New computer

[Poly Hive]

Our elderly tower is beginning to show it's age and as it is five years since I made the purchase my knowledge of what is a decent processor is very out of date.

Any thoughts as to what to look for in a middle of the road non gaming machine?

PH

 

[xgeordie]

Go to pcpro.co.uk and select "A list".

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Recently bought one of these for my aged uncle - touch screen and quite cute with decent speed - good choice IMO if staying on the PC/Microsoft route. No doubt the Mac and Linux acolytes will have their own thoughts

http://h40059.www4.hp.com/uk/homedesktops/product.php?id=LN538EA&experience=direct

 

[Poly Hive]

Looking for a tower, not a system. And yes it will have to be win 7.

I got utterly fed up with Linux after spending three months, and I kid you not, trying to persuade Linux to run my dongle on my lappy, for us utterly essential when away to take bookings. Total failure. So... installed vista, (shudder) and instant dongle success.

Until Linux gets that sort of stuff together it is doomed to be fringe for geeks.

So please thoughts on a tower or desk top unit only.

PH

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Then personally I'd still stay with HP for decent quality at a reasonable price. Dell are similar but their tech support is appalling. Cheaper brands are available but I don't trust their build quality.

You could do worse than wander into your local PC World or similar an have a play. Specify 64bit Windows, 4Gb RAM or more, at least 1TB disk, ideally an Intel i5 processor. Obviously the higher the spec the higher the cost and you dont say what your budget is. Don't forget to include the cost of a monitor if you need one of those - a decent one, eg Samsung should cost around £100.

 

[Poly Hive]

I only need a tower or desk top, I think I may have mentioned this already.

No way would I ever buy a Dell.... my last computer came off Ebay and was a very good buy.

Budget.. hmm preferably under £400.

PH

 

[Brosville]

What a shame it's a "no linux" thing (for the £85 cost of the execrable Windoze, you could buy umpteen dongles..........)
I've had completely the opposite experience - tried to revive 'er indoors laptop, and gave up in disgust at the total inability of the ruddy thing to "do wifi" under XP, so just overwrote it with "Mint" - if fired up, and immediately said "there are connections available" - one click I was online!
Personally, I'd prefer an AMD processor (every bit as good, but cheaper), bags of RAM, and would probably "build my own" - was amazed how easy it is, shovelled 'er indoors together a "Mini Atx" for under £150 early in the year - running "Mint" it's a little screamer!

 

[Jamieb]

I wouldn't go for an AMD, an Intel i3/5/7 whatever is far superior.

However if you just want a desktop for normal day-to-day stuff the best thing to do is pick you budget and buy whichever one you like from your preferred retailer, if your current computer is 5 years old anything available now will run significantly faster.

Out of curiosity what was the dongle you where trying to run on Linux?

 

[Poly Hive]

Sure. The Dongle is a Vodaphone Model K3570-Z

I spent more hours than I care to think about and I am talking a good fifty + trying all sorts of fixes and patches and goodness knows what all on it over the three months, went into two different Vodaphone shops and to be fair they tried their hardest too... complete waste of time and I need it.

We are on some 40+ web sites. We are in constant danger of double booking so when away we NEED to have a reliable net connection.

Ubuntu failed totally in this instance. I am not bothered how brill the over all linux scene is, when it counted for me it failed and that is useless when it is your livelihood and not merely a topic to discuss academically.

PH

 

[Jamieb]

hmm, its apparently included natively with Ubuntu 11.04 but its clear from your post that you had a few issues with it .
For what its worth I would stick with Windows if its the best suited to your needs.

 

[Poly Hive]

Apparently is the active word.

Windows it is in the mean time.

PH

 

[wightbees]

How about a Apple mac? there very good and hold there price well.

 

[Poly Hive]

Sighs..

I began with a comp in 1999 costing £1400 with a massive HD of 3gig. Win 95.

I stuck with windows for many years and got brave enough to dip a toe into Linux in 2004 I think it was... it didn't work really to my chagrin.

Why would I want to learn yet another OS? Mac is about as popular as Linux I believe.

I am eyeing up a machine on Ebay at £350 with 1000g HD, quad core processor at 3.5, and 4 gig ram. No OS but that suits me fine as I will put on my Win 7 and put my XP onto this current machine and let the guests use it.

PH

 

[VEG]

I started using 3.1 up to windows 7, then switched to a mac and will never go back. Everything just works no messing about.

 

[wightbees]

They look nice

And agree with above

 

[Onge]

Hi

You don't have to learn a new system with a mac. It just works.

Everything you do or plug in, works. No drivers needed etc.

You can just plug in a Mini Mac into your existing set up.

If you want win7 etc just reboot in windoze mode.

Good luck whatever you choose.

 

[RoofTops]

Look on the DABS website. They are part of BT and they have a range of PCs without monitors at prices under £300.00 such as the ACER Aspire X3950 at £270.00 incl VAT.

An alternative solution would be to build your own. They sell barebones PCs under £100.00 which need a CPU, memory, hard drive and OS added. If you go down this route buy the OEM versions of the OS, as they are much cheaper but are only available for system builders.

 

[drstitson]

welcome back

Donning my best rab hat - Rooftops - You're back from your 'read only' sabbatical, I see.


(ok i note you have posted a couple of times in last few months)

 

[drstitson]

Does no-one do poly computers yet????

 

[psafloyd]

You don't need to learn Apple, PH, it is very intuitive. It is what MS has ben trying to move towards in functionality, but simply hasn't managed it.

There will be PC naysayers out there, but if you like the way a PC works, then fine. I've used both over approaching three decades (actually across four, just) and always prefer a Mac.

Sighs..

I began with a comp in 1999 costing £1400 with a massive HD of 3gig. Win 95.

I stuck with windows for many years and got brave enough to dip a toe into Linux in 2004 I think it was... it didn't work really to my chagrin.

Why would I want to learn yet another OS? Mac is about as popular as Linux I believe.

I am eyeing up a machine on Ebay at £350 with 1000g HD, quad core processor at 3.5, and 4 gig ram. No OS but that suits me fine as I will put on my Win 7 and put my XP onto this current machine and let the guests use it.

PH