New Computer Sugesstions - less than £400

musey

Hi All

Could I aks for your help?

I would like to buy a new computer, I have no preference on manufacturer.

I use my computer for

1. Reports and stuff for work (excel, word, powerpoint & access)
2. Surfing the internet
3. Burning cd/dvds
4. Watching the odd downloaded tv program
5. Storing photos & video clips of my daughter

I have windows XP professional on disc already as I bought it when I bought my last computer 5 yrs ago.

I have a flat screen monitor, speaker system and bluetooth keyboard and mouse so don't really need those.

I don't play games on it other than a few online poker games.
What should I buy? I've tried looking at Dell and PC Next Day and it's all Greek to me I can use a computer but have zero idea how they work (I just trust that they do)

joshm_2

If you don't mind me asking, what is wrong with your current one (assuming you still have it). If we get an idea of that maybe it'll help. Have you considered upgrading components rather than replacing the whole thing?

musey

There are a couple of reasons for changing, some more important than others.

One of the things I do quite a lot of is cd/dvd burning but at the moment everytime I try to burn something the computer trips a fuse about halfway through the process.

In the same vein the computer trips itself off at random moments as well (but with a certaintity it does it everytime I try to burn something)

It's quite noisey and pretty slow, I have defragmented recently and it's still slow.

2 of the disc drives have lost their front covers so it looks old, tired and a bit crappy. I've had to move pc into my lounge as my baby now occupies what used to be my office so I'd like something that looked a bit smarter.

As I'm a bit crap with practical things so I didn't relish the idea of trying to replace any bits that might be broken. I fitted a new dvd rw drive about a year ago and have only just got over the trauma.

motorguy

You could easily spend £200 upgrading an old PC, particularly if you're going to have to pay someone to fit the parts.

Go to www.dmxdimension.com - they have all the best dell deal links in one place. Plus the specs are in tabular form meaning its easier to compare.

Down the left hand side, look for 'Dell Vostro Deals' and click on that.

Select the tab for 200 MT

Basically anything other than the first one will be great for what you're looking. That means you could have a brand new pc, with a 19 inch TFT for as little as £293 delivered.

Go as far as £353 and you can have a widescreen monitor, a better processor and twice the memory.

musey

Hi

Thanks for that suggestion, I've had a look and would like to get something ordered.

I'm a bit confused about operation system options. As I said I have a windows professional disc with excel, word and access on it. What option should I be looking at for the operating system? My hubby tells me I should choose the "Genuine Windows® XP Professional" option, is he right? Or could I get away with picking Windows XP Home basic and install my own Windows XP professional?

What are people's thoughts on the hardware support options? Are they worth the money and which would you recommend?

I'm sure that are really really dumb questions but I'd rather look dumb now than be back here posting for advice in 2 weeks time.

Cheers

musey

Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!

I think it's a little bit clearer now.

My current pc has Windows XP as the operating system. I bought the Microsoft Office Professional disc last time I bought my pc so if it really has become clearer I should be right in thinking that I don't need to buy any microsoft software as I already own what I want........if that makes sense?

Will my microsoft professional run on windows vista? I presume it will.

amcluesent

Word, Excel etc. are part of Microsoft Office. The versions of Office are 2000, XP, 2003 and 2007; anything else isn't supported on Vista.

So long as your copy of office isn't "OEM" licensed, you can remove it from your existing PC and install on your new one. OEM licenses are just for the machine the software was supplied with - of course the install disks may not know that

joshm_2

If you wanted to hang on to your existing monitor etc and spend as little as possible it might be worth having a nose around some of the smaller companies for a low-med spec base unit. For instance, this company I found on Google does a base unit without Opertaing System for about £170. I can't vouch for them and am just using them as an example. Likewise, eBuyer has a few barebones base units that are shipped with Linux operating system (which works out cheaper since you're not paying for Windows).

http://www.cougar-extreme.co.uk/

motorguy

from that dmxdimension site there is a Dell Vostro 200 MT without the monitor with XP Home preinstalled for £153 delivered.

How do they even build them for that?