Buying A New Desktop Pc

[saintpeter48]

I'm looking to buy a desktop PC and need a bit of help as i'm not that technically up to speed!!
Can anyone advise me on what to look for, make, model, good deals, how much memory and hard drive etc. I'll still be using a laptop as well so its not going to be the sole outlet to the world wide web lol.
Any help much appreciated, thanks.

[SlackAlice]

Give us an idea what you intend to do with the desktop pc. Different needs are likely to need different minimum specifications.

[saintpeter48]

I compile quizzes so will be mainly using it to write, store and print quizzes, not too much internet use as i have a laptop.

[Buenchico]

>>>Can anyone advise me on what to look for

Er, no, sorry we can't!

That's not because we're being deliberately unhelpful but because you've not told us what you want to use the PC for!

If it's for top-of-the-range gaming you'll just about everything to be as good as possible. (e.g. a really fast processor, with loads of memory, an excellent video card and an equally good sound card).

If it's for professional video-processing you'll need much the same again (but with the emphasis being on a really good video card and a massive hard drive).

However if it's just for web-browsing, streaming videos, word-processing and playing chess on, just about any reasonably modern computer will do! Indeed, if those are the only type of requirements, I can easily recommend an excellent computer (from a firm I know to be outstanding):
http://www.accomputerwarehouse.com/product-info/budget-build-amd-2-8ghz-processor-2gb-ram-500gb-hdd-windows-7

[Buenchico]

Your second post wasn't there when I started typing. I stand by my recommendation above!

[saintpeter48]

thanks Buenchico, just had a look and i think its just what i need, will they install microsoft office or word starter do you think?

[SlackAlice]

^^^
Looks good to me as well ☺☺☺

[Buenchico]

They could probably install Microsoft Office or Word but why bother? There are other (equally good) office suites which you can download for free. I use OpenOffice:
https://www.openoffice.org/

LibreOffice is also excellent
http://www.libreoffice.org/
and Kingsoft Office Free Edition is gaining quite a following:
http://www.kingsoftstore.co.uk/

They're all completely free and compatible with Microsoft Office.

[VHG]

Personally I think that budget PC is just too "budget".

It has a very slow low end CPU, and lacks a few other features that may be useful in the future.

I would spend a bit more and get something with a little bit more power.

I know you don't need a lot of power, but that PC is like buying a milk float when you need a car.

[VHG]

Here is what one review said of the AMD Sempron CPU in this PC

These spectacularly poor results were followed by three of the slowest results we’ve ever seen in our Media Benchmark suite. The Sempron’s overall score of 601 points was lower than everything else on test and highlights the false economy of buying such a cheap processor; the £60 Pentium G840 scored twice as much and was significantly faster in everyday tasks.

The Sempron 145 didn’t even compensate for its appalling performance with its power efficiency.

Our time with the Sempron 145 was infuriating and demoralising. Unless you’re some kind of CPU masochist, we’d suggest buying a CPU that can keep up with today’s multithreaded applications.

[saintpeter48]

VHG, is there anything you can recommend?

[VHG]

Before listing a few PC suggestions let me give a few things to look for so you can hunt round to make your own decision.

1) Intel CPUs tend to be better than AMD CPUs (though AMD CPUs are cheaper).

Intel Celeron are their cheap low end brand

Intel Pentium are the next up and decent "middle of the road" CPUs.

Intel "Core" CPUs are the best, with 3 types available i3, i5 and i7. Of these the i3 are the starting point, then i5 next, then i7 the top of the range.

For your needs then an Intel Pentium or Intel Core i3 should be good enough.

For Windows 7 and Windows 8 then 4Gb of memory is enough. If you can get more then fine, but you probably wont use anything above 4Gb.

Hard disks are very cheap so 500Gb should be your minimum but if you can get 1Tb (1000Gb) so much the better.

I prefer Windows 7 over Windows 8 but it is up to you. Windows 7 works more like most other Windows versions, Windows 8 is a new departure and is probably only good if you use a touch screen.

For USB connections USB3 has replaced USB2 and is much faster so look for USB3 (the budget PC listed above only had USB2).

For connecting your screen then most budget PCs only have a "VGA" connection (the budget PC above only had VGA).

But better connections are DVI and HDMI. Of course HDMI is the connection we use to connect our modern TVs, and many modern computer monitors now come with a HDMI connection so try to get a PC with DVI and HDMI graphics connections.

As the internet gets more and more complex, with much more use of video, watching TV online, and so on then our computers need to get more and more powerful to cope with all this extra work placed on them, so try to buy a PC that is more powerful than you need NOW and then it will serve you well for the next 5 year or more.

[VHG]

Here is a reasonable PC from ebuyer (not ebay).

http://www.ebuyer.com/570061-zoostorm-haswell-desktop-pc-7873-0491

It has a Intel Pentium CPU, 4Gb RAM, 500Gb hard disk, and Windows 7.

It is the same price as the budget PC listed above but has a better CPU

Note I have not bought one of these zoostorm PCs but they are sold on many web sites like Amazon etc.

[VHG]

This is a better PC, but you are now up to £349.

http://www.ebuyer.com/570062-zoostorm-haswell-desktop-pc-7873-0492

But it has an Intel i3 CPU and 8Gb of memory and a 1Tb hard drive.

Maybe a bit over-spec for what you want but it will last for years as there is plenty of power in it.

[VHG]

Here is one from CCL, the Alpha Supreme.

If you select Windows 7 Home premium it comes to £312

http://www.cclonline.com/product/26180/CCL0002/All-CCL-Desktops/CCL-Alpha-Supreme-PC-System/CCL0002/

This has a Intel Pentium CPU, 4Gb of memory, 500Gb hard drive, plus USB3 and HDMI.

[saintpeter48]

Thankyou very much VHG, I am going for the £349, Intel i3 CPU and 8Gb of memory and a 1Tb hard drive. Once again thanks very much. :)

[galeck1947]

If you want to purchase a Windows 7 desktop PC then head to the HP website and you can buy one from there which will suit all of your needs and is at a reasonable price. There are some deals where you can just buy the tower