New computer advice?

A

abbiati

New Member
Hi guys,

I'm looking to spend around about £400 on a desktop computer (minus the monitor) and I came across this machine here;

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155472

I'm by no means a PC expert so I'd appreciate any feedback/thoughts, or if someone can recommend a different model which is better value for money.

Many thanks!
 
abbiati said:
Hi guys,

I'm looking to spend around about £400 on a desktop computer (minus the monitor) and I came across this machine here;

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155472

I'm by no means a PC expert so I'd appreciate any feedback/thoughts, or if someone can recommend a different model which is better value for money.

Many thanks!
Click to expand...

It's not a bad machine at all. What are you going to be using it for exactly?
 
Ooh good, a positive reply! Lol, thanks, that's encouraging.

My gf's very into digital photography so she's forever using Photoshop to manipulate pictures, many of them being several layers. Her current computer takes forever to process each layer, apparently...so basically, the new one would need to handle digital pictures far better, far quicker.

Other than that, it'd just be used for browsing the web, paying music, word processing etc.

Many thanks again for your reply!
 
abbiati said:
Ooh good, a positive reply! Lol, thanks, that's encouraging.

My gf's very into digital photography so she's forever using Photoshop to manipulate pictures, many of them being several layers. Her current computer takes forever to process each layer, apparently...so basically, the new one would need to handle digital pictures far better, far quicker.

Other than that, it'd just be used for browsing the web, paying music, word processing etc.

Many thanks again for your reply!
Click to expand...

Ah very good then! If it's going to be used just for everyday use and photo editing then you should be all set in my opinion. Depending on what your current computer is now, this one should be able to handle photoshop much much quicker with the dual core CPU and 4GBs of ram. Your gf probably won't know what to do with all that extra time lol.

I would say go for it, but only after we get some more replies, and therefore the Computer Forum seal of approval, from others. They may have some more input or something that could help you out further.

Oh and you're more than welcome! :)
 
it looks like a good system for the price.

The system that you are using now though, is that pre built too? and if so what is the operating system?
 
infact wait, scratch that, the system you have now, what is the OS on it? never mind about pre built or anything.

Because if you are happy with the OS you are on now you can find a system without one installed, save about £80 and install the operating system yourself with the product code you already have, why buy it again if you have already bought an operating system before?
 
Many thanks again guys! I really appreciate the feedback as everyone likes to think that they're getting good value for money :)

My gf's currently using a pre-built computer...off the top of my head it's a 1.8ghz Intel Celeron; 2GB RAM...hmmmm, not quite sure about the graphics card but the OS is XP.

I've heard that for digital photography, it's better to have more RAM than a better graphics card. Does anyone know if that's definitely the case? I just want this machine to be able to meet her needs so if I had to upgrade the graphics card, that'd be no problem. Not that I know too much about them :o

Many thanks again guys!
 
Aastii said:
infact wait, scratch that, the system you have now, what is the OS on it? never mind about pre built or anything.

Because if you are happy with the OS you are on now you can find a system without one installed, save about £80 and install the operating system yourself with the product code you already have, why buy it again if you have already bought an operating system before?
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I'm not too sure where I'd be able to find a model computer like that without an OS installed :confused:

I do actually have an Ultimate copy...thing of Vista which I won. For now though, it's just collecting dust in its sealed case.
 
well what you can do is this:

Buy a pre built system, less the OS, which saves you around £60-£100 depending on which you were going to get (the one on the sytem you found is £80) .

I have found this:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/extras.html?t=pc&c=home&r=ISX&s=PC-1237&v=1

With P&P it will be about £380 or so.

It has the same processor and RAM as the other but this has a much better graphics card than the other. It is also smaller and more compact.

Without an OS it is that price. Download a copy of XP 64bit, it MUST be x64 (64 bit) otherwise the 4 GB of RAM won;t work, only 3GB will. You can get one off a torrent or, i think, from the microsoft site. Torrents are usually illegal but as you have a legal key (which because it is a prebuilt system is usually on the case on a sticker somewhere) and intend to use it it is not. The keys work with 64 and 32 bit operating system of the version of windows you bought, so just burn the downloaded copy to a disk and then run it in the new sytem and follow the instructions, it is self explanitory and easy, the same as installing any piece of software through windows.

You will also notice that it does come with a monitor, which i know you don't want. What you can do though is sell the monitor on ebay saying it is brand new, never opened or used, pick up only for just under the price it would be new, that would go for the same price as an operating system if you would rather go to vista you could buy it with the money made with that.

If you don't like the operating system idea then stick with what you have found, it is about the best value you can get for that system
 
just read the last post you put because i was typeing when you put it, that version will be perfect to use, it has the instructions in there for how to install it, or should, if not i will happily compile a guide for you and send it you over here or over e-mail or something, just private message me if that is the case
 
abbiati said:
Hmmmm, I'm not too sure where I'd be able to find a model computer like that without an OS installed :confused:

I do actually have an Ultimate copy...thing of Vista which I won. For now though, it's just collecting dust in its sealed case.
Click to expand...

Whoa no way? How did you win it? I actually need the 64 bit version but I'm just waiting on Windows 7 to come out.

Also, for video/photo editing, it is much better to have more ram then a better video card. Granted, both components add much to the process, but more ram is better in the end.
 
You're a star! Many thanks for the advice and for the offer of help. Hopefully, I won't have to plague you...but it's reasurring to know that there'll be someone to ask when there's smoke billowing out of the computer :P

I'm just having a look at the Novatech one which you kindly found. It doesn't seem to mention the size of the monitor anywhere :confused: At least it gives me an alternative option to consider, so that's brilliant!

Good to have confirmation that RAM's more important but I might have a look at graphics cards anyway. Without troubling you guys much further, could you possibly recommend anything for around £50 or so?

Oh, and I won the copy of Vista after looking at one of those discount/bargain deal sites. They have a competition subforum and long story short, Microsoft were offering a free copy to anyone who could answer the questions on their site. You had to be at the Microsoft convention to get the answers...but someone went and kindly posted the answers on this deal site. Yay! This was about 18 months ago and I've still yet to unwrap the thing :P

Once again, many, many thanks guys for all your input! I now feel a lot more confident in what I'm (hopefully) buying!
 
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Hmmmm, I suppose I just don't want to get a better computer and then find out that the graphics card is a bit 60/40. Would it be worth spending £50 or so on getting a new one do you think, just to raise the general standard of the computer?
 
both systems posted are more than good enough for what you need it for, so i personally would just settle for it and pocket the extra
 
Aastii said:
both systems posted are more than good enough for what you need it for, so i personally would just settle for it and pocket the extra
Click to expand...

I would recommend the same advice. You don't really need a video card at this point and time, but I would recommend one for down the road. The ram is more important right now and shaves off tons of time when editing and surfing. The video will help, but nothing that you will notice right away. Good luck with your new computer!
 
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