£2000 on a pc or a mac

[Race]

NSC Speak - extremely, EXTREMELY ugly female. Like the woman that NSC made win the Miss Scunny Bunny a few years back.

Imagine the ugliest woman you know, and put a beard on here. Thats a total munter.

get the picture.

miss scunny bunny? no I wont even ask that question!

 

[Ccider]

get the picture.

miss scunny bunny? no I wont even ask that question!

Scunny Bunny

 

[Cian]

Scunny Bunny

Not quite, she was more of a dog than a rabbit

 

[Ccider]

Not quite, she was more of a dog than a rabbit

 

[beorhthelm]

With 2K what's the best deal for me on a PC or a MAC.
Is it worth spending this type of cash?

Any advice.
LC

Being in IT support i get asked this sort of question alot. I always ask what do you want to use it for? someone who wants to play HL2 at 1600x1400 resultion needs something different to someone who wants to just write a few documents and surf the net.

£2000 get you alot of kit. I take from one of your responces that you looking to offest your tax bill with some kit for the "business", and your interested in Photo editing but not games, so...

Rather than spend the whole lot on the main computer, have you thought of what else you can get - theres no point spanking 2k on a kick arse box as you'll always over pay for the latest, fastest kit most of which you wont even use (performance wise), just to "save" giving money to the taxman,

Go for something around the 1k mark from a decent supplier, then splash out on a nice 17" XVGA TFT and then make up the 2k on a small laser printer (good HP ones for around £200 these days for a pretty good one). If Photo work is quite important then see what you can get in the colour Laser area. I believe you can also write off software, so maybe you should think about that too.

 

[perseus]

What do want to use it for?

If you want be a professional designer/desk top publisher get a Mac. For everything else get a PC. I do not know about video recording and music though.

Computers only last for about three years - they might go on longer, but this is borrowed time - so that works out at over a tenner a week.

I think Dell are a shade better than PC World. Top of the range are overpriced.

The trouble with Dell is there peripherals are not always the best.
Paying 2 grand for the whole kaboodle, printers, scanners rewriters, external hard disc (in a caddy), software, etc.

What is the best laser printer around now for cheapness to run, including the overall cost?

 

[Gwylan]

Computers only last for about three years - they might go on longer, but this is borrowed time - so that works out at over a tenner a week.

That's twaddle. I have a Dell notebook that's still going strong six years after I bought it. And a few years ago I gave away an old Compaq after eight years of service .... and its new owner is still using it. I've had my current Dell desktop for nearly five years now and it's still fine.

PC vendors like you to think that their machines only last three years, so you can buy new ones, but they will last longer.

In all the advice that you've heard, I'm surprised no-one mentions RAM - I'd advise you to get as much as possible as Windows eats memory.

Otherwise, I thought that beorhthelm had the best advice - get a good machine for around £1200 and get a decent printer.

 

[adrian29uk]

Do not get a New mac they are a complete pile of crap.

All Mac is these days is a super linux machine thats all. I would rather spend the money on a PC simply becuase you get more for your money. You can then turn the PC is to a kind of Mac if you wish by installing Linux or dual boot with Windows.

 

[Cian]

PC vendors like you to think that their machines only last three years, so you can buy new ones, but they will last longer.

A Mac will only last three years before becoming an underpowered dinasour though.

I'm typing this on a 5 year old laptop. Its a PIII and well capable of still being used, although thats because it was well expensive when new

Linux is not a good idea. For anyone, really. Too complex, vendor lockin, poor hardware support without relying on binary drivers.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

My advice? Spend the money on as decent a monitor as you can get. You should be able to get a very decent PC for £700.

 

[London Calling]

Go for something around the 1k mark from a decent supplier, then splash out on a nice 17" XVGA TFT and then make up the 2k on a small laser printer (good HP ones for around £200 these days for a pretty good one). If Photo work is quite important then see what you can get in the colour Laser area. I believe you can also write off software, so maybe you should think about that too.

Excuse my ignorance but XVGA is a Company?
Above info sounds exactly what I need.
I assume I could buy the the main computer from say DEll, and the rest from fit nicely together? Including the recommended key board from A4 TEch
Thanks to all contributors

 

[Cian]

No, XVGA is a screen resolution = 1280x1024 IIRC. eXtended/eXtreme Video Graphics Adapter is what it stood for back in 1990 or whenever the standard was formalised.

