Help Please - What specs for new PC

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alex S
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Alex S

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I'm sure most of you on here will be able to lend some advice. We're buying a PC, almost certainly from Dell, as to date we've only had a laptop.

I obviously want to use it for photo editing and storage and my boyfriend primarily for music and video.

We'd like some advice about selections with regard to monitor size, graphics card, memory, RAM and processor type. Budget wise we're looking at a max of £700.

Also, we have a wireless router and the laptop is wireless enabled. Will we be able to network the PC to the laptop and what 'parts' do we need to do this?
 
Hiya Alex...our paths cross again :)

A Dell is a good choice. A good reference site for their latest deals is here. Monitor size - bigger isn't always better - I've personally found Dell's 20" widescreens to be pretty good. For future-proofing, choose a machine with an upgradeable graphics option, but don't necessarily buy the card from Dell themselves. This (almost always) ensures that the motherboard in the PC you get has a PCI-E slot for upgrading as needed. Memory - 2 GB. Hard disk space - 250 GB as a absolute minimum, although consider setting aside some cash for an external drive for back-ups. Processor - Intel Core2 Duo, or a Quad if your o/h is editing video. Operating system - stick with XP if you can, as Vista is still in its infancy.

For your budget, start with one of the machines here.

Hope this helps,

Mark
 
Processor Intel Duo (as fast as you can afford)
Ram 2G min (more with Vista)
Graphics card for photos not particularly important, but if you are gaming then blow plenty of cash on this. PCI-E.
Hard drive get 2 if you can. 250G min spec for each.
As to hooking up to the router... best is a CAT5 cable as its shed loads faster than wireless. Otherwise a USB adapter is the simplest other option.. or an internal card.
 
He wants a PC not a trip to the Grocers :cuckoo:

:D
 
Thanks Mark & Paul (and Matt ;)) for your links and advice.

Does anyone now if a graphics card is important if your watching TV and DVDs on your PC? I'm imagining it probably is...
 
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