Custom building my new computer

[Jamez]

Just for a giggle, here are some stats on my current (aging) pc!

HD: 36GB

Memory: 128MB

Soundcard - onboard (shite)

17" CRT monitor

Windows XP Home

Photoshop opening time: 57 seconds

Dreamweaver opening time: 33 seconds

MSN Messenger 7.5 opening time: 40 seconds

Internet explorer "go" lag: 2-5 seconds

James' stress levels while using a very slow computer: High

[all new Phil]

All this about computers going out of date within a year... I bought mine in 2002, custom built, and it's still as good as, if not better then, most on the market today. Obviously I've added to it - my hard drive has been doubled to 120Gb and I've added more memory, but that just shows that it was future proof (and still is, there's plenty of room for more). It's fast as anything.

[Chris]

I think the major problem for you Jamez is the fact that you've only got a paltry 128Mb of RAM and are trying to run a bunch of applications which consume lots of RAM, and as a result, the computer is actively using the pagefile [in other words, your HD is acting as RAM, but because it's slower you'll experience slowdowns].

Get as much RAM as you can afford, and make it good branded stuff too. Not the generic brownbox affairs - you will experience problems later down the line or immediately thereafter.

Vista isn't due to be out for at least another year, so I wouldn't hold your breath. Personally I think Vista is crap - nothing more than some fancy visual effects and tweaks to the interface. Nothing that screams to me of BUY IT NOW!!!!

My self built affair is just over a year old and is still going strong, although I need to get more HD space and memory for it, as I am sometimes going over the 512Mb limit and eating into the page file (ick).

[Neil Jones]

Just for a giggle, here are some stats on my current (aging) pc!

For an instant speed increase that should last out the rest of this year if nothing else, buy some more memory. Buy a 512Mb stick (see crucial.com/uk for stuff that your computer will like).

It'll be more cost effective at the moment than shelling out on something it sounds as if you don't really need.

Hard Disk you can change later; they're painfully cheap. Monitor you can buy a new one later.

XP Home is a grey area; depending on the type of licence you may not be able to transfer it to a new computer. Legally, anyway. There are ways.

And yes, buy absolutely nothing from PC World ever. Unless you want to be ripped off.

[Nick Harvey]

Please bare in mind that I have a budget of £750!

Has your VAT registration gone through yet, Jamez?

It's WELL worth holding off buying any capital items like a computer until you're registered, so you can claim the VAT back.

Your £750 (net) budget becomes about £880 (including VAT) when you know you can claim back the £130, odd, VAT.

[Dr Lobster*]

Has your VAT registration gone through yet, Jamez?

It's WELL worth holding off buying any capital items like a computer until you're registered, so you can claim the VAT back.

Your £750 (net) budget becomes about £880 (including VAT) when you know you can claim back the £130, odd, VAT.

you don't need to be vat registered to claim vat back. you don't even have to be a limited company - a sole trader with minimal turnover can claim back vat. a good accountant will sort it all out for you.

[Salty]

and if you're going to be using it for your new venture james, don't get an onboard soundcard! its worth spending the money for the quality if you are serious about what you want to do.

i can really recommend getting a card from M-Audio:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/A ... -main.html

something like that would do the job well. just don't get anything by creation! there sound cards don't support ASIO, which means you'll often find delays.

[Nick Harvey]

you don't need to be vat registered to claim vat back. you don't even have to be a limited company - a sole trader with minimal turnover can claim back vat. a good accountant will sort it all out for you.

Surely you can't claim back VAT unless you get a VAT form; and you won't get a VAT form unless you're registered.

The only time I've ever been aware of you being able to claim back whilst not registered is in the twelve months after you DEregister, when you can still claim back VAT on professional fees for services provided whilst you WERE registered.

I could be a tad out-of-date, as I've been deregistered for about five years now.

And DON'T pay accountantant's fees for them to do it for you. Once you get into the swing (and the spreadsheet) it's not that difficult. I always did my own.

[Dr Lobster*]

you don't need to be vat registered to claim vat back. you don't even have to be a limited company - a sole trader with minimal turnover can claim back vat. a good accountant will sort it all out for you.

Surely you can't claim back VAT unless you get a VAT form; and you won't get a VAT form unless you're registered.

The only time I've ever been aware of you being able to claim back whilst not registered is in the twelve months after you DEregister, when you can still claim back VAT on professional fees for services provided whilst you WERE registered.

I could be a tad out-of-date, as I've been deregistered for about five years now.

And DON'T pay accountantant's fees for them to do it for you. Once you get into the swing (and the spreadsheet) it's not that difficult. I always did my own.

my mistake, you are correct - the reason for my confusion is that a friend of mine is self employed it skills trainer and he's not registered for vat - his accountant ensures he claws back vat on some of his purchases, however i believe the reason for that is because his line of work is exempt from vat. i'll speak to him next week to check that, because that's quite an interesting loophole.

[Nick Harvey]

his line of work is exempt from vat. i'll speak to him next week to check that, because that's quite an interesting loophole.

There are a number of nice "line of work exempt" loopholes, actually.

Audio recording equipment for the benefit of blind persons is a nice one.

Funnily enough, whenever our local hospital radio needed to buy a new tape machine, it was always for the studio where the talking newspaper was produced!

[Davidjb]

Western Digital HDD's are fantastic. I've always used them. Never had any probs. It is hard to tell the difference between onboard sound and a soundcard but having a soundcard will speed up your pc as its not having to process the sound on board as well. Like you say though make sure any new pc you buy now is ready for 64 bit.