# New Pc Advice In Uk... Value Vs Price



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

My folks need a new PC. Theirs is fine and works ok but its now ancient (bought in 2000 or before but was top of the range) and runs way too slow to handle skype decently and theyve had done lots of tweaks (memory, cleaned data / processes out etc) to it but its really time for a new one. They already have a good screen and mouse / keyboard etc so no hassle at all with just getting the CPU (I hate that term, but it does convey what I mean). So straight CPU deals would be fine, but package deals that are good value would be considered.

They need to run Windows and will probably use the MS office suite but are not gamers or storing lots of TBs of data, they dont need to stream music or TV. The PC is mostly used for email, internet, skype and letter writing. So typical use for most people.

Theyve been into PC World and the salesman suggested either a HP Pavilion p6320uk - Intel Core i5 650 Processor, 6GB DDR3 memory, 1TB hard drive, etc. at Â£779.99 or Packard Bell iXtreme X6620uk similar spec, both with Windows 7 Home.

Now those machines will undoubtedly fix their performance issues but are they really not overkill for their needs? could they save half the money and get something that would be fine for the next five years of what they do now?

I know with computers its usually easy to just by the best you can now to 'future proof' going forward and also that as time goes on the lesser disk and memory sizes become false economy due to price / performance but they dont have a lot of cash to splash out on this type of kit so any thoughts would be good. cheers.


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## feenix (May 27, 2008)

Jon, unless they are into the latest games they are probably going to be better off to have a look on the PCWorld refurbished section of the site HERE (good guarantee and repair service so long as they don't fiddle with it) and I'd have thought that less than Â£300 should be more than they need for the next few years.


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## msq (Feb 18, 2010)

Check out Costco. They have an excellent excellent excellent return policy.

I know someone who brought a computer back in when the thing went bust on regular manufacturer warrantee. Usually, the shops require you to go to the manufacturer directly, but costco really stands behind its products, so doesn't pass the hassle to its customers. This place is really no nonsense unless some of the computer shops like pc world.

Having said this...the costco I'm talking about is in Canada, so YMMV in the UK.


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## Clum (Feb 14, 2009)

That's definitely overkill for them Jon. I agree with feenix that < Â£300 mark would be fine, maybe check out the Dell site.


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## feenix (May 27, 2008)

I just had a look at the Tesco Directwebsite, they have a couple of sub Â£300 pound systems on there (although these will include monitors). It may be worth your while to bear that in mind as Tesco have a fantastic return/repair service.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks guys! youve confirmed what I thought, its possible to get something highly usable for a lot less cash. The warranty stuff will be important to them as they are not the kind of people who will open it up or even want to get their heads round adding memory or bigger disks etc. I expect even 500gb would be more storage than they will need for a while and by then 5TB will be cheap as chips etc.

Amusingly I was comparing those specs with my 18mth old Mac Book and thinking 'wow!'. Ok I know desktops and laptops are different, but the PCWorld suggestions did seem like you could run most of the planet off them compared even to my very very usable little white thing. One thing I hate about computer salesmen (and I used to be one back in the late 80s, Amstrad 1640 anyone... eeek!) is that they just want to sell you the biggest and best units and dont care what your real need is. Surely matching need with product is how most businesses should work, so why is this one so bad? Perhaps cos most people have no idea what mhz, gb, TB etc is... sigh. 

One more thing... What are the laptop options in this space? Again windows, decent processor and memory / disk etc? I ask as they could essentially keep their old desktop (as it works fine) for word and net when wanting to sit tethered to the desk, but use the laptop round the house on their already installed wireless LAN.

Thanks again for the help guys!


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Blimey Tesco Direct's 299 quid units look amazing value to me... Amusingly (or not) my new NAS cost more than those... hmm... lol


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

Have a look at the dell outlet at Dell.co.uk.

You'll get a decent spec (without monitor) for less than Â£250.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Robert, Ive always been a bit wary of Dell. A mate of mine runs a small business and he bought 5 of the same PC from Dell. 4 were fine but one was always going wrong. Dell didnt ever want to know. He spent a lot of money with 3rd parties and vowed never to buy Dell again. Maybe its different in the UK? Anyone care to comment on good service with Dell, I dont want to send my folks into a place they will blame me for... LOL


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Jon, also don't rule out the Aldi computer deals that come up every so often, we have had two now and both have been excellent machines, always great value for money and best of all come with a 3 year warranty and free support!

