[peterg1965]

I am looking for a new desktop PC for my son, to replace an old Celeron 2.5 GHz desktop which is painfully slow despite 1Gb RAM. I don't want to be suckered into buying from PC World, Currys etc, for obvious reasons. So I have found this system which seems to fit the bill in terms of future proofing and performance, how does it look for price and spec, is there anything missing? It doesnt say what the keyboard/mouse is but I would assume wireless. He doesnt do a lot of gaming, mostly word processing/powerpoint/internet, it may be over the top for that but the 22" LCD is an attraction. The spec is:

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz 1333FSB Socket 775 4MB Cache Processor
4GB 800MHz DDR2 Ultrafast Kingston RAM
500GB SATA II Hitachi Desk Star Hard Drive 16MB Cache
nVidia 7300GT 512MB PCI-E Graphics Card
Designer ATX Gaming Case with multiple cooling fans
LG Dual 18x DVD/RW DL RAM Dual Layer ReWriter
500W ATX Switching Power Supply
6 USB2 ports (2 front, 4 back)
22 inch LCD Multimedia Monitor
Black PS2 Keyboard and Mouse
Multimedia 2.1 Channel Speaker Set
Genuine Windows 64 bit Vista Premium
1 year return to base warranty

Software Bundle

Microsoft Office 2007 Professional (fully functional 60 day trial)
Windows Vista Home Premium Recovery Disk and Documentation
Nero 7 Essentials
Power DVD
Power Producer
Acrobat Reader 7
Norton Anti Virus (60 day trial)

Monitor Features

LCD Display 22inch Wide Aspect TFT active matrix panel
Display Size 473.76(H) x 296.16(V) mm
Pixel Pitch 0.282(H) x 0.282(V) mm
Resolution Maximum WSXGA+ (1680 x 1050) @60Hz
Max. Display Color 16.7M colors
Brightness 300 cd/m2 (typ.)
Contrast Ratio 1,000：1 (typ.)
Viewing Angle Horizontal 160o (typ.)
(CR≧10) Vertical 160o (typ.)
Response Time (Tr+Tf) 5 ms (typ.)
Signal Input D-sub, DVI-D / HDCP
Input Frequency Range Horizontal 30 to 82KHz
Vertical 56 to 76Hz
LED Indicator Active: Green / Power saving: Orange
Plug Play VESA DDC/CI compliance
Speakers 1W x 2

£818 with delivery

http://www.computersupermarket.com/P...ls.php/243/725

Any thoughts/comments or alternate suggestions appreciated, I know there are a few geeks out there!

[vivekk]

Pete, does it have Firewire 400/800 ?

Gives you the option of connecting DV cameras & FW external drives for video editing, if needed.

Good spec, all the same, if a little 'overkill' !

All the best.

Viv

[Z4 Beemer]

Pete, does look very good spec and I personally wouldn't have a problem paying that price for what you are getting. Two things to consider:

1. It mentions 'mutiple cooling fans' - does this mean that it will be quite a noisy machine? This would be a slight negative for me as I tend to like a quiet environement. I'm sure Viv will agree that Mac's tend to be whisper quiet - sometimes you hardly hear the fans at all!! Just something to bear in mind.

2. Have you any knowledge of this company at all? It all looks very reasonable but a recommendation is always a good thing.

Lastly, from my own experiences, I would probably opt for a wireless keyboard and mouse (less cables to get tangled etc).

Finally it doesn't mention if it has a network adapter (do you need wireless?)... presumably it comes with a Gb card as standard?

[Serjames]

Yeah keyboard and mouse both say PS2 which is odd, most are usb now if not wireless altorgether.

Monitors are a sore point for me.

I run a samsung syncmaster 204b which is a "square" 20inches - runs at a pin sharp 1600x1200

the one they have suggested sounds like a widescreen, bit subjective this, but this may not be ideal for what he does. They tend to look good on paper because of the "inches = big" aspect, but they sacrifice resolution vertically. to account for a WIDER count of pixels.

Pain in the proverbial if you are working on word, powerpoint etc.

might be better to get a normal 19 inch. Try and get at least 1280x1024 pixels. Otherwise all sounds pretty good -

SJ

[silverbmwz3]

The price looks good, but it is too good to be true? I've never heard of them.
I also think the spec is probably a bit OTT for your son's usage. I just spec'd a Dell Inspiron 530s with 22" wide screen, 2GB RAM (more than enough) and 320GB hard disk, but a 2Ghz Core Duo (more than enough I'd say) for £558.

