Page 1 of Computer system recommendations?

As my current system is now four years old, I have been toying with the idea of treating myself to a new system.

I`ve heard good things about Dell and their systems, and I am considering a Dimension desktop package. I am looking to spend approx. £800-£900 on a system with DVD re-writer etc.

Standard Features: Intel 875P chipset with support for Intel® Pentium ® 4 processors with 800MHz system bus
Equipped with Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system
Dual Channel 400MHz DDR Memory
Midnight grey mini-tower with 8 USB 2.0 ports, 4 PCI slots and AGP 8x slot
Integrated 10/100 Pro Ethernet
Norton AntiVirus 2003 (with 90 days free virus updates)
No Floppy Drive as standard
.

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition (Why not upgrade to Windows® XP Professional?)

Games: Games Pack Included

Enhanced Support Packs: 2 Year On-Site Next Business Day Service Support (-GBP - £30)

Processor Upgrade: 2.6GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor with HT technology and 800 front side bus

Memory: 256MB Dual Channel DDR 400 (2x128MB)

Hard Drive: 40GB (7200rpm) IDE Hard Drive

Floppy Drive & Additional Storage Devices: 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive (+ GBP £15)

Video Card: 128MB nVidia GeForce FX5200 with DVI, Dual Monitor Support and TV-OUT via S-Video

Monitor: Dell 17" Value (15.9" VIS) Monitor

Optical Drives: 8x DVD+R+RW with DVD Authoring Software (+ GBP £60)

Speakers: Dell Stereo Speakers

Sound Card: Integrated 5.1 audio

Digital Photography: Dell Picture Studio Standard Edition (note: contains a 21 use trial version of Paint Shop Pro)

Modem: Dell 56k Data/Fax/Voice Modem

Keyboard: Dell Standard PS2 Keyboard

Mouse: Dell 2 button Wheel Mouse

Software: Microsoft® Works 7.0

All for £853.45


I have also seen a Compaq at PC World...

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/pcw_page.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@0177036050.1073752509@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadckeijgglhcflgceggdhhmdfho.0&page=Product&sku=138186&category_oid=-15245

The Dell looks a better deal, but has anyone any further recommendations?

This item was edited on Saturday, 10th January 2004, 17:26

I`d steer clear of any Compaq stuff if i were you, I bought a Compaq Presario
about 5 years ago, and when I tried to upgrade it (cpu etc.) was told I couldn`t
due to m/board limitations.

The dell deal looks good, but why not try companies like Mesh etc. they have some
excellent deals within your projected price range.

Ste.

Heard good things about Carrera - http://www.carrera.co.uk. They always get good writeups in PC magazines.

I agree with Ste above, steer clear of Compaq. We used them a lot at work, after sales support was shocking. We`ve since moved to Dell, and support has so far been better. Do check out some of the smaller manufacturers like Carerra, Mesh and Evesham as well though.

Have you thought about treating yourself to a 15" tft(don`t want to go ott with a 17" one).
I`m sure you`ll be glad you did.
Pete(I`ve got one) :D

Thanks for the help, so far. All of those recommended look like they have some good deals. Has anybody used Mesh etc?

If, like most companies nowadays, the people you work for source their PCs from dell, they usually run an employee discount scheme.

Employees of the Evil Multinational Pharmaceutical Company (tm) that i work for get a 10% discount on all dell orders over £100.

Unfortunately, the company I work for thinks that an old shoebox, a lump of wood & an elastic band constitutes a state-of-the-art workstation. If my manager told me that he was buying equipment from Dell, I`d be off for a month with severe shock. :)

One thing I do need to know is, are the AMD processors any good? Most retailers are offering AMD or Pentiums, what`s the difference?

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th January 2004, 11:04

AMD tend to offer better performance at the lower end of the price spectrum. Intel`s budget processors (called Celerons) are absolutely hopeless - the equivalently priced AMD processors can outperform them by miles.

For the kinds of systems you`re looking at, it might be advantageous to go with Intel.


Mike

This item was edited on Sunday, 11th January 2004, 11:38

I`ve never had any problems with AMD stuff, the pooter i`m using at the mo`
is and Athlon XP 1800+ with 512MbDDR ram, and it`s plenty fast enough at
the moment (don`t play games on my pooter). Tho` i`ll be upgrading probably
around April time.

Used AMD chips since the K6 era, plus they tend to be cheaper than the
Pentiums, so you get a little more "bang for your buck" as "they" say.

Ste.

As a `general` rule, AMD label their processors by the type of Intel processor it is equal to.

I run an xp3000, which is supposed to be the equal of a 3ghz P4, despite being clocked at just over 2ghz. And its 50 quid cheaper.