NiftyDigits, and others will find you a better deal
Could you elaborate on why none of the above please?
I've always heard bad things about dell and never heard of NiftyDigits, but will check them out, thanks. :beer:0 -
Could you elaborate on why none of the above please?
I've always heard bad things about dell and never heard of NiftyDigits, but will check them out, thanks. :beer:
Sadly NiftyDigits is not a brand(sorry ND if you are:p) he is a regular poster on this forum and seems to have a knack of finding good value alternatives for most things as far as I can tell.0 -
the only way you will ever get a decent spec pc, without been charged silly money for one, is to build your own, that may sound daunting but its nothing to be scared of.
id certainly not buy any of the above rubbish, and my god whatever you do do not buy from them charlatans currys lol, what budget do you have?0 -
Another important factor to consider is the level of support if/when things go wrong. PC World is certainly one of the worst offenders.0
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Buying a new PC is a nightmare, where to go really depends on how computer savvy you are but the best advice is to avoid PC World at all costs. If they get the slightest hint that you don't know a lot about PCs they will rub there hands together and try to sell you extended warranties, help desk contracts, rubbish anti-virus products and all the rest.
If you do know anything about PCs you'll soon realise how little they know.
My advice would be to find a local independent, word of mouth is a great way to find them, and explain exactly what you want the PC to do.
For anyone that is PC savvy I'd recommend buying a bare PC and loading the operating system and any software that you need yourself. It will only take as long as removing any bloatware from a 'named' PC and leave you with a system that runs a lot faster and more efficiently.
OP if you say where you are someone may be able to recommend a good independent to you
Oops just looked, you are in West London. I'm sure someone will come up with a good independent for you0 -
Personally, I think they're all overpriced.
You can get a very similar machine (AMD A8-5500/3.2 GHz, 8GB of RAM, 1TB HDD, AMD Radeon HD 7560D) from Asda, for £299.0 -
Of course they are overpriced, they are all at Currys0
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I build my own PCs. When you see a spec for a PC I can't advise because they don't specify the most important components. What I want is:
Power Supply-80 plus certified. Quiet,efficient,well built. You don't want loads of heat and noise from your power supply.
Motherboard-Asus and Gigabyte generally accepted as best. If your motherboard fails due to cheap capacitors you've had it.
Processor-doesn't matter. They don't fail. The more you pay the faster they are. Avoid cheapest Celeron/Sempron.
Memory-seldom fails. Any major manufacturer.
Hard drive-do fail but easy to replace. Any major manufacturer.
The last PC I ever bought whole in 2001 was from ginger6.com. Your are able to specify an 80plus PSU and they use ASUS motherboards. Online reviews look good. Can have Windows 7 or 8. 3 year warranty.0 -
I got fed up of dealing with Dell when my PC's have gone wrong - hold on, press this button, press 3 etc etc - eventually a Call Centre in India who are determined to fix it on the phone when it is obvious you need an Engineer
On the say so of a couple of people here - I tried
http://www.chillblast.com/January-Sale/
You speak to the guys and advise them of your usage - they then custom build a PC for you (if needed)
I even spoke to the MD one time checking on something prior to my order and he added an upgrade on one item free of charge
Worth talking to them0
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