I'd trust dell more than those guys. The Dell spec is lower, but it is also less money and can be customised. I buy them for work and have recommended them to approx 10 colleagues/family in recent years who have all bought from them and had not one issue.

Edit> Quick google search, you may want to read this re: computersupermarket:

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk...arket-com.html

to be fair though a director of the company does come along later to comment!

[Z4 Beemer]

Originally Posted by silverbmwz3

I'd trust dell more than those guys. The Dell spec is lower, but it is also less money and can be customised. I buy them for work and have recommended them to approx 10 colleagues/family in recent years who have all bought from them and had not one issue.

You can't really go wrong with Dell - they are our main approved supplier for PCs and laptops @ work also. From the point of view of buying for home, I would look out for special offers from Dell (typically in newspapers ads), where they offer things like 'double the memory' for no extra cost. These are usually time limited so you do need to make up your mind quite quickly.

[M3-FAST]

Originally Posted by peterg1965

Any thoughts/comments or alternate suggestions appreciated, I know there are a few geeks out there!

fantastic spec - as the others say beware of widescreens - pixel count can be strange and also wireless k'board and mices are a lor more cable friendly!!

I always use a company called ebuyer and have had some crackin pc's off them for work at top prices - you may have to buy the screen and mouse/keyoard seperately but I sometimes quite like this 'cos you can buy a setup thats fit for purpose.

www.ebuyer.com

ps: I am not affiliated with em in any way!! just had good experience with them - prob had about 6-8 machines over last 3 years

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer

You can't really go wrong with Dell - they are our main approved supplier for PCs and laptops @ work also. From the point of view of buying for home, I would look out for special offers from Dell (typically in newspapers ads), where they offer things like 'double the memory' for no extra cost. These are usually time limited so you do need to make up your mind quite quickly.

I agree.

I've bought Dell PCs in the past, without any problem whatsoever.

However, I've been building my own PCs for the last 10 years, when I'm not buying one of Apple's new works of art!

Reminds me- I'll have to sort out a new 24" iMac when I get back from holiday.

All the best.

Viv

[- Paul -]

Originally Posted by redE93cab

fantastic spec - as the others say beware of widescreens - pixel count can be strange and also wireless k'board and mices are a lor more cable friendly!!

I always use a company called ebuyer and have had some crackin pc's off them for work at top prices - you may have to buy the screen and mouse/keyoard seperately but I sometimes quite like this 'cos you can buy a setup thats fit for purpose.

www.ebuyer.com

ps: I am not affiliated with em in any way!! just had good experience with them - prob had about 6-8 machines over last 3 years

Another nod for ebuyer - I've used them for many years, great prices.

[peterg1965]

Thanks for all your comments, I have not heard of that particular internet computer supplier either, but the price/spec looks good. I will have a look at dell and ebuyer and see what they offer. What about Mesh? I have seen this package for the same price (about £820) and it has a 'Quad core 2 duo processor? I have heard of Mesh before and it has a PC Pro recommendation. Only difference is that the Graphics card is 256Mb as opposed to 512Mb.
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default...51&APPS=234455

Full Specification


Intel® Core™ 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium Edition
Midi-Tower ATX Case +550W PSU -Black/Silver
PCI-Express Mainboard - SLI nForce 650i SLI(C55) - Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad-Core - ATX
4GB DDR2 667MHz Memory ( 4 x 1GB Samsung)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
LightScribe Super Format 18x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
256MB nVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT - DVI, HDTV, TV-Out
22" Widescreen LCD TFT Digital Display with internal speakers (DVI, 5ms)
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card - 6 Channel Cinema sound
Logitech Cordless Keyboard & Cordless Optical Mouse
Free Microsoft® Works® 8.5 + 60 Days Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
1x IEEE1394 Firewire (onboard)
1x Gigabit LAN (onboard)
Multi-format Memory Card Reader
Silver - 1 Year On Site Service - UK Mainland Only (Home Service)

[dazzapb]

how about this one pete? http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/12048...storm-pro.html

or is this the MESH one you were considering? although i build my own, got one for my mum and its great!

good for gaming too

[silverbmwz3]

Originally Posted by vivekk

I agree.

I've bought Dell PCs in the past, without any problem whatsoever.

However, I've been building my own PCs for the last 10 years, when I'm not buying one of Apple's new works of art!

Reminds me- I'll have to sort out a new 24" iMac when I get back from holiday.

