Help please with the choice of a new tower Pc less than £500-00?

Cisco001

Bonhomie said:

TUVOK said:

Bonhomie said:

TUVOK said:

Bonhomie said:

There are so many low cost options out there, that will more than suffice for you, that it's difficult to narrow them down.
Of course you can buy new and pay more to no avail. What's the spec of your current workstation?

Device name Hpz210i5-PC

Processor Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E31225 @ 3.10GHz   3.10 GHz

Installed RAM 4.00 GB

Device ID BC352DDE-F097-49C2-A2DD-4F3CBAEF47A9

Product ID 00330-80000-00000-AA311

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

Edition Windows 10 Pro

Version 22H2

Installed on ‎20/‎09/‎2020

OS build 19045.3208

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.19041.1000.0

That's what I can find for my PC.
Sorry if I seem unsure about PC specs but approaching 80 years old and never having any teaching about PC's, just picked things up over the last 20 years as I go along, but it's not the best way to be able to understand PC spec's.
Thank you for your help, and I'll try to compare the specs, researching as I go along what they all mean. 
 

Your current CPU is rated more powerful than the one in the £220 ACER

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Xeon+E3-1225+@+3.10GHz&id=1198

Does your PC have a solid state drive installed?

No need for you to do much research. Your needs are few. You didn't reply to Cisco001...would you consider a Used/Refurbished PC?

Secondly, why do you wish to upgrade? Is something lacking?

Although I am not gaming or any thing using vast memory etc, my Pc 'freezes' at times, this is despite pruning start up of any non needed programs. I do tend to 'hop around' sites first thing in the morning and it just cannot keep up with the change of sites, so not sure why this is.

Cisco001 has already outlined the cost of the upgrade at perhaps £22; though I would get a higher standard of component, pushing the total cost up to £32.
Don't ask the computer shop about the cost of the parts, as they will charge you considerably more than it costs for you to buy them for yourself. You should only ask them how much it will cost to fit the solid state drive(SSD) and Random Access Module(RAM) that you have already ordered. They don't need to know that you haven't ordered it yet.
Only the fitting and reinstalling of the operating system.  £30 or less would still be cost effective; taking the total cost up to perhaps £62.

If the device isn't already fitted with a solid state drive, frankly that is all that you are likely to need. A solid state drive will allow your current PC to keep up with modern websites. The old spinning magnetic disk drives can struggle at times.

Wasn't your current PC used when you purchased it? How much did you pay for that?

Otherwise the three year old £150 device suggested by Cisco001 should last/suffice or at least some other business standard PC, such as a DELL Optiplex. I'm not so excited by his selections from Costco/Argos/Currys His Refurbished/Used selections are usually far better value and of a decent standard.

Unfortunately, having someone to serve you in physical store would cost more...


Alternatively, OP could try CEX which he could take if back within 30 days if order online. CEX has 2 year warranty.
But it would not be as good value as that £150 I spotted from ebay.

Some pick from CEX
Fujitsu Esprimo D538/E85+/i7-8700/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W10/B £150
PC Specialist/i3-10105F/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/1650 4GB GDDR6/W11/B £175
Dell 7080/i5-10500/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W10/B £215
Dell Vostro3710/i5-12400/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W10/B £280

Bonhomie

Cisco001 said:

TUVOK said:

Cisco001 said:

Would you consider used?

Lenovo ThinkCentre M75q-1 Tiny Desktop PC AMD Ryzen 5 PRO 3400GE 8GB 256GB SSD £150

This should last you few years.

Not sure about buying used, had a bad experience some years back with a used tablet.
I could perhaps explain the problem to the computer shop I bought the Pc from and see what their price is for what ever new parts etc needed. Only fear is that there would still be a number of parts which would be 10+ years old!

ryzen 5 3400 Pro release back in Sept 2019.

I think he's referring to his current PC and the upgrading of it. 
As we know, the SSD can be repurposed in any new device.

TUVOK

Hello,
I've now decided that I am not going to add memory etc etc to my current Pc, I intend to look out in any forth coming sales, Black Friday, Xmas, New year for a new PC.
I have one query if any member could give me advice re how much memory my choice of Pc should have.
In previous posts a few members replied saying 8Gb would not be enough?
This is important to me as my current PC works ok but 'freezes' very often when asked to do more than one task, it's infuriating!
Problem again seems to be that 'mid range' new Pc's all seem to be 8Gb, am I correct in thinking that this would be enough due to the other parts of the Pc being up to date and thus *Gb is enough?
Thanks again for any/all replies.  

GDB2222

TUVOK said:

Hello,
I've now decided that I am not going to add memory etc etc to my current Pc, I intend to look out in any forth coming sales, Black Friday, Xmas, New year for a new PC.
I have one query if any member could give me advice re how much memory my choice of Pc should have.
In previous posts a few members replied saying 8Gb would not be enough?
This is important to me as my current PC works ok but 'freezes' very often when asked to do more than one task, it's infuriating!
Problem again seems to be that 'mid range' new Pc's all seem to be 8Gb, am I correct in thinking that this would be enough due to the other parts of the Pc being up to date and thus *Gb is enough?
Thanks again for any/all replies.  

If it is just for web browsing, 8GB is plenty.