 

[Lammy]

I have a new computer on my desk that was the most basic thing we could buy. It superceeded the computer I got last year which was considered top spec.

The new machine cost £250.

The best bit of kit I have on my desk is my 19" flat screen Hansol monitor.

My advice is don't spend anymore than £500 on the PC and the rest (if you MUST spend it for tax reasons) on a kick arse monitor.

A good monitor today will still be a good monitor in 10 years time whereas you'll be using your pc to hold the door open.

 

[Cian]

A good monitor today will still be a good monitor in 10 years time whereas you'll be using your pc to hold the door open.

If you want that to hold true you NEED to get a monitor that uses DVI connectors, as VGA is on its way out. Even Apple have moved to DVI, and they held on to their own connector for years.

 

[beorhthelm]

Excuse my ignorance but XVGA is a Company?
Above info sounds exactly what I need.
I assume I could buy the the main computer from say DEll, and the rest from fit nicely together? Including the recommended key board from A4 TEch
Thanks to all contributors

I have no idea what XVGA stands for, other than it means my laptop goes to 1600x1400 pixel perfect and thats a tad under 15". Basically means you can hold a hugh desktop space without any bluring.

Dell is resonable though at around 1K there's going to be lots of competition and chioce. You might like to go down to PC world and see what they've got on end of line offer. People slate them, but at the end of the day they're just a retailer, go during the day and you'll find someone who has a clue and it isnt too busy. Just dont take the pitch for all the crap you dont need. ("this comes with 300kW bass tube!!!" )

If you cant get a XVGA LCD monitor with the machine, try to get one without any and go to Dabs for that and printers and anything else. They might not be the absolute cheapest, but they are on many things and its all in one place/website.

 

[Franks Wild Years]

Get a Mac G4 or G5 they piss on most PCs. In my experience all the mac media type applications work much smoother without glitches or crashes and you run less risk of virus's etc.
And software is available easily. If you go the mac route route pm me and I'll forward a very cheap mac software person ie £5 for most things !

 

[perseus]

That's twaddle. I have a Dell notebook that's still going strong six years after I bought it. And a few years ago I gave away an old Compaq after eight years of service .... and its new owner is still using it. I've had my current Dell desktop for nearly five years now and it's still fine.

PC vendors like you to think that their machines only last three years, so you can buy new ones, but they will last longer.

In all the advice that you've heard, I'm surprised no-one mentions RAM - I'd advise you to get as much as possible as Windows eats memory.

Otherwise, I thought that beorhthelm had the best advice - get a good machine for around £1200 and get a decent printer.

I said after three years on borrowed time.

If you have a business tax deduction, you will need the computer to be reliable. The point is that they really cease to be a reliable machine after three years. The odds of a breakdown increase to an unacceptable level. This is the business budget.

I don't throw the old machines away. I keep them in reserve (until they become valueless, and then give them away after six years.).

The only down on Dell is their peripherals are not the first choice and it would be good to buy everything from the same stockists and then replace it all after three years (if the budget allows). Dell do refuse to sell unreliable products though (they test their peripherals work with their computers). They tend to go for reliability (not always that good) over performance.

 

[Cian]

Get a Mac G4 or G5 they piss on most PCs. In my experience all the mac media type applications work much smoother without glitches or crashes and you run less risk of virus's etc.
And software is available easily. If you go the mac route route pm me and I'll forward a very cheap mac software person ie £5 for most things !

And 500 quid for Office

Whatever you do, do NOT under ANY circumstances get a G4. Only one of the currently shipping G4 machines, which is the Powerbook, will fully support MacOS 10.4 which is due out before the summer.

The G5 machines will not give you good performace for your money

The OS is significantly slower than Windows 2000, and is more of a RAM hog than Windows XP.

Their customer care is absymal.

 

[Cian]

Edit, Not quote....

 

[chip]

I use a Iiyama Vision master pro 514, 22" CRT in my office. At home I have a 19" AG noevo TFT which I much prefer although the resolution is not as high. Both around the £500 mark and both very good. Money on a decent monitor is seldom wasted.

I like the Shuttle systems. Small, quiet, attractive and fast.


You may want to spend some of the money on gadgets. E.g. a USB notebook disk is very helpful for backups and transfering data between systems.