All the best.

Viv

Viv, I'm quite tempted by the 24" iMac but can I switch from being a PC fanboy?

[silverbmwz3]

Peter> The Mesh looks good however I'd still say it seems similar spec so it appears you are trying to find a computer to fit a price rather than buying a computer to fit needs. Is that fair comment?

I've actually got a Mesh after all my shouting about Dell. It's been fine. The reason is simple - they had the best spec for the price (bang/buck) when I bought. Lots of bad feedback on Mesh customer service in the past at pcadvisor.co.uk however apparently they've turned a bit of a corner on that. 9 times out of 10 you'd get a good one anyway but some horror stories from when people didn't.

I still think you could get the PC you need from Dell for about 650 quid.

[Z4 Beemer]

Originally Posted by silverbmwz3

Viv, I'm quite tempted by the 24" iMac but can I switch from being a PC fanboy?

I wouldn't say I switched, but I recently bought a MacBook Pro which is based in my Study (connected to external 22" widescreen monitor) with bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

I still use Vista on my Vaio laptop (at the moment, actually typing this message in the kitchen!!!)

Macs are fabulous machines - would definitely recommend one - they are very robust and you can really tell that Apple in their design thought about the end user.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by silverbmwz3

Viv, I'm quite tempted by the 24" iMac but can I switch from being a PC fanboy?

Matey, buy the IMac, and run OSX AND Vista on it!! Because the new iMacs are Intel powered, they can run Vista on them no problem. And you don't run Vista within the Mac environment - you actually have two physical operating systems installed on the same hard drive, and switch between the two systems when you boot up.

You need a download software called Apple Bootcamp. The way it works is this - it effectively partitions the hard drive into two. OSX is on the first partition, Vista or XP is on the second. When you bootup, you can choose which operating system to load. Because the two operating systems have different file structures (OSX format / NTFS for Vista) you can not access files or software installed on the other operating system (if you see what I mean). Ie.. if you have a Word document that you created in Vista, you can't then open that in Word on the Mac OSX side.

Effectively, you have both a Mac and a PC in one machine!!

Having said all that about sharing files, there is a great workaround. Get an external USB or Firewire hard drive - as long as that is formatted in Fat32 file structure and not NTFS, BOTH Vista and OSX can read files off it. So you can do what I do and store all your data, documents, music, videos, pictures etc on the external drive, and access the files from whatever program you're running in either OSX or Vista. Good huh?!


In my application, I use the Mac side of things to do audio editing, photoshopping and anything else to do with audio/visual media. I use the Vista side of things for word processing, excel, and gaming!

One machine, two computers.




Hope some of that makes sense!!

[Z4 Beemer]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Matey, buy the IMac, and run OSX AND Vista on it!!

I actually have not got round to looking at Bootcamp yet... I didn't want to poison the Mac with Vista when it runs OS X and everything I need well.

I think another alternative is Parallels, where you can actually switch OS (Vista to Mac) by a few key strokes - and they both 'run' simultaneously.

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer

I actually have not got round to looking at Bootcamp yet... I didn't want to poison the Mac with Vista when it runs OS X and everything I need well.

I think another alternative is Parallels, where you can actually switch OS (Vista to Mac) by a few key strokes - and they both 'run' simultaneously.

Oooh don't use parallels. It runs Vista within the native Mac environment, and is painfully slow. Also crashes lots!! Bootcamp is a much better option - it physically separates the two operating systems, so even if Vista does play up and crash, it never ever affects the Mac side of things.

I promise you, it really is foolproof!

[Z4 Beemer]

Cheers for info E92 - I'll need to give Bootcamp a try at some point, but I do love the OS X environment (in fact can't wait till Leopard comes out next month, tho suspect it could be a wee bit buggy initially). Apple really have the user interface nailed, you have to admit.

Gordon.

[vivekk]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Matey, buy the IMac, and run OSX AND Vista on it!! Because the new iMacs are Intel powered, they can run Vista on them no problem. And you don't run Vista within the Mac environment - you actually have two physical operating systems installed on the same hard drive, and switch between the two systems when you boot up.

You need a download software called Apple Bootcamp. The way it works is this - it effectively partitions the hard drive into two. OSX is on the first partition, Vista or XP is on the second. When you bootup, you can choose which operating system to load. Because the two operating systems have different file structures (OSX format / NTFS for Vista) you can not access files or software installed on the other operating system (if you see what I mean). Ie.. if you have a Word document that you created in Vista, you can't then open that in Word on the Mac OSX side.

