Buying a new PC, any advice please?

cacti

I have a computer approximately 9 years old. I have been thinking about buying a new one and the fact that support for Vista ends next April has made up my mind. Also, I am unable to download Windows Updates since June. I have posted on this forum and despite all the advice I got I am still unable to download updates. The main reason for buying a new computer is reliability and speed. Are All-In-One PCs any good? My monitor is only about one year old. When I get my new computer how do I transfer data and photos from the old PC? Can I pick and choose what to transfer or does it all go at once? Any advice would be much appreciated.

dcouponzzzz

If you're able to use a 9 year old Vista PC for your daily tasks then it really is a matter of finding the cheapest computer out there. Any of them will be able to outperform the computer being replaced by a significant amount.

If shopping online http://www.ebuyer.com/ is usually a reputable retailer.

cacti

I understand what you are saying but who knows I might use the computer more if I had a better one.

OGR

I would say minimum specs should be

Core i3 (middle of the road, good performace)
6-8GB RAM (future proof)
SSD (if a pre-built PC can't be found at a good cost then at a least an SSHD, OEMs do charge a lot for some reason still) .

With this spec you should get another good 9 years. Here is a selection of what ebuyer have with an i3 and an SSD. The SSD isn't huge at 128GB but you could stick in a HDD for storage.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC?a00039=Intel+Core+i3&a06201=SSD

dcouponzzzz

The frequency with which you use the PC wouldn't be something to factor in to a purchase (unless you but a high wattage power supply and want to save electricity!)

Unless you plan on playing PC games or taking up graphic design / video editing, your primary concern is build quality and reputation for reliability. You should be able to find this info from a google search

NiftyDigits

To be fair, you could probably transform the performance of your current PC with some cheap and easy upgrades and a clean install of Windows 7...at a cost of £20 to £50. But I sure that this isn't our first communication about this.

What brand name and model of PC are you running?

Cisco001

Don't get all in one PC. They are not portable and without any upgradeability.
Get either desktop or laptop.

What is your budget?
What is the main use?

NiftyDigits

OGR wrote: »

I would say minimum specs should be

Core i3 (middle of the road, good performace)
6-8GB RAM (future proof)
SSD (if a pre-built PC can't be found at a good cost then at a least an SSHD, OEMs do charge a lot for some reason still) .

With this spec you should get another good 9 years. Here is a selection of what ebuyer have with an i3 and an SSD. The SSD isn't huge at 128GB but you could stick in a HDD for storage.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC?a00039=Intel+Core+i3&a06201=SSD

This is a website dedicated to the saving of money.... Nothing there of even remotely good value.

cacti

Thanks for all the replies. The main use is for general day to day tasks- emails, admin type things, searching the internet, storing photos, booking holidays and so on.
NiftyDigits is right. He did suggest before that I upgrade to 7. Having read other posts about this, I don't think I could do it, not very efficiently anyway. I had thought about replacing the computer before the Windows Updates packed up.

Justice13075

Now we have electricity you can convert you gas powered Vista to a new windows 10 laptop.

NiftyDigits

cacti wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. The main use is for general day to day tasks- emails, admin type things, searching the internet, storing photos, booking holidays and so on.
NiftyDigits is right. He did suggest before that I upgrade to 7. Having read other posts about this, I don't think I could do it, not very efficiently anyway. I had thought about replacing the computer before the Windows Updates packed up.

You can do it. Especially now you are thinking of buying a new one anyway. Because you are going to have to do exactly the same things that you claim that you can't do anyway.
That is to move your data from the old PC to the new PC.
That is the single thing that takes the longest.
Everything takes minutes and is as easy as pie..because that is the way most PCs are designed. RAM and HDD/SSD upgrades take a matter of minutes and make a significant difference.

As to spending £400 on a PC with a 128GB SSD fitted....that's just crazy. I spent £40 replacing my nine year old PC with a five year old PC and stuck a £25 SSD of 120GB capacity in it.
All this talk of future proofing is really nonsense.