Suggestions for replacement desktop

Lisa82

Hello

Looking for some advice, I currently have a very old dell pic which is on its last legs and takes ages to boot up. It is mainly used as storage for thousands of photos and music, which are rotated on various family iPads/iPhones. It is pretty bulky and I am trying to decide what to replace it with.

The best option I've seen is the Lenovo q190 which could just plug direct into my tv when I wanted to use it, but my concerns it's now discontinued by Lenovo, and there doesn't seem to be a successor.

What does everyone else use for this type of thing? Not sure if I should just go cloud based and put all my music on iTunes Match. I'm not won over by having everything in cloud, feels like I wouldn't have control of it.

Fightsback

What is the exact model of your current desktop and how much would you like to spend ?

Lisa82

Current model is dell Inspiron 560 MT. I don't really have a budget in mind, i'm open to options on the best way to store and access my files.
So much stuff that I used to do on my current pc is now redundant due to the tablets and phones in the house ie email, web browsing, downloading films etc. It's not required for gaming at all.
Things that I have on current pc but don't need to replace, I have a wireless printer, I have an external cd drive and an external hard drive for back ups. One thing that is important is that the pc is wifi wireless, as I want to clear the space where the router is to use for something else. This is another reason I need to replace the dell as its not wireless so I can't just move it to another room. I guess they all come as wifi now though

Lisa82

Service Tag is
IdentifyingNumber Name Vendor
3SP5V4J Inspiron 560 Dell Inc.


Do you mean a clean install of Windows? I wouldn't know where to start with that. I made the mistake of upgrading to win 10 before I realised Dell hadn't said it was compatible, and have had quite a few issues with it and am now unable to go back to Win 7.

NiftyDigits

Lisa82 wrote: »

Service Tag is
IdentifyingNumber Name Vendor
3SP5V4J Inspiron 560 Dell Inc.


Do you mean a clean install of Windows? I wouldn't know where to start with that. I made the mistake of upgrading to win 10 before I realised Dell hadn't said it was compatible, and have had quite a few issues with it and am now unable to go back to Win 7.

None of this is an issue.
Have you stored your important data to your external hard drive as of yet?

Lisa82

Yeah got a backup on my external hard drive

NiftyDigits

Wireless USB Adapter examples

Restore your Windows 7 computer to factory settings

If you have a problem with the process, we can troubleshoot or I can simply give the the DELL reinstallation disc image for you to run a clean install that way.

Lisa82

Great thanks, I'll give that a try and look in to the wireless adapters

NiftyDigits

Lisa82 wrote: »

Great thanks, I'll give that a try and look in to the wireless adapters

Once you've restored the OS, you should upgrade the RAM to at least 4GB. Will cost less than £7 or take it to 6GB for around £20.

If you want to connect your TV to the PC via HDMI lead, you can fit an inexpensive graphics card if you wish, for around £20. Of course once you have the Wireless adaptor fitted, you may have the option of streaming anyway.

But in short; clean install, RAM upgrade(£7) and wireless adaptor(£13) will bring the machine up to the spec that you need.. Add the Graphics card for £20 to improve performance in your intend viewing on your large screen Full HD TV.

As an aside, your PC is only five years old. It has more possibilities for simple upgrades that can and will improve the performance considerably. I am running an eight year old PC.

Lisa82

Ok thanks, the Ram install and the fitting new graphics cards looks a bit complicated, will see how the PC is after a clean install. Would you recommend just staying on Win 7 with this PC?

NiftyDigits

4GB kit (1GBx2) DDR3 PC3-10600 Unbuffered NON-ECC 1.5V £7.99

Will take your system to 4GB of RAM.

or

4GB kit (2GBx2) DDR3 PC3-10600 Unbuffered NON-ECC 1.5V £16.99

Will take your system to 6GB of RAM.

Takes just a few mins to fit. Very easy.

300Mbps Mini Wireless N USB Adapter TL-WN823N for £11.01 seems a good enough choice.
But if the PC is going to be in a place where the WiFi signal is not strong, think about a PCI card

Fitting is absolutely not complicated. It is designed to be user upgradeable. One step at a time. Once you've done the OS, we'll move to the next step.

Graphics card and SSD optional. See how you feel about the performance after each step.

I don't understand the ungodly rush to Windows 10. Talk to me about it next year. Either way, I don't forsee an issue with a clean install of Windows 10 to your system. Though probably a good idea to update to the latest BIOS version before you do so.

Don't ignore the RAM upgrade.