Looking For A New Home Pc

[Fizz]

Seen this on the Dell website.

Its the E521 I am referring to.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products...;l=en&s=dhs

Looks good to me but just wondering if there are any other options i should consider before purchasing.

Cheers in advance

Fizz

[viperroom_112]

Hey , try www.meshcomputers.com . I have had both a notebook and two desktops from them , they are very good value for money and good quality aftersales (desktop) . Only thing I can fault them on is there notebook aftersales , which were not too hot ! My current PC i purchased for around a 1000 pounds and for an equivalent "package" from pc world you would be looking at easily 500 notes more ! plus mesh to a good warranty !

[Jamesb4uk]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/

another very good place.

J

[DaveSR]

And www.scan.co.uk

Build your own !

[Fizz]

to much info... Im wanting the best spec PC inc Monitor keyboard etc for around the £600 mark.

What would you suggest? These places are cool but im out of touch with the components these days as the last new PC I bought was 6 years ago!

[DaveSR]

Pretty simple the world of today - the internet is your best guide !

I guess that you won't be clocking it ;) !

Dual Core (AMD for gaming/INTEL for work) is the way forward with a min of 1GB RAM

If you do decide to buy one wait till Feb because VISTA is out ....... !

Hence all the shops shifting there old spec PCs ready for VISTA

[Fizz]

aint it a good time for me to buy now then if the prices are cheap?

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?...&KEY=155861

Just seen that one and it has 3 years back to base warrenty. :)

hmm... choices choices..

[DaveSR]

Depends - whether you want the latest windows or not?

Some people will say "stay with XP" others will say "wait for VISTA" .....

For:

Latest version

More secure (lol) - will be eventually

New features etc

Against:

It may still be very buggy

Most IT people stick with the old version of windows until the first service pack has been released ;) !

It's up to you, but check out VISTA on the net for more info ....... PC's might jump up price a little bit because everybody wants the latest version so computer companies will be taking benifit of this.

I can't see the prices jumping to high though

[Fizz]

Im one of those who sticks to what is proved to work as i work in the software industry so I will pass on the Vista at the moment.

Im not into hardware hence the topic at hand.

[viperroom_112]

aint it a good time for me to buy now then if the prices are cheap?

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?...&KEY=155861

Just seen that one and it has 3 years back to base warrenty. :)

hmm... choices choices..

Thats a good one , but this one is sorted , and it will be good for a few years to come :)

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?...&KEY=158102

[Fizz]

ahh... has a 512 graphics card on it...

one thing though... looking at the detailed spec bit at the botton it reads

512MB DDR2 nVIDIA GeForce 7300GS - TV out- DVI - PCIe (256Mb SMA)

Now whats that bit at the end 256MB SMA?

[DaveSR]

It means STAY AWAY ...... basically it uses shared memory ! Meaing it takes it RAM from your PC as doesn't use it's own - it's to cut costs, and it also cut performance

Best getting a card that uses its own !

Problem is with buying PCs today is that they always stick crap graphics cards in :( !

What you really want is SLI graphics cards ;)

*SMA = shared memory architecture

[viperroom_112]

ahh... has a 512 graphics card on it...

one thing though... looking at the detailed spec bit at the botton it reads

512MB DDR2 nVIDIA GeForce 7300GS - TV out- DVI - PCIe (256Mb SMA)

Now whats that bit at the end 256MB SMA?

As far as I am aware , that is Shared Memory Architecure , which i believe means its got its own on board graphics chip as well , leaving the geforce card to sort out the "gaming" aspect .

I THINK lol

[Fizz]

So 256 is dedicated to the Graphics and the other is shared...? :s

[YarisT]

Your close enough that you should be looking at www.cclonline.com - you will get prices as good as anywhere online and your only up the road to be able to go pick it up, or take something back if you have any problems with it. I work for a reseller in Leeds and even through are distribution channel I often can’t beat the prices that these guys sell at.

What are you after just a Tower or a full setup? When I have a spare ½ hour later I will spec u something up from there if I know what you are going to want from it?

Regards That Gfx Card It has 256Mb of memory on the card and then through software you can pinch up to 256Mb of slower system memory which in real terms gives sod all performance increase - just looks good on paper if you dont know what you are looking at.

[Fizz]

Thats a good one , but this one is sorted , and it will be good for a few years to come :)

http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?...&KEY=158102

Right that one seems to fit the bill.. will be £100 over budget with P&P and Speakers added to the price but hey... thats what a budget is for!

Cheers for everyones help.

YarisT - CCL are great for prices and parts but the aftermarket sales is rubbish there esp for full systems. The advantage of the one above is that it comes with 3 years warrenty! :)

[Gnome]

Sod the budget - this is what you want! :D

Pwn4g3!!11!1!

[YarisT]

YarisT - CCL are great for prices and parts but the aftermarket sales is rubbish there esp for full systems. The advantage of the one above is that it comes with 3 years warrenty! :)

Fair enough, I have to say I have never bought a built system from them, but have taken numerous bits back over the years and at times it has been a pain and I can imagine it would be worse with a full system... anyway your choice looks good -enjoy!

[Johndcfc]

I would just get a dell, they build solid enough machines and look decent - saves messing around with hardware.

Building pc's used to be worth it when it saved hundreds of pounds but nowadays its not worth the agro IMO....

[Al J]

Sod the budget - this is what you want! :D

Pwn4g3!!11!1!

Just bought one of their laptops and it rocks! Wasn't cheap though.

Back on topic, actually, that Mesh system looks a decent bit of kit at a good price.

[Fizz]

I would just get a dell, they build solid enough machines and look decent - saves messing around with hardware.

Building pc's used to be worth it when it saved hundreds of pounds but nowadays its not worth the agro IMO....

Too true but the Mesh one has 3 years warrenty thrown in..

[Johndcfc]

I would just get a dell, they build solid enough machines and look decent - saves messing around with hardware.

Building pc's used to be worth it when it saved hundreds of pounds but nowadays its not worth the agro IMO....

Too true but the Mesh one has 3 years warrenty thrown in..

Yeah but a computer in 3 years will be worth about 50p! So its not worth paying a premium for a warranty...

[Fizz]

its thrown in 'free'

Thing is... my mate tried to sum up doing a DIY job using the same components and couldnt beat the price

[Gnome]

Depends what you want as well - you can't overclock the vast majority of Dell's....

Plus the parts are cheap, you'll crappy graphics cards, slow memory, slow HDD's, etc...

True, a custome system may possibly cost a bit more, but at least it's custom, and will more than likely be a hell of a lot more tuneable than a Dell!

Al: My little bro has one of them Alienware PC's. Spent about £3.5k on it...

[Al J]

Depends what you want as well - you can't overclock the vast majority of Dell's....

Plus the parts are cheap, you'll crappy graphics cards, slow memory, slow HDD's, etc...

True, a custome system may possibly cost a bit more, but at least it's custom, and will more than likely be a hell of a lot more tuneable than a Dell!

Al: My little bro has one of them Alienware PC's. Spent about £3.5k on it...

Well my laptop was around £1300 and if I'd wanted it for gaming, it would have been a lot more. Certainly stands out though!