where to buy PC

andrewf75

Thanks for the replies. I don't doubt that building your own PC is best, but I do not have the ability or inclination to do so. I just want to buy something as easily as possible!

Pincher

fred246 wrote: »

You're making me feel old now. I distinctly remember my first computer had 1977 printed on it's motherboard.

Science of Cambridge Mk14.

Went through the entire Argos catalogue for a tape recorder that was compatible for the tape interface. Might as well input the program manually each time using the hex keyboard.

Lunar Lander, Duck Shoot: such classics.

winspiration

Another vote for John Lewis here - that's where I got my last PC a couple of years ago. They include a two year guarantee and actually when you compare prices, I thought they were good value. I don't know how informative the staff are though, as I bought mine online.

London_Ash

If you are purchasing a PC and not building one yourself, then you can pick up a system on eBay from a reputable seller for very cheap. Lots of people build PCs and resell them for a small profit per machine, and the costs are always a lot cheaper than purchasing from a retailer.

If you are building yourself, I would recommend eBuyer and Novatech for your hardware choices, as they have been top notch every time I have used them for building around 20 machines throughout my career.

skivenov

Personally, I use a second hand Dell I got for peanuts off ebay. Did a restore from the built in recovery partition and it's been fine.

andrewf75

winspiration wrote: »

Another vote for John Lewis here - that's where I got my last PC a couple of years ago. They include a two year guarantee and actually when you compare prices, I thought they were good value. I don't know how informative the staff are though, as I bought mine online.

I think I'm going to go down this route.
From a quick look
http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-h30-desktop-pc-intel-pentium-4gb-ram-1tb-black/p1863138
Seems pretty good and a 2 yr guarantee is useful.

gonzo127

bsod wrote: »

People who used the word mobo, talk endlessly about capacitors and high end graphics cards, and get snobby about power supplies seem to have a lot more failures than the rest of the world - perhaps if they bought a ready made one it wouldn't fail as much

haha, but you usually find the people (like myself) who talk the lingo, also overclock the nuts off our systems, which tends to take them to their absolute limits hence a couple more failures if are defects in the parts - just like cars, you have someone who takes their car to the limits of its performance, they will get through more repairs as you will expose the faults pretty quickly

Fightsback

gonzo127 wrote: »

haha, but you usually find the people (like myself) who talk the lingo, also overclock the nuts off our systems, which tends to take them to their absolute limits hence a couple more failures if are defects in the parts - just like cars, you have someone who takes their car to the limits of its performance, they will get through more repairs as you will expose the faults pretty quickly

Nope you take them beyond their design limits and pay the consequences.

Don't blame the parts, blame yourself.

almillar

Anybody actually going to find OP a computer?!
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/asus-et2230auk-21-5-all-in-one-pc-10133310-pdt.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/hp-slimline-450-a60na-desktop-pc-10133645-pdt.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/lenovo-c260-19-5-all-in-one-pc-white-10108793-pdt.html

I have no idea how the prices compare to anywhere else. If you want to save money though, there should be plenty of ex workplace or second hand desktop computers on eBay. As a rough guide look for 4GB RAM (or look for something you can upgrade yourself), 500GB hard drive, and most importantly, for Intels, look for (keep it simple) i3, i5, i7 to get a decent, newish processor.

NiftyDigits

andrewf75 wrote: »

I think I'm going to go down this route.
From a quick look
http://www.johnlewis.com/lenovo-h30-desktop-pc-intel-pentium-4gb-ram-1tb-black/p1863138
Seems pretty good and a 2 yr guarantee is useful.

So you are going to pay £100 more for the same machine that is behind my link?!
Ok, you get 500GB more storage and an extra year's warranty...but that machine is poor value as compared to the other suggestions in this thread alone. Think again.