Buying a new computer, advice needed!

robt_2

reedi wrote: »

Fair enough, still dont alter the fact that the majority flock to Dell just cause it's Dell. Like McDonalds, we all flock there for grub, but seem to forget Mrs Miggins Cafe next door that offers more for your money.

Who says you have to follow the herd?

I don't use Dell 'just because it is Dell'.

I use them because they are reliable, reputable, generally very good value for money, use standard parts and don't usually make ugly machines. I couldn't care less whether they are called 'Dell' or anything else as long as they have the product I want.

Not a very good analogy as McDonalds aren't normally value for money, and most people know that.

Shambler

No-one ever got fired for choosing dell.

That said I have always found them a bit pricey compared to other PC builders that also use quality components.

2GB of ram is plenty, so I would opt for the faster processor.

Also agree that a fast graphics card is only for 3D state of the art games.

I had novatech build me a base unit and I added a hard disk, dvd drive and graphics card myself, very happy with the result.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/

weegie.geek

karen1 wrote: »

The basic model comes with an Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2160 Processor (1.8GHz,800MHz,1MB cache)

A good low-end dualcore processor.

for an extra £50.00 I can upgrade to a Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E4500 Processor (2.20GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)

Seems like a big price hike. Don't they offer the e2220 or the like?

is it worth the extra or am I better to upgrade the memory, the basic comes with 2048MB but I can upgrade to 3072MB for £27.00 or even 4096MB for £90.00. If I went for the upgrades in memory would they work OK on a E2160 processor (sorry all these terms baffle me!!!)

4GB of ram can be had for £60. For them to change £90 to add 2GB to the existing 2GB is outrageous.

I love to work with photos so i've decided I really need to upgrade the basic graphics card, does anyone have any experience with ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro 256MB, for an extra £5.0 I can have an XT version, what's the difference?

The video card won't make any difference to what you want to do. Any card will handle the resolutions you'll be working at. Just make sure it's one of the cards with its own dedicated ram, and not a turbocache or similar, which will share your main memory. The more expensive card will help if you want to play games, but a gamer wouldn't really touch either of those cards, because they're pretty old and not too fast, even by mid-range standards.

Lastly, I currently run on Windows XP, I can have XP again for no extra cost but obviously the newest version is Vista, this machine comes with the business version. Which, in your opinion would I be better with?

If you go for 4GB of ram make sure you go for the 64-bit version of the OS. at 3GB or below it won't matter, but if you go for 4GB, you'll be able to use barely more than 3GB of it on a 32-bit OS.

reedi

Point missed....I'm mainly suggesting it doesn't hurt to try other places aswell as the major chains....shop around for the best deal...simple.