Noob advice wanted on desktop buy

[graeme01]

Advice wanted on desktop buy

Just after some advice on wether or not to buy this

I want to replace my dads computer for him as its getting out of date now.

I have seen this: http://www.ebuyer.com/251310-zoostorm-desktop-7873-1036

JUst wondering if its good value for money. He's not going to be using it for anything major just web browsing and file storage really. I think the processor he has atm is roughly 2.1 ghz so obviously this would be a big improvement but im just wondering if its a collaboration of cheap parts and is the cpu actually any good as the cache seems to be quite low but im not an expert. I will be using it for occasional solidworks but that will probally be the most labour nintensive task.
I know the lack of OS will bring the price down a lot but this isnt a problem i can get windows 7 sorted for it.

Any guidance is appreciated
Thanks

 

[johnb35]

Doesn't come with an operating system so you will need to purchase one. Its already outdated technology as its a slot 775 processor and board, does have ddr3 memory though. The big thing here is its a no name brand pc and that in itself is a deal killer. My advice would be to stay away from it.

 

[graeme01]

cheers for the reply

What would you recommend then?

Basically i have an acer aspire laptop with i5, 8gb ram decent spec. just bought a new acer 23 " led monitor as a dual screen. Im in uni and im doing mechanical engineering so i use solidowrks a lot and quite big computer programs such as labview and the like which take a fair bit if processing power. My laptop handles them fine but im fed up of taking it into uni and then bringing it back and hooking all the connections back up like speakers and vga cable and ethernet. I want a cheapish base unit that i can hook up to the monitor and so i dont need to use my laptop as my main computer back at my room. (possibly get a new 20" monitor so still have dual screen but the base unit needs to have a decent processor.

Thats why i was going for higher spec older stuff as i dont want to spend too much money on it.

Any recommendations????

 

[JulianJones]

The big thing here is its a no name brand pc and that in itself is a deal killer. My advice would be to stay away from it.

lol - branding really means nothing when it comes to PCs as the parts used inside regardless of brand are usually built in the same 3-4 factories in china and slapped with a shiny sticker that reads "Compaq" or "Dell".

Being a an ebuyer customer myself I bought 10 of those zoostorm PCs a couple years ago for the office as they were cheap and out of 10 - 9 are still working as we speak.

The thing to keep mind here is that the average PC regardless of brand has the potential to 'live' for about 4 years.

What you have to take into consideration here is what your dad is going to use the pc for - then budget for that. The socket 775 may not be the latest but it's still fine for a lot of things and is sold more than newer sockets - mainly because it's cheap and can perform well enough for everyday use.

If he's just going to browse the net, read e-mails and use MS Office applications then the ebuyer PC you looked at is fine - keep in mind you'll need to pick up a copy of windows or you could download a free copy of ubuntu os.

However if your dad is going to do much more than that let us know and we could point you in a few good directions in terms of spec and price.

I recently purchased a 'no brand' PC for my daughters - they found it and liked it simply because it's pink lol - it's been 3 months since then and it has been problem free: NZXT Phantom Pink

 

[JulianJones]

cheers for the reply

What would you recommend then?

Basically i have an acer aspire laptop with i5, 8gb ram decent spec. just bought a new acer 23 " led monitor as a dual screen. Im in uni and im doing mechanical engineering so i use solidowrks a lot and quite big computer programs such as labview and the like which take a fair bit if processing power. My laptop handles them fine but im fed up of taking it into uni and then bringing it back and hooking all the connections back up like speakers and vga cable and ethernet. I want a cheapish base unit that i can hook up to the monitor and so i dont need to use my laptop as my main computer back at my room. (possibly get a new 20" monitor so still have dual screen but the base unit needs to have a decent processor.

Thats why i was going for higher spec older stuff as i dont want to spend too much money on it.

Any recommendations????

You seem to have the right idea there. Laptops are great because their portable - however that's also one of their weaknesses - in that the more you carry it around the more risk you expose it to being accidentally damaged etc. I've always prefered to have a solid base unit.

I would suggest something like this for what your trying to do as you'll need something with a little kick: Passiona Series i3-CiT

 

[wolfeking]

And I have a compaq desktop that has lasted ~12 years (y2k compliance sticker lol), that don't mean it is a quality machine. What has busted on it, PSU, RAM, HDD, The HS's fan x3, and the USB 1.1 ports no longer work.

Just because you have a no name computer that lasted 10 years does not mean that it is quality merchandise. I bet if you varied far from stock you would pop the PSU, and take other components with it. Then you are out of a computer, as you will have voided your warranty.

Short story, Buy trusted brands. Not Acer (and subsidiarities), HP (and it's subsidiatities), or any other brand that is generally considered trash.
Dell, Asus, MSI, and several others are good brands to buy. Just dont count on Asus tech support.

 

[claptonman]

I recently purchased a 'no brand' PC for my daughters - they found it and liked it simply because it's pink lol - it's been 3 months since then and it has been problem free: NZXT Phantom Pink

And your argument falls apart here. It seems like its from a company like cyberPC that takes OEM parts, puts them together, and ships them off.

As for "no brand," NZXT is not the company that made this computer. NZXT makes some of the best cases out there that are extremely high quality. If NZXT were to manufactur computers like HP or Acer do, I would choose NZXT due to their great quality and my experience with them.

 

[graeme01]

thanks for all the information

Those two computers are good but the lads may laugh at the pink haha and the other is a tad expensive.

As for the operating system its not a problem as i have cheap access to windows 7.

Ideally im looking for just a base unit with no operating system, a decent propcessor and as for the rest of the components I'm not too bothered as i want to be able to upgrade it in the futre anyway

Any suggestions?

 

[spirit]

Highly recommended - http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/iflamepro.html - use these for business not had a single hitch and used loads of these machines. There's also loads of other cheaper machines you can choose from as well, but this one has a quad-core i5 and 4GB RAM.

You can see the other home PCs they have here http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/home/

I frequently buy hardware from Novatech and I've not had a problem at all with service or reliability, so that would be my recommendation.

 

[JulianJones]

Those Novatech PCs seem OK. I would say go for the zoostorm PC as you wont find cheaper for what they spec - especially if you already have a win7 license - you have nothing to lose. They're also easily upgraded - and - you already have a powerful laptop so it seems like the obvious choice.

Cheers,

-JJ