I think the last one I saw was Â£399.....and it had a very very good spec.


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Forgot to mention, we use nothing but Dell here at work, they seem OK.....bloody expensive though and on my particular machines I needed to fit extra bits....it was a right pain, the Dells seem to have their own way of doing things....some fittings inside are not industry standard.

But after over 20 years of Dell here, I wouldn't never touch one for home use.....although, saying that I bought a cheapest of the cheap student deal Dell Laptop for my daughter when she started Uni and it faired pretty well for 6 years, had the dreaded Dell/Sony battery catching fire problem, but apart from that was OK :shocking:


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## Boxbrownie (Aug 11, 2005)

Sorry about all the extra posts here, but here at work my browser won't allow me to edit my posts so any mistakes have to go unamended!

Anyhoo, I think also I cannot send PMs so I will post this link here for you Jon....its a great electronics site for cheap deals, I have bought loads of stuff like DAB radios and electronic toys from them and been very happy with every item.

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/

I don't think they sell many watches :sweatdrop: ....so should be Ok I hope?


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

Dell.

I can't build machines for the price they want!

Another tip is to knock off the charge they want for a years warranty; under UK consumer law they are liable for defects for the first year anyway! I think it saves Â£90.

I have bought, for myself and family, 4 desktops over the past couple of years. All good, all cheap, no problems with any of them.

(These are general purpose machines; video editiing/ picture editing/ game machines I still build myself- think of them as sealed boxes)

I know your folks have a monitor, but a new flat 19" is very kind to older eyes... well, it is to mine.

I still pause every now and then to consider that Primary School PCs now have a higher spec than the servers I was building a few years back!


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

JonW said:


> Robert, Ive always been a bit wary of Dell. A mate of mine runs a small business and he bought 5 of the same PC from Dell. 4 were fine but one was always going wrong. Dell didnt ever want to know. He spent a lot of money with 3rd parties and vowed never to buy Dell again. Maybe its different in the UK? Anyone care to comment on good service with Dell, I dont want to send my folks into a place they will blame me for... LOL


Have to say, I can't fault their customer service today.

They went through a 'bad' patch a few years ago, but Amy had to call them in to replace a faulty HDD (in the initial warranty period) in her home laptop in January.

She had no quibbles and they came to our work to do it so she didn't have to take any time off. They also did a reduced price on extended warranty on it after the fault.

Their hardware is reasonably priced and well built. Our basic Inspiron laptops are much better built than my grandad's Acer that he bought himself 18 months ago and they more 'solid' than a friend's Toshiba Satellite L450 - and I wouldn't consider Toshiba to be 'budget' :dontgetit: .

Dell's online support service and pre-loaded diagnostics tools are also very good.

If you need to call them though, their call centres are in the Indian sub-continent, so there are the usual issues with accents, but otherwise I'd rate them above any other 'budget' make.

My mum bought their lowest spec Core2Duo desktop last summer and even I'm jealous of it (but it was Â£450.00).


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

I've only ever really known dell so I can't compare to others. Only needed one repair - a new laptop motherboard done next day on site.

My experience is good products and good support. Good prices too at the outlet. I'll bet others have the same experience with other companies though.


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

JonW said:


> Robert, Ive always been a bit wary of Dell. A mate of mine runs a small business and he bought 5 of the same PC from Dell. 4 were fine but one was always going wrong. Dell didnt ever want to know. He spent a lot of money with 3rd parties and vowed never to buy Dell again. Maybe its different in the UK? Anyone care to comment on good service with Dell, I dont want to send my folks into a place they will blame me for... LOL


Jon have a look Here I have used them twice and had great service on both occasions


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Guys I want to thank you so much for all the great links. Ive sent my folks the link to this thread so she can read what you all think and follow through whats been said.

Special thanks go to my old friend, Speed Posting David, who must be trying to up his post count  

Seriously thanks for the good words about Dell and also the 90quid saving, brilliant!

