New Pc/laptop

[suzysu]

Hi - still wondering about buying a new PC or laptop.  Have decided the wireless option is a bit too confusing for a useless techie like me  

What do you think is the most futureproof RAM and Hard drive that I would need.  I obviously want it to last as long as possible   but don't want to over do it.  I use it mainly for word processing, internet and storing piccys of the girls.

Also, does the type of processor make a big difference?  ::

Any help would be great, thanks x

[ReadingSteve]

Hiya,

This may sound like a bit of overkill, but I'd recommend 1GB of RAM and 60GB of hard disk space, if you can afford this.  It's much cheaper to buy now that you're buying a new system, rather than upgrading later.

Processor does make a difference - many people reckon that Celeron is too outdated to be any good, but honestly any other current Intel or Equivalent processor should be fine.

HTH

Steve

[suzysu]

Thanks for that Steve  

Big hug for Buddy x

[Pammy]

if you want to do piccies - then more is best! I'd say go for at least a 60gb hard drive - although you'll prob find you can't get one that small now  80gb plus seems to be entry level now.

RAM - deffo agree 1gb

Processor - Pentium 4 or an AMD Athlon should do the trick nicely for you and give you a good few years use.

Depending what you've got now though you might be able to upgrade what you have to this spec and save a bob or two. It all depends how old your current system is really.

[suzysu]

Pam - thanks for that  

My PC is is 7yrs old now - Athlon 550 ....... so quite old  ::  and its really struggling and keeps crashing  

[Pammy]

I think I'd get a new 'un then

Motherboard etc will be too old to take what you need now. Nothing would be compatible  

[suzysu]

.........forgot to say, have just been looking at Dell's and they seem cheap but when I looked at spec did'nt include floppy, video card and soundcard, they were extra   - why is everything so complicated, wish you could just have a good all inclusive package - too much choice for a computer dim wit like me

[Pammy]

tbh - for what you need - you'll get a perfectly acceptable package from PC World for a decent price!  And they often have good deals on over the Bank HOl - simlarly Comet, Currys etc. E Machines are good and can be got from most stores like the ones mentioned.

[suzysu]

Thanks Pam - will have a look x

[Magic Star]

There was as advert on this evening for what looked like a good deal at PC world, with 17 TFT £499

[suzysu]

Thanks Em - will have a look   x

[Mary]

I'm in the same position as you Suzy, want a new PC but have no idea what to get or the best way to buy one

The chap who has sorted our PC problems in the past (very knowledgable and reasonable) has said he'll build one for us.  Is this the best way to go?  We're going to see him tonight to talk over ideas and specs.  

We also want a printer/scanner/cd writer etc. as well as the best spec possible so that 6 months down the line we don't regret anything.  Can't wait to get a flat screen too

No idea what screen would be best or printer etc.  It's all too mind boggling for me and hubby hasn't much of a clue either

[tobycat]

Hi Sue

I got my new one about a year ago and we bought it from Dell. They were very good - no problems about buying from them again in future.

[suki1964]

Mary getting a self build IS the only way to go, even if you know nothing about pc's. This way you get to spend your money only on the things you want and dont get ripped off putting loads of money into software you will either never use or can get free of charge. It may come at a price more then the big pc companies appear to be able to sell, but usually theirs are full of cheaper componants and 6 months later you find you cant up-grade

When deciding on the printer, be honest about what you really use it for. No point in buying the most expensive photo printer if you only do one or two pictures a year. If like me you use the printer mainly for text then one that has excellent text and reasonable photo quality would be the way to go. Personally if I want a hard copy of a photo to keep in a frame, i send it off and get it done by fuji

[Magic Star]

As of 12 May Aldi will be having a fabby laptop on sale

Heres the spec:-

nVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 with 128MB DDR3 PCI Express.
Superior notebook GPU with hardware acceleration for Microsoft DirectX9.0 shader model 3.0 powering higher performance and visual effects on todays hottest games.

15.4" WXGA display
16:10 widescreen

Multi format DVD burner 8x DVD + R/RW dounle layer

Fast 100gb hard drive disk drive

1024 MB DDR 2 Ram 533MHz

Digital TV tuner

Analogue stereo Tuner

Intel Pro/wireless lan 2915 ABG

5 in 1card reader

Soundsystem

Bluetooth mini USB adapetr class 1

High speed interfaces

1 x PCMCIA type 11 card bus supported modem and lan

Battery Smart Li-Ion battery

Huge software package
Microsoft, windows XP home SP2, microsft workssuuite 2005, microsoft flight simulater 2004, cyberlink dvd solution (powerstarter, power dvd, popwerproducer, powerdirector, power2go, powerdvd copy, powerbackup, photonow, media show) cyberlink power cinema 4.0, skype software inl headset, wanadoo preload.

24 months manufacturers warranty
120 mins free telephony
Includes carrybag

all for a snip of £999.99 inc vat  

It should feature on their webpage over the next few days

www.aldi.co.uk

HTH