new desktop recommendations?

tinateaspoon

My Novatech PC (Windows 7) is "dying". I have had a good techie friend repair it and retrieve all the data, but the start up problem comes back now and again.

So I think its time for a new one & probably with Windows 10 - but how to chose? I use it for emails, web surfing, documents & photo storage - no gaming, films or TV catch up, so I don't think I need anything really techy.

Would be really grateful for any suggestions as I think if I visit the local stores I will be completely bamboozled by the salesmen.

esuhl

What's the start up problem you mention? If your current PC can run Windows 7, it should be able to cope with your light usage... and it'll probably be a lot cheaper to replace a broken component than buy a whole new PC...

ThemeOne

If you're keen to get a new PC you could maybe get yourself a bargain online tomorrow (being Black Friday). Maybe one of the lower spec Zoostorm models might be fine for you as your usage is not demanding.

debitcardmayhem

If you have a Novatech then you didn't get it from the local stores surely. Novatech support is usually good , but as asked earlier "what start up problems?" and what did your good techie friend repair?
Oh and about how old is it and what is the model number?

tinateaspoon

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

If you have a Novatech then you didn't get it from the local stores surely. Novatech support is usually good , but as asked earlier "what start up problems?" and what did your good techie friend repair?
Oh and about how old is it and what is the model number?

Windows couldn't repair at the start up repair screen initially & that's when my friend got involved, but since then twice it has had to repair itself (thankfully sucessfully), but that's too worrying for me. I reckon its about 5.5 yrs old and the model no looks like 1377H

outofworksch

We also have a Novatech desktop, could you not reinstall windows 7 and see if it improves?

grumpycrab

Time for a laptop? £287 very good processor. Plug your screen and keyboard into it if you prefer to use them. Be quick.
http://www.ebuyer.com/724984-hp-250-g4-laptop-n1a92ea-abu

Cisco001

tinateaspoon wrote: »

Windows couldn't repair at the start up repair screen initially & that's when my friend got involved, but since then twice it has had to repair itself (thankfully sucessfully), but that's too worrying for me. I reckon its about 5.5 yrs old and the model no looks like 1377H

I assume you have OS disk?
I don't know your spec, but you could consider getting a cheap SSD and install OS on it.
Then the existing HDD is purely for storage.
If windows goes wrong, reinstall the windows.

Fightsback

Not knowing the exact nature of your start up problems there can be a few causes, one of them being a flaky hard drive on it's way out. Ask your techie friend to check the bad sector count on the HDD and if there are any pending sector re-allocations, crystaldiskinfo (or similar) will tell you that.

tinateaspoon

grumpycrab wrote: »

Time for a laptop? £287 very good processor. Plug your screen and keyboard into it if you prefer to use them. Be quick.
http://www.ebuyer.com/724984-hp-250-g4-laptop-n1a92ea-abu

Good idea, not somthing I had considered, as I like a proper keyboard and mouse. The laptop is very old and only used rarely for i player, so it might be the answer. thanks

esuhl

tinateaspoon wrote: »

...not somthing I had considered, as I like a proper keyboard and mouse.

Me too! I find laptop keyboards/trackpads really uncomfortable to use.

tinateaspoon wrote: »

Windows couldn't repair at the start up repair screen initially & that's when my friend got involved, but since then twice it has had to repair itself (thankfully sucessfully), but that's too worrying for me. I reckon its about 5.5 yrs old and the model no looks like 1377H

It could just be a software problem, in which case reinstalling Windows should fix the problem (just make sure your backups are up-to-date first).

It's also possible that one of the drives is failing (as suggested above). You could either just wait until it dies (meanwhile saving personal files elsewhere so you don't lose them), or check the disk and replace it if it's faulty.

This hard drive is 1TB in size and costs £40 -- a lot less than a new PC.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-WD10EZEX-3-5-Inch-Internal/dp/B0088PUEPK