best cheapish desktop with UK support centre

Leo267

I did contribute to a thread in the wantit section but didn't get many replies so I'm hoping someone here can help. I'm looking to buy a new desktop PC. It needs to be good for browsing and having multiple widows/programs running simultaneously. I use CAD, MS Publisher / Excel/Word and Powerpoint a lot too. My teenagers occasionally play games but not too much!

I want a really reliable, easy to use machine.... I'm not a techie and so I would prefer a good support service based in the UK (I don't care a jot about their colour/race or religion but have spent too many hours spent trying to explain myself to an Asian operator who is being totally exploited and under so much pressure to meet their targets they will say anything just to get me off the line). My experiences with Dell and BTinternet support have to be seen to be believed!

Someone recommended Toshiba but i can't seem to find any desktop suppliers (loads of laptops though)!

Any suggestions gratefully received.

banger9365

how much do you want to spend min and max.intel or amd ??
like this http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=15409&category_id=429&manufacturer_id=0&tid=92.wkb7z.ufp

plus a monitor http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=14451&category_id=38&manufacturer_id=0&tid=hw173ab

support/warranty http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=5698&category_id=91&manufacturer_id=0&tid=sv.wpcaf.e02
it's an idea only

or somthing from pc world flea bags http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1963641021.1193187442@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccfdaddmgeehhfhcflgceggdhhmdgmi.0&page=Product&fm=null&sm=null&tm=null&sku=376561&category_oid=

or DELL http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/desktops_good?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l=en&s=dhs

Nenen

banger9365 wrote: »

how much do you want to spend min and max.intel or amd ??

emmm... no minimum and a maximum of about £700 I guess (I'm not really sure of price guide as my dh has offered to by me a new PC for my birthday next week as he's fed up of hearing me swear at this old Dell and threaten to throw it through the window)!!!! I would hope to get something decent for less than that but don't really know much about latest models/prices/specs etc.

I've no idea what intel/amd are really or which is better

Any clues on what the minimum spec i should be going for would be much appreciated as i have no idea! I do know that if i want remote access to work I need to stick with XP rather than Vista. My two sons both use XP on their machines and we all share a wireless internet connection. I rarely use remote access to work so it's not a big issue but would I be better off sticking with XP or having Vista?

Nenen

banger9365 wrote: »

or somthing from pc world flea bags

Why does everyone hate PCWorld so much? If you have problems do they offer telephone support and is it based in UK or abroad?

banger9365

for every day us it would go with dell (i am not a big fan off dell)there just seen better and like aldertross says get your support from here and it's probley better too

oldagetraveller

Depending on budget, look at https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk based wholly in Holmfirth Yorks.

Nenen

albertross wrote: »

What is wrong with your current Dell?

My current Dell is about 4 years old. It runs very slowly and often crashes when I have several programs running simultaneously or several different websites open. Despite paying 2 different people £60 each to come and service it for me (the first one was useless and it was even worse after he left) the second one reformatted the hard-drive (something I was way too nervous to do for myself) and I thought this would cure things but, although it is a bit better, it still isn't right. I really don't want to keep throwing money away on this machine, it seems more cost effective to just buy a new one!

I have a fast connection speed (100 Mbps) but webpages load very slowly.

I also now have problems sending or receiving email to/from my place of work. I can do both using my hotmail account but nothing comes through to Outlook. I've checked I hadn't inadvertently put work email address on my blacklist (I hadn't) and also added workplace email address to my whitelist but still nothing gets through from work to home or vice versa.

As you can probably teel I am not a techie and am getting increasingly confused and frustrated by all this! Goodness only knows what machine I should go for... I swear the salespeole see me coming a mile off and rub their hands in glee!

superscaper

Nenen wrote: »

I have a fast connection speed (100 Mbps) but webpages load very slowly.

