New computer help

IanC

IanC

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Ian
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I currently have an emachines desktop with 2.3 ghz single processor and 512mb of ram :lol:

so naturally im looking to upgrade.i need something with a decent amount of ram and a good processor. would like to spend no more than £400. i dont need a monitor just the base. I have had a long look at dell but i just want to know if there are any other options or advice people can give me?

thankyou for any help :):help:
 
have you thought about just upgrading the ram and processor ?
other opion use the base and get a decent mother board processor and ram poss fan and power supply unit set you back around £300 ish and you can build it toy your spec rather than a standard spec better to build then buy from a outlet

or for around the budget you can pick up a decent imac for £400 ish not the intel though even though i would recomend it
 
IanC said:
I currently have an emachines desktop with 2.3 ghz single processor and 512mb of ram :lol:

so naturally im looking to upgrade.i need something with a decent amount of ram and a good processor. would like to spend no more than £400. i dont need a monitor just the base. I have had a long look at dell but i just want to know if there are any other options or advice people can give me?

thankyou for any help :):help:
Click to expand...

Aldi had one last sunday for 399.99 a good make as well Medion I have one and can say they good and 36mth warrentee check out your local branch
 
wegotitugetit said:
have you thought about just upgrading the ram and processor ?
other opion use the base and get a decent mother board processor and ram poss fan and power supply unit set you back around £300 ish and you can build it toy your spec rather than a standard spec better to build then buy from a outlet

or for around the budget you can pick up a decent imac for £400 ish not the intel though even though i would recomend it
Click to expand...


i have thought about it but i would prefer to just buy something pre built then theres no hassle with me being a tool when it comes to building things lol.

intersting point about the mac, i like the layout and design of them but the lack of upgrades puts me of.
 
Chaz Photos said:
Aldi had one last sunday for 399.99 a good make as well Medion I have one and can say they good and 36mth warrentee check out your local branch
Click to expand...


that looks good for the money, anyone else got any suggestions/feedback on the medion?

:wave:
 
Had to get a Medion fron Aldis, replacement for dead machine, and it isn't too bad a computer. Mines was only the dual core version and i replaced the graphics card for a slightly better one and for what i need it works well. The quad core they have in at moment seems ok from what i saw on the box last time i was in, not sure on graphics card with it being ATI just due to lack of knowledge on them with being an NVIDIA user before.
 
SCM said:
Had to get a Medion fron Aldis, replacement for dead machine, and it isn't too bad a computer. Mines was only the dual core version and i replaced the graphics card for a slightly better one and for what i need it works well. The quad core they have in at moment seems ok from what i saw on the box last time i was in, not sure on graphics card with it being ATI just due to lack of knowledge on them with being an NVIDIA user before.
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What card did you put in I have teh core 2 as well also need to get some more ram as it only had 2gig in it adn now with 20meg files of my 50D needs a bit more to speed it up a little
 
There's a Medion in Tesco for £279
 
I bought one of the Medions at Aldi's too. Thought about a self build, or build to order, but I just couldn't be bothered. It seems fine - quiet and reasonably fast - but I can't comment on the video card. It does everything I want to do, but I've owned or played a computer game.

The package is slightly spoiled by the doors over the front bays, which are seriously tacky build quality, and use built in buttons to open. I'm sure these are going to break at some stage. The CD/DVD optical drive is pretty cheap too, but I suppose they're easy enough to replace.
 
IanC said:
i have thought about it but i would prefer to just buy something pre built then theres no hassle with me being a tool when it comes to building things lol.

intersting point about the mac, i like the layout and design of them but the lack of upgrades puts me of.
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do you play games if not upgrades are hardly done stick some good memort in them is the only real upgrade ever done

and as for a more powerfull mac just sell it they seem to hold alot more value infact they hardly ever go down not liek pc's do anway
 
I just stick to my xbox for games although i do like a bit of footy manager and the odd strategy game.

theres quite a few options out there but im just trying to get the best for my money :thumbs:
 
MartynK said:
I bought one of the Medions at Aldi's too. Thought about a self build, or build to order, but I just couldn't be bothered. It seems fine - quiet and reasonably fast - but I can't comment on the video card. It does everything I want to do, but I've owned or played a computer game.

