ot/ PC Help - new one needed?

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Hi.

I've had my current pc for 5 years now, and it's about to give up. These days, it either fails to boot, or works for about half an hour before 'blue-screening'.

So, I need a new one. Don't use it that much really, but would like it to be nice and quick when I do.

I tend to use the following at any one time - only rarely will I use more than one at once....

Excel
Word
Music Download
Football Manager 2009
Firefox
Photoshop
iTunes

I have a large amount of music and videos, but have these saved in an external 1TB hard-disk.

So - how much will it cost to get a new one?? I popped into PC World at lunchtime, and the sales-rep tried to sell me a £1k gaming machine, which looked far too intense for what I actually need.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Mellotron]

I reckon you could get one that would do the job required for you for around...£500-600?

Photoshop is probably the most heavy usage program on your list in terms of slow down to your PC.

www.novatech.com - these people are local, and brilliant. Fantastic customer service, good prices.

 

[sten_super]

Forgive me if I'm stating the obvious, but often consistent blue screening is due to the machine over heating. Have you looked inside the machine and/or attempted to clean out the fans?

Of course you may want to buy a new one anyway. My first piece of advice would be; don't go anywhere near PC World or any other high street store. Look online for what you want, and what is available for the money you want to spend.

 

[Mellotron]

My first piece of advice would be; don't go anywhere near PC World or any other high street store.

Agreed. Go to a reputable local store.

www.novatech.com

They've got a PC called the Ricochet on there for £493.35 which would be plenty powerful enough for you, and modern enough to last a good few years as well.

 

[wehatepalace]

Just bought one from dell (being delivered tomorrow) build to your own spec really, I bought one with large memory and a 2 core quad processor what ever that is. I also bought some extra speakers and the best bit is I got a BLUE front on the tower !
All for about £600

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Whatever you do, don't get Vista, wait a month or so for Windows 7.

500-600 quid is about the mark you should realistically look at spending.. anything less than that and you probably won't get the speed you'd like.

 

[wehatepalace]

Dell are offering free upgrade to Windows 7

 

[Yorkshire-Seagull]

Agreed. Go to a reputable local store.

www.novatech.com

They've got a PC called the Ricochet on there for £493.35 which would be plenty powerful enough for you, and modern enough to last a good few years as well.

Might be local to you - I live in bloody Leeds.

 

[Mellotron]

I'd still use 'em.

 

[beorhthelm]

well done resisting the salesman. you could buy a bargin basment 2 year old machine and see a mssive performance improvment. I wouldnt spend more than £500 and if your keeping the keyboard/mouse and monitor from the old one you shouldnt spend more than £400. Novatech should be good for a system box without those extras, think Dell might do so too. PC world isnt to be dismissed if you look at some fo their clearance deals.

note about old one, if worried about security, keep the old drive (plug it in to new box if comforatable) and bin/fleabay rest of it.

 

[bhaexpress]

If you feel you must buy a new PC by a Dell. They sell direct unlike most manufacturers so you don't pay the middle man. The fact that they are to most widely sold PCs throughout the world should be noted.

 

[TCox]

If all you want to do with the PC is browse the internet, use itunes, word and excel etc, you won't go wrong with this laptop:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173536

Its good enough for what you need and it will configure itself with a little input from yourself.

Please don't buy a Dell, or go into PC World again.

I have bought parts/pcs etc from ebuyer many times and have found them to be one of the cheaper online sites, top service too.

 

[bhaexpress]

Please don't buy a Dell, or go into PC World again.

Why ? Do you know something the rest of the world doesn't ? PC World are actually quite good these days and the fact that more Dells are sold than any other PC speaks for itself.

I've been doing this a long time and I have my opinions the same as anybody else but they are based on many years of experience. Buying on the Internet is fine if you really know what you're doing but if you're not so sure it makes far more sense to buy from a well established supplier.

 

[CheeseRolls]

These people are also worth a look - Arbico link below

Custom built Computers - Buy Cheap PCs, Intel i7 Core PCs, Overclocked Extreme Gaming PCs, Silent Computers and Gaming PCs for Home & Office in UK.

They tend to go a bit OTT with the gaming Specs, but also sell some good basic systems, where you can tailor the configuration to your own requirements. I had very good service from them when I bought a PC a couple of years back.

 

[TCox]

Why ? Do you know something the rest of the world doesn't ? PC World are actually quite good these days and the fact that more Dells are sold than any other PC speaks for itself.

I've been doing this a long time and I have my opinions the same as anybody else but they are based on many years of experience. Buying on the Internet is fine if you really know what you're doing but if you're not so sure it makes far more sense to buy from a well established supplier.

Yes I agree PC World is quite good, if you know what you want, but it clearly isn’t when a sales-rep tries to sell you something you don't need, i.e. a £1k gaming PC. This is not the first time I’ve heard of that kind of behaviour from PC World.