Effectively, you have both a Mac and a PC in one machine!!

Having said all that about sharing files, there is a great workaround. Get an external USB or Firewire hard drive - as long as that is formatted in Fat32 file structure and not NTFS, BOTH Vista and OSX can read files off it. So you can do what I do and store all your data, documents, music, videos, pictures etc on the external drive, and access the files from whatever program you're running in either OSX or Vista. Good huh?!


In my application, I use the Mac side of things to do audio editing, photoshopping and anything else to do with audio/visual media. I use the Vista side of things for word processing, excel, and gaming!

One machine, two computers.




Hope some of that makes sense!!

Paul, I was a 'mere' PC boy, until I bought the Macbook, last year.

I've always used PCs & having got used to them, I thought the Mac would be just too 'different', but I'm glad to say it really doesn't matter.

The Macs really are 'personal' computers- you can put you 'life' on them & it treats that with the care & compassion that you would!

If you've got a separate PC & a Mac, you can share files across a network without any problem. I now tend to edit graphics, audio & video on the Mac & get the PC to do the mundane 'slave' tasks of compression, storage & uploading!

They never fight with each other, mainly because they both know who's Boss!

I'll probably get the iMac 24" once the new OS X Leopard has been released, mainly because I'm in no particular rush, just yet.

I'll keep the PC & I'll probably still keep using it, but the iMac will be my new 'plaything'!

All the best.

Viv

[E92Fan]

Originally Posted by Z4 Beemer

Cheers for info E92 - I'll need to give Bootcamp a try at some point, but I do love the OS X environment (in fact can't wait till Leopard comes out next month, tho suspect it could be a wee bit buggy initially). Apple really have the user interface nailed, you have to admit.

Gordon.

Completely agree Gordon - they also have the stability issues sorted too. I'm waiting for Leopard, but going to wait a couple of months at least for them to sort out the inevitable bugs. There's just something about the OSX environment which makes working in it relaxing - no problems, no quirks, just really easy to use. Problem is, Word and Excel are crap on the Mac - much prefer working in the PC environment! And gaming too... but in general for Photoshop etc, I'll use the Mac side.

Thing is, I'm still using a Vaio notebook so can't take the Mac side away with me yet... my iMac's a little too big to carry around! Will get a Macbook Pro at some stage.

[Z4 Beemer]

I waited till the new Santa Rosa platform was put in the MacBook Pro, then bought one The Vaio has Vista Ultimate on it but the interface just doesn't cut it compared to OS X. One thing to note when buying Macs (and specifying memory) - the option for my MacBook Pro to have 4Gb RAM was about another £400!!! Buying the memory separately from Crucial was around £180 if I remember correctly, and its Crucial memory that Macs are fitted with.

[silverbmwz3]

Originally Posted by E92Fan

Matey, buy the IMac, and run OSX AND Vista on it!! Because the new iMacs are Intel powered, they can run Vista on them no problem. And you don't run Vista within the Mac environment - you actually have two physical operating systems installed on the same hard drive, and switch between the two systems when you boot up.

You need a download software called Apple Bootcamp. The way it works is this - it effectively partitions the hard drive into two. OSX is on the first partition, Vista or XP is on the second. When you bootup, you can choose which operating system to load. Because the two operating systems have different file structures (OSX format / NTFS for Vista) you can not access files or software installed on the other operating system (if you see what I mean). Ie.. if you have a Word document that you created in Vista, you can't then open that in Word on the Mac OSX side.

Effectively, you have both a Mac and a PC in one machine!!

Having said all that about sharing files, there is a great workaround. Get an external USB or Firewire hard drive - as long as that is formatted in Fat32 file structure and not NTFS, BOTH Vista and OSX can read files off it. So you can do what I do and store all your data, documents, music, videos, pictures etc on the external drive, and access the files from whatever program you're running in either OSX or Vista. Good huh?!


In my application, I use the Mac side of things to do audio editing, photoshopping and anything else to do with audio/visual media. I use the Vista side of things for word processing, excel, and gaming!

One machine, two computers.




Hope some of that makes sense!!

E92Fan, it makes complete sense. Probably because I work in IT as I mentioned earlier but also read PCPro and a bit of an enthusiast so knew most of it already. I just wasn't sure how well Vista ran on mac hardware - e.g. any PC games I wanted to play, it seems unlikely they'd work with full graphics etc. etc. Also that one button mouse thing, I like to right click!!!