Buying a PC

[russnet]

I'm tempted to a buy PC. A couple of main factors for me (being a tight wad) is to spend around £500 and to try and get a deal when you buy now and pay in 6/12 months time.

I saw an advert for a Dell PC today, Intel Pentinum 4 2.80Ghz, 512kb L2, 533MHZ FSB.

I tried to find on the net what is the norm these days for processors. I thought that they normally go over 3Ghz and 2.8Ghz seemed quite low. Although this is nearly ten times faster than my own PC

Other features with deal included Windows XP, 512MB DDR RAM, 80GB Hard Drive (seems low but I'm a guy who used just 5GB in 5 years!), 15" Flat Panel MOnitor, 48x CD-RW/DVD Combo Drive.

For £522 inc VAT and Delivery. To you guys who probably know better than me. Does this sound like a good deal? As I said, my main factors are price and the type of deal that draws me but lets me pay later.

Any help will be appreciated.

[Chris]

Those Buy Now Pay Later deals are OK if you can afford to pay later, but charge a high rate if you can't.

It sounds OK, but if you're on a budget I would ditch the TFT monitor and get a decent 17" CRT one - might take up a bit of desk space, but will offer a much better picture IMO compared to a TFT and also allow you to have much more "real estate" on your desktop (run at a higher resolution instead of rather cramped 1024x768). But avoid the curved screens though.

Also beware that some of the components used within a Dell system (namely the motherboard and power supply; not sure about anything else) are proprietary which means that if you try and swap them with standard ones the results maybe disastrous (ie. you could blow up your power supply/motherboard). So if any key components break down outside of warranty, then you could be potentially stuffed because of the fact that they can charge what the hell they like for replacement components because they are specially modified.

Other things to bear in mind with are that Dell PC's come preloaded with lots of crap such as AOL and Tiscali (*spits*) so the computer will already contain loads of guff shipped with it which maybe or may be good depending on your point of view. Personally I would opt for a fresh copy of XP to be installed rather than having all this guff installed with my system.

Dell PCs will probably come with some sort of bloody recovery system and not a proper XP disc, so if you have a mate that has a proper disc then copy it. In my experience, recovery systems have always been a pain in the arse more than anything else.

They have some new Dell systems at college which they bought over the summer - Dell Optiplex GX280 machines with flatscreen. They are pretty nippy but that's probably because they have used a common image and none of the junk Dell have with their systems.

[russnet]

Thanks for the info. It could have been worse. I could have opted for Tiny! I agree with you with pay later option. The APR tend to be high as you say. I would rather get a 3 year warranty than a pay a loan of for a PC!

You have a good point about the flat screens, I completely forgot about the resolution. I find 1024x768 too big although when I had a PC for the first about 6 years ago. I thought 800x600 was the right size for me!.

I have a 17" CRT monitor at the monitor which after 6 years, still works. Although would probably look out of place with a white monitor and a black tower box.

There was Tiny PC advertised a short while ago which had so much on board for its price and looked good despite all the negative feedback it gets outside and the fact you can't really upgrade those machines from what I've been told.

You see, I'm on a stumbling block. I want a good system (who doesn't) I think a 15" monitor will be too small, let alone the resolution issues. But knowing what way to go and where to go. I would love to have the money now and just build one from scratch but I need a PC as soon as I can and then save the money up throughout the year and pay it off.

The PC that I have now is so backwards that I might as well get my Amiga 1200 out again Oh, and as for these software installs with AOL etc. I wouldn't even let AOL near my system. Never understand why they bundle all this kit on in then first place. Why can't the user choose and go from there.

[Neil Jones]

I'm tempted to a buy PC. A couple of main factors for me (being a tight wad) is to spend around £500 and to try and get a deal when you buy now and pay in 6/12 months time.

I saw an advert for a Dell PC today, Intel Pentinum 4 2.80Ghz, 512kb L2, 533MHZ FSB.

I tried to find on the net what is the norm these days for processors. I thought that they normally go over 3Ghz and 2.8Ghz seemed quite low. Although this is nearly ten times faster than my own PC

So you have a, what, 300Mhz Pentium II or thereabouts? Exactly what do you want to do with your computer? If all you want to do is college/uni assignments and browse the internet, your existing system is more than adequate. You don't need a 3Ghz processor for that.

To be honest, 3Ghz processors are, at this time, overkill for most people, plus they cost the earth. The only applications that come anywhere near neading that sort of speed is the latest and greatest games such as Doom 3 and what not. Otherwise you're just wasting your money.

For £522 inc VAT and Delivery. To you guys who probably know better than me. Does this sound like a good deal? As I said, my main factors are price and the type of deal that draws me but lets me pay later.