The package is slightly spoiled by the doors over the front bays, which are seriously tacky build quality, and use built in buttons to open. I'm sure these are going to break at some stage. The CD/DVD optical drive is pretty cheap too, but I suppose they're easy enough to replace.
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all fine on mine had one for over 18 mths and not problems
what cheap about it mine is a LG one and same as teh sony one I put in with it
 
I recently built one from scratch & only cost me £280, that's with a 19" LCD Dell Monitor
160gb Hard drive, 4gb Ram, Intel dual core 2.4gb processor, New mobo too with 12 USB
connections, graphics card off ebay for about £24 Geforce 8500GT old but good enough for me at the moment...

I'm just saying basically you don't have to spend £400 to get a decent rig ;)

CR
 
Chaz Photos said:
all fine on mine had one for over 18 mths and not problems
what cheap about it mine is a LG one and same as teh sony one I put in with it
Click to expand...

OK, that's good to know. Mine is LG too. I mentioned it because I had two PCs in SA, and they both had LG optical drives, but they were far more solidly built. This one just seems flimsy. I remember when optical drives were expensive, and I suppose the manufacturers have just cut costs where they can.
 
Hi,

I'm researching a new PC at the moment and if you get the current issue of Computer Shopper it has a rundown/comparison on the various components that make up the machine, with best buys, etc.

Having said that I'm by no means an expert and others on here may have other opinions!
 
Chaz Photos said:
What card did you put in I have teh core 2 as well also need to get some more ram as it only had 2gig in it adn now with 20meg files of my 50D needs a bit more to speed it up a little
Click to expand...

I think it has now a ATI 4670 installed, not at home at moment so cant be 100% sure, which was the highest i could go with the power connections inside as Medion used the basic power supply for the computer so no connections for higher end graphics cards. That card was the highest i could go that didn't need the power connection and still drew it's power through the PCI-E slot.
 
Any other options to suggest peeps?

Thankyou for everyones help so far.
 
I always build my own. If you are going to buy a pre built one there are a few things to keep in mind.
1 If it is running Vista then although it says it runs on a minimum 512mb ram in reality you need at least 2 gig to get it to work at any speed.

2 Make sure you have a decent graphics card even if you don't play games. It helps when you have zoomed in on the photo.

3 Be carefull if you get the 64bit system as not all hardware & software are compatable.

4 Spend the money and get your system, monitor & printer(calibrated) set up .(there is nothing worse than getting the photo looking great on your monitor to find the colours look crap when printed out.

Other than that take a look at ebuyer. Radeon have shares in it as do some other pc companies so you can get some good deals on there. Just keep going back as they change every day. I know someone that got a £400 graphics card the week befor it hit the shops for £60 from Saphire so they could have a rating on it on release day. It is there coman practice, you just have to be quick as they go very quick.

Hope this helps
 
Yep i will be getting a pre built system, i dont doubt that building your own works out cheaper but i just want a pre built system for convenience really,
 
Is there a noticeable difference in performance between a dual core and a quad core proccesor?

i think i have settled on a Inspiron 545, has anyone got any feedback on Dell?
 
Check out novatech.co.uk - I build my own - but they do some great systems or barebones kits too.
 
just had a look at novatech but it looks like i get more for my money with a dell cheers for the link ***
 
Remember Quidco or Topcashback. I could put a referral link so I got a couple of quid if you're a new user, but I'm sure it's not allowed. ;)
 
anymore opinions on dell peeps? :thinking:
 
Dells are very easy to find online help and to get parts for. All our machines at work are dells, The only problems we have had is disk failure (can happen in any machine), PowerSupply failure and Some swollen capacitors on specific optiplex models and One monitor which packed in (I've been here 10 years). Other than that they are very good machines in my opinion. Customer support isn't really something I am too sure of, We generally haven't required it as they have been out of warranty before any failures and very simple to repair in most cases.

That said I actually have an Asus laptop :lol:
 
i have a local shop which i will check out :thumbs:

if i have no luck then i suppose i will have to pay my money and take my chance. :)
 
IanC said:
Is there a noticeable difference in performance between a dual core and a quad core proccesor?
Click to expand...

It depends on the software. If it's written to take advantage of multi-core processors then quad-core can have quite an impact. Lightroom flies on my current quad-core compared to the old dual-core.

IanC said:
i think i have settled on a Inspiron 545, has anyone got any feedback on Dell?
Click to expand...

Never any problems. Have bought from them a couple of times in the past, would buy from them again.
 
Oh yeah, regarding CPU capabilities this benchmarking site should give some idea of relativity.

It pays to read up on them a bit too as you can't legitimately base your decision entirely on number of cores and clock speed.
 
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