Did anyone have any thoughts on laptops at round 500quid and keeping the old PC as a backup/desk machine? I know many of us would just buy both if we needed them at these prices, but Im just trying to cover off all bases...

Cheers again guys, I knew I could rely on you...


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

I'd buy a cheap laptop - it will be well enough specified for your needs. The only thing against them is battery life but that shouldn't be an issue if it's only going to be used in the home.

Your folks can then use it in any room they want - or even plug in their existing keyboard & monitor if they wished.

I have a Dell laptop which has performed faultlessly unless last year when I started getting the BSOD... the self diagnosis application diagnosed a memory failure... and their online guides clearly explained how to get into the machine, under the keyboard to swap out the standard module.

Dell is the only laptop which has allowed me to do any form of self repair... so a thumbs up for them.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Steve, thats a great point you raise. They could keep the old PC for occasional use and then if doing something that demanded a lot of typing and they wanted to use the full keyboard they could just plug one in along with the old screen.

Actually I just remembered that their old keyboard is probably a round connector version and not USB so perhaps wouldnt work with a more modern machine either.

I think the flexibility of the laptop is amazing and once they got past the differences in the mouse and keyboard they would enjoy using it in rooms other than their current upstairs office. I find using a laptop more social at home, at least I can sit in the same room as someone else and even have a conversation whilst doing other things, like posting on this forum... oh yes dear, that looks great... where was i? ... oh yes postin... whats that? no I dont want to watch the news... anyway... LOL ok Im joking, im far better at this seemless forum/chat thing :wink2:


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## Who. Me? (Jan 12, 2007)

JonW said:


> Did anyone have any thoughts on laptops at round 500quid and keeping the old PC as a backup/desk machine? I know many of us would just buy both if we needed them at these prices, but Im just trying to cover off all bases...


That's what Amy & I did.

The desktop is used as a printer and file server now, when needed, but mostly it sits in a corner looking sullen and unloved.


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## feenix (May 27, 2008)

Not a great lover of lap-tops, they tend to get broken/dropped/banged a lot easier than a desktop imho. :bull*******:

Me and mine have his and hers PCs set up in the same room, and I use the laptop for watching DVDs when I'm away from home for more than a night  I'd not have a PC set up upstairs, its too much like abandoning the family to go and play ................ mmmm, has its merits though.


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

feenix said:


> Not a great lover of lap-tops, they tend to get broken/dropped/banged a lot easier than a desktop imho.


I sort of agree - though I think modern laptops/components are a lot tougher these days.

My friend bought a Tesco special well over a year ago, she only uses it a home, but the treatment it receives, the lack of care makes me cringe but it still keeps going despite the cruelty.


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## Clum (Feb 14, 2009)

Thing is, if you buy a cheap laptop that's exactly what you're getting, a cheap laptop that'll fall apart within a year. My sister bought a Â£600 Dell laptop recently (which isn't cheap) and the materials just shocked me, awful plastic, bendy and squeaky... And before that had an Â£800 Aldi laptop which was more of the same... I feel that when it comes to laptops it's worth spending good money to get the build quality of something like a Mac. I've had a Powerbook and a MacBook Pro and nothing beats them.


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

Clum said:


> Thing is, if you buy a cheap laptop that's exactly what you're getting, a cheap laptop that'll fall apart within a year.


Well as my example above suggests, that's not true - my friend's has "lasted" nigh on two years despite the abuse.



Clum said:


> My sister bought a Â£600 Dell laptop recently (which isn't cheap) and the materials just shocked me, awful plastic, bendy and squeaky...


Regardless of the cheap materials - did it break? After how long?



Clum said:


> I feel that when it comes to laptops it's worth spending good money to get the build quality of something like a Mac. I've had a Powerbook and a MacBook Pro and nothing beats them.


I think there's an argument to be made to say it's better & just as cost effective to buy a cheap Â£300 laptop every 18th months than to spend Â£1000 on one and hope it lasts 5 years.

For one, you get the advantage of the improvements in technology. Your Â£1k top of the range will cost Â£500 in a year's time.