That's too cheap for a buy now pay later thing - monthly payments over so many months? Typical example - Cash price of £691 including VAT & delivery, 10% deposit of £69.10, 48 Monthly payments of £17.57, Total amount payable is £912.46, APR of 18.9%. Notice how you pay a third as much again.

If you can get the money up front, you'd be better off going down the self build route.

[russnet]

So you have a, what, 300Mhz Pentium II or thereabouts? Exactly what do you want to do with your computer? If all you want to do is college/uni assignments and browse the internet, your existing system is more than adequate. You don't need a 3Ghz processor for that.

To be honest, 3Ghz processors are, at this time, overkill for most people, plus they cost the earth. The only applications that come anywhere near neading that sort of speed is the latest and greatest games such as Doom 3 and what not. Otherwise you're just wasting your money.

That's too cheap for a buy now pay later thing - monthly payments over so many months? Typical example - Cash price of £691 including VAT & delivery, 10% deposit of £69.10, 48 Monthly payments of £17.57, Total amount payable is £912.46, APR of 18.9%. Notice how you pay a third as much again.

If you can get the money up front, you'd be better off going down the self build route.

Yeah, I think my PC is PII 350mhz. Feel the speed! As for uses, half the time, it feels like a glorified internet machine since nasty spyware infected my PC. Although the PC screwed half my applications. My only way is to format the hard drive and start again. Apart from the net, basically I want to get back into music, get the website up and again, play some new games. Ultimately, it's nothing hardcore but it feels I'm lacking power.

As for the deal, I think you pay 10% up front and then 24 equal payments of sommat like £25-30ish. I would never get a PC on a loan. I would get the buy now/pay later option but I would pay the money back before the time was out otherwise I'm dong myself financial suicide.

Although the self built route is the way probably, it's just knowing which bits to get and then more importantly, some lucky person to help me install it. I don't fancy rendering something useless as soon as I try to put into the tower

[Neil Jones]

Yeah, I think my PC is PII 350mhz. Feel the speed! As for uses, half the time, it feels like a glorified internet machine since nasty spyware infected my PC. Although the PC screwed half my applications. My only way is to format the hard drive and start again. Apart from the net, basically I want to get back into music, get the website up and again, play some new games. Ultimately, it's nothing hardcore but it feels I'm lacking power.

What sort of games are you looking at? Most depend more on the graphics card than the core processor speed. If you have a shit graphics card and you want games, expect shit performance. Otherwise something very decent compared to that spec can be had very cheaply if you keep the existing monitor; this one I use now is six years old.

As for the deal, I think you pay 10% up front and then 24 equal payments of sommat like £25-30ish. I would never get a PC on a loan. I would get the buy now/pay later option but I would pay the money back before the time was out otherwise I'm dong myself financial suicide.

Still have to pay more than the original asking price I feel in the long run for something that'll only get cheaper as the months go by.

Although the self built route is the way probably, it's just knowing which bits to get and then more importantly, some lucky person to help me install it. I don't fancy rendering something useless as soon as I try to put into the tower

It's easy; most of the bits can only go in one socket and only one way round. The most difficult thing for a newbie is installing the heatsink for an AMD processor; everything else is easy compared to that.

Plus you can always ask on here

[Sput]

I've been watching the price gap narrowing between self-built and big company built machines for a couple of years now. Personally I'd recommend getting one from a big company like Dell. They certainly tend to look a little prettier than self-built, and the not ever so big price difference would probably cover nicely the hassle of building one if you're not familiar with it.

[Martin]

The most difficult thing for a newbie is installing the heatsink for an AMD processor

lol I can verify that really is a bugger to do!

I'd reccomend Dell, had mine a while now and I'm really happy with it, before that I bought on of these home-built ones off ebay and it didnt last.

[russnet]

Thanks for all the advice so far guys. It is all appreciated. I think my best option is to go for a better Dell Machine but without the monitor so I can use my existing one and go for a better resolution more inches TFT when the price goes down.

[Asa]

There was Tiny PC advertised a short while ago which had so much on board for its price and looked good despite all the negative feedback it gets outside and the fact you can't really upgrade those machines from what I've been told.

Hehe, I'd best cancel that £1000 Tiny PC I've just ordered then. The spec seemed to suggest lots of room for expansion though and it has everything and more of what I could want. I'm very much looking forward to recording programmes and playing them back at the click of a file or burn to DVD! Bye bye VCR...

[russnet]

I must admit when I see some of the Tiny deals around. I think they do look good value. It seems you get so much stuff for your money. But apparently they stick everything all together rather than as seperate parts in your PC so if one thing goes wrong, you need to replace the entire board. (Mind you, I'm a novice at this sort of thing so I could be wrong my the understanding I got)

Having said that, this very PC is a Tiny PC bought 5-6 years ago when my mate worked at Tiny which meant I got some money off and apart from infecting my PC I've never had any hardware problems with it and the fan (touch wood) is still going after all this time.