I'll say that's fast , I think the very fastest you can get in this country is 24 Mbps by cable (my speed is 2 Mbps and that's the max. my tel. line can take). What you've quoted (I'd put money on it) is the connection speed to your router/modem not your internet connection speed. Something like www.speedtest.net would give you a good indicator of the speed you have in practice if you don't know what you're meant to have.

As for Outlook, that's not likely to be a pc problem and won't be solved with a new computer. It'll be down to your settings. What exactly do you mean by "receiving from work", do you mean downloading your work's emails at home or simply emails you're sending to yourself from work?

Seems like you may have a few different issues, some pc specific, some not so don't expect a new pc to solve everything. It would be worth trying to sort out the different problems on here first, at least then you'll know exactly what you'll be achieving by getting a new pc and what you require of a new pc to prevent such problems happening again.

As for the OP:
Lots of programs open leading to crashing could simply be a "not enough RAM/memory" problem. My home built pc would probably be laughable compared to your Dell. Slow processor, rubbish graphics card etc but I can have CAD programs, lots of browsers open etc because I upgraded it with 2 GiB of RAM, and was definitely a worthy investment and put off the need for upgrading for much longer.

Nenen

superscaper wrote: »

I'll say that's fast , I think the very fastest you can get in this country is 24 Mbps by cable (my speed is 2 Mbps and that's the max. my tel. line can take). What you've quoted (I'd put money on it) is the connection speed to your router/modem not your internet connection speed. Something like www.speedtest.net would give you a good indicator of the speed you have in practice if you don't know what you're meant to have.

Told you I'm not very good at this! I was looking at the little icon bottom right of screen saying 'local area connection speed'. I just checked on the speedtest site and it says "Speed your line supports:
Up to 6.5Mb" then the btinternet bit (which is what i use) says "up to 8MB" So, should I have fast loading on those figures please?

superscaper wrote: »

As for Outlook, that's not likely to be a pc problem and won't be solved with a new computer. It'll be down to your settings. What exactly do you mean by "receiving from work", do you mean downloading your work's emails at home or simply emails you're sending to yourself from work? .

I mean simply emails I'm sending myself from home to work and vice versa. They all sent and received fine until about 2 months ago (around 6 weeks after the hard drive reformat) and then I stopped getting any emails from work i sent myself to home (but could still send from home to work OK). Suddenly about 3 weeks ago the ones I sent from home to work didn't get through either.

superscaper wrote: »

Seems like you may have a few different issues, some pc specific, some not so don't expect a new pc to solve everything. It would be worth trying to sort out the different problems on here first, at least then you'll know exactly what you'll be achieving by getting a new pc and what you require of a new pc to prevent such problems happening again.

As for the OP:
Lots of programs open leading to crashing could simply be a "not enough RAM/memory" problem. My home built pc would probably be laughable compared to your Dell. Slow processor, rubbish graphics card etc but I can have CAD programs, lots of browsers open etc because I upgraded it with 2 GiB of RAM, and was definitely a worthy investment and put off the need for upgrading for much longer.

That sounds a good idea... wish the teo different 'experts' who came round could have suggested that! How do I find out what RAM I already have? Do you know roughly how much would it cost for me to upgrade to 2gigs plus the cost of someone fitting it because I have no idea what to do!

Nenen

albertross wrote: »

Does it have less than 512MB of ram? when you say crash, what happens on screen?

How do I find out current RAM?

On screen either:
1) everything freezes and I can only get out by doing CTRL/ALT/DEL and closing programs. Occasionally even this doesn't work and then I have to hold down the power button on the drive to get it to shutdown.
2) program windows start to sort of fragment, with one window staying on top of another in odd places, e.g. I can no longer see the tabs for IE and in their place is a bit of a Publisher doc or a white space.
3) I get an error message and, even if i click on ignore the whole IE just closes anyway.
4) It takes ages to switch between open programs or minimise/maximise them

Nenen

albertross wrote: »

right click on my computer, properties

Thank you

Computer:
Intel (R)
Pentium (R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz
2.59 GHz, 512 MB RAM