I have also been in the PC business for many years, over 20 in fact, so I know a thing or two about what makes a good choice and what doesn't, and PC world and its’ sales reps are definitely in the latter category.

As for Dell, their success is down to good marketing and prey on the target consumer's lack of knowledge. Their products are built with cheap components on a non standard chassis. This makes upgrading difficult and more expensive as you would have to buy their parts.

Many corporates buy Dell because they are cheap, which accounts for most of the numbers in units sold and not the home user. Out of 10 bought 3 are usually dead on arrival, and another 2 or 3 will have some component failure within the first year of use (in my experience).

 

[Gwylan]

As for Dell, their success is down to good marketing and prey on the target consumer's lack of knowledge. Their products are built with cheap components on a non standard chassis. This makes upgrading difficult and more expensive as you would have to buy their parts.

Many corporates buy Dell because they are cheap, which accounts for most of the numbers in units sold and not the home user. Out of 10 bought 3 are usually dead on arrival, and another 2 or 3 will have some component failure within the first year of use (in my experience).

I'm on my third Dell (the two I ditched both worked perfectly when I ditched them despite being more than five years old). I suggest that you have been very, very unlucky with them as not one of my three has gone wrong in 12 years of heavy use. I've also worked in corporates that have a policy on buying Dell and know none of the problems that you describe.

I'd recommend Dell every time. You can customise the the way you want and you're not ripped off. You can buy cheaper but you can be sure that Dell will deliver on time, to spec and be around for some time if anything goes wrong.

 

[TCox]

I'm on my third Dell (the two I ditched both worked perfectly when I ditched them despite being more than five years old). I suggest that you have been very, very unlucky with them as not one of my three has gone wrong in 12 years of heavy use. I've also worked in corporates that have a policy on buying Dell and know none of the problems that you describe.

I'd recommend Dell every time. You can customise the the way you want and you're not ripped off. You can buy cheaper but you can be sure that Dell will deliver on time, to spec and be around for some time if anything goes wrong.

I'm sorry mate I find that very hard to believe. You must be lucky.

 

[bhaexpress]

Yes I agree PC World is quite good, if you know what you want, but it clearly isn’t when a sales-rep tries to sell you something you don't need, i.e. a £1k gaming PC. This is not the first time I’ve heard of that kind of behaviour from PC World.

I have also been in the PC business for many years, over 20 in fact, so I know a thing or two about what makes a good choice and what doesn't, and PC world and its’ sales reps are definitely in the latter category.

As for Dell, their success is down to good marketing and prey on the target consumer's lack of knowledge. Their products are built with cheap components on a non standard chassis. This makes upgrading difficult and more expensive as you would have to buy their parts.

Many corporates buy Dell because they are cheap, which accounts for most of the numbers in units sold and not the home user. Out of 10 bought 3 are usually dead on arrival, and another 2 or 3 will have some component failure within the first year of use (in my experience).

Only 20 years ? Try nearly 37 if you want to take that line. There is nothing wrong with Dell PCs and they are a very sound bet for people who don't know much about computers, based on the fact that they produce very good value for money devices and they do not use sub standard hardware, far from it. I've no idea where you got that idea from but as I have already said, the fact that they are the biggest in their business says all you need to know. People would not buy from them in this day and age if they didn't provide a sound package. No matter how good you think some small manufacturer may be the wise money is on the established manufacturers as they have a reputation to maintain. Rarely do you meet a dissatisfied Dell, HP or IBM owner.

 

[sten_super]

I'm sorry mate I find that very hard to believe. You must be lucky.

My experience (well, in fact, my parents, as they're the ones that have bought Dells) matches Gwylans. They've had 3 Dell machines now, going back about 15 years, and have never had any problems. It's true that they use non-standard cases, to make modification more difficult, but if you're not going to do that there's no real problem with buying Dells.

I have much more of a problem with PC World. The salesmen in there rely upon a lack of knowledge and attempt to sell you all manner of things that you don't want or need. Our IT manager went into one recently feigning a lack of knowledge, to see what they offered him, and it was completely unsuitable for purpose. I would never even contemplating buying a PC in there; if you know what you want it's easier to do it online from other sources, and if you don't they will give you something completely unsuitable. No thanks.

I should add that all of this is from my experience as a consumer, albeit one with a fair bit of knowledge, rather than in any professional role.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm sorry mate I find that very hard to believe. .

I don't know who the hell you are but to come on this board and within six posts call someone a liar suggests that you have deep-seated problems

For your information, I'm a computer journalist who handles a variety of different machines. As I said, I've had no problems with Dell neither at work nor at home. And do you really think it's credible that corporates would buy heavily from a company if, as you claim, 50 or 60 percent of their products don't work or develop faults? There's no way that a company would get repeat business with that level of quality control.

I don't think Dell is perfect: their policy on Linux is crap and their customer support is terrible - I only had dealings with them once when I'd lost a laptop power cord but that was enough to realise why the company had such a poor reputation. But as i said, they make solid, reliable, well-priced machines so are well worth considering.