Unfortunately, you're also comparing apples & pears when you compare PC/Mac. And certainly there have been comments on the forums that Apple's build quality is nothing like it used to be - as they've become more popular.


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## Clum (Feb 14, 2009)

I don't think i'm comparing apples and pears. They both use the same components... and could use the same materials... they're both computers. I'm not saying anything about Macs being better, just that the build quality of their laptops is really good.

The Aldi laptop was falling apart within a year and broken in 2. And it was expensive.

The Dell is only a few months old, but touching it just made me cringe at it's cheapness even though it wasn't that cheap.

I'm just saying don't buy a cheap laptop just because it's cheap, you'll be disappointed and get more enjoyment from something better. Additionally if you're using a laptop but wanting to keep up with the latest technology, that is a silly move. They're overpriced for the components and if you don't want to be outdated in 18 months then you'd be better off having a desktop that's cheaper and upgradeable. Do people really need that much power in their lap? Most people use laptops for browsing the net and word processing, something an outdated laptop can do for a decade. If they play games on them, they're usually at a desk anyway, where a desktop could be sitting. This is why I have a powerful desktop, and a small lightweight laptop. Also I ran my Powerbook for 4 years, and it was 2nd hand when I bought it, and I sold it on to a friend and it's still running fine.

BTW my "Â£1k top of the range laptop" is 9 months old and is actually Â£20 more expensive to buy new today :S

But yes, I'm going off-topic here.


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

Fair comments...

I daily use a 10 year old Medion desktop, cost about Â£900 - still running fine, with a few quirks.

I occasionally a Dell laptop, about 5years old Â£600, now relegated to use in the bedroom. Was used constantly on my travels until superseded by my Â£250 eeePC netbook.

I guess it's luck of the draw.


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

I had a Dell lap top for ages and my daughter used to use it as well and it worked fine and it was a hand me down from the ex wife who had it for work, sure it was cheap bit it never broke and never didn't work. My daughter took it with her went she set up house, I'll need to ask if it lasted the next time I see her. I had no issues with it for what it cost.

I bought a Samsung about 18 months ago, better finish and a bit more expensive at about Â£500 but at least I go into a shop and see one which was the only thing that put me off another Dell. I don't like mail order for anything.


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## Robert (Jul 26, 2006)

BondandBigM said:


> but at least I go into a shop and see one which was the only thing that put me off another Dell. I don't like mail order for anything.


PC world seem to sell Dell these days


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## Sparky (Nov 2, 2005)

I bought an Advent PC from the bay for about 200 quid that is really awesome for the price.

This was a factory refurb that came with a full 12 month warranty.

Spec is as follows (which I think is plenty and would probably put a lot of computers to shame!):

4GB Ram, 500GB HDD, AMD Phenom 9550 Quad-Core Processor, Radeon 3100 graphics card.

Ok, it didn't come with a monitor, but for Â£120 I bought an Acer 22" widescreen, so for the Â£320 I have a top-notch system that will keep me going for a very long time for such a small outlay.

Let us know what they go for?

Mark


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Robert said:


> BondandBigM said:
> 
> 
> > but at least I go into a shop and see one which was the only thing that put me off another Dell. I don't like mail order for anything.
> ...


To be fair I never went to PC world, there isn't one that close to me.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Some interesting views on the laptops, seems the market is a bit less easy to get your head round than the desktop PC one, certainly the comments here bask up some of what ive seen. Ive had laptops for years (since 1995!) and wouldnt ever buy another desktop, I love the freedom. I always buy in the upper half of the range tho as I run my life on mine. Many men would be appauled by my ability to multi task I have so much running at one time, but I am not normal I think. Well for the purposes of this thread I am not as my folks would never even use half of what my Mac can do and it would be wasted money. Shame as Its a great bit of kit to be honest.

Cheers for the info guys! Im amazed at what good deals you lot get back in the UK these days, you cant get close to those deals here sadly


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## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

Here's one to look at:

http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2010/3/4/sony-release-new-299-vaio-m-netbook-tesco/

Sony Vaio at Tesco for Â£299

Points too.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Eeek! thats cheap. sure it not mega fast, but its not bad for that cash. good small size too, no sense in one of those 17inch laptops imho (I like em small).


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