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help please need some advice on buying a new PC?
One of my PC’s is over 6 years old now, and whilst running fine, struggles a bit on editing very large files and has USB 1 only. It’s not my plan just to upgrade bits & pieces in it.
I have always used Evesham in the past as you can order a custom spec, plus the warranty and backup is second to none.
This is going to handle large images as well as the basics, so obviously a good processor and huge ram is essential.
It’s not so much the spec I have a problem with, it’s where to buy.
Warranty and technical help are uppermost in my requirements.
Not interested in dealing with Dell, although maybe a refurbished Dell from EuroPC.
I aim to stick with XP as it’s just so reliable and everything I have here runs perfectly on it.Any advice please based on personal experiences?
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26 Replies
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I’ve used TigerDirect.com which is based out of Florida. They have a pull-down menu on the bottom of their site for UK sales that leads to this website: http://www.misco.co.uk/indexuk.asp?
They have pretty good deals on hardware.
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Dell mate… all my new systems are Dell now.. stuff the support, I couldn’t give a monkeys if it brakes as I just tick the 1 year RTB options and fix it myself, however I must admit the tower is actually not very friendly for putting extra hardware in, no room. Also found Stripe not possible on Raid (although i found a hack), Dell offer Mirror on their systems so you end up with 2 harddrives, it feels more like they are trying to stop support calls by putting that limit on. Dont order on phone, use internet then go back to them on the phone and we managed to get 2 24" monitors thrown free for the price of 4 of the Dells.
They just released Dell Vostro and I bought them in Quad Core configuration, they blimming fly although Corel doesn’t support Multithreading that well. Dell is also dead silent.
Look for FSB best speed and I use Toms Hardware CPU chart
Also dont look for gaming rigs, no point buying Nvida 8800GT type cards, for 2D apps you never will use the graphics cards potential, they are 3D only.
Becareful with Vista, compatibility issues with older kit (like plotters). New PC’s normally dont come with Serial and Parallel ports, just USB now.
Stay away from 64bit XP/Vista too
<breath>
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Build it yourself.
It really is that simple.
If you can use a screwdriver, you can assemble a PC, the hardest part is bios setup, which pretty much comes configured now anyway.
Itll save you a bit of cash, and give you an insight into how they work. -
Dave,
Why stay away from 64bit? I use all my design applications on my design machine.
Quad Core 6600
4GB ram
80gb scratch disk
2 x 250 in raid 0
simple gfx card
xp 64bit.That little machine hammers.
My next machine will be a Dual Core with aftermarket cooler
8Gb Ram
4 x 250gb drives in Raid 0 with dedicated raid controller
2 x 80gb in raid 0 for scratch
gfx card with dual dvi outputs
xp 64bit.Now that thing will boogy
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Evesham went bust and are now owned by Time, so avoid.
You can spec up a Dell base unit with a very high spec for about £400.
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quote Steve Underhill:Build it yourself.
It really is that simple.
If you can use a screwdriver, you can assemble a PC, the hardest part is bios setup, which pretty much comes configured now anyway.
Itll save you a bit of cash, and give you an insight into how they work.any links to a good site for this Steve?
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64bit isnt plain sailing if you want to use old software like quickbooks lol
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quote jonm01:Evesham went bust and are now owned by Time, so avoid.You can spec up a Dell base unit with a very high spec for about £400.
Yes, and Time went bust some years back, many people losing money and computers. Hey presto, they came bouncing back under the same name but no redress for staff or customers who lost out.
Dell appear to have the right products but I am so put off by their customer relationship problems and aftercare.
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quote Steve Underhill:Build it yourself.
It really is that simple.
If you can use a screwdriver, you can assemble a PC, the hardest part is bios setup, which pretty much comes configured now anyway.
Itll save you a bit of cash, and give you an insight into how they work.Tempting….
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I use Dell or look on Dabs.com for a suitably spec’d PC, last 2 I’ve bought were HP from Dabs. Last one was a 1.8ghz dualcore with 1Gb ram and XP, it was £315 with £50 cashback so not bad for £265 inc vat.
I used to build my own but I found that for general business use an off the shelf unit did just as well.
Steve
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quote Peter Dee:quote Steve Underhill:Build it yourself.
It really is that simple.
If you can use a screwdriver, you can assemble a PC, the hardest part is bios setup, which pretty much comes configured now anyway.
Itll save you a bit of cash, and give you an insight into how they work.Tempting….
It’s not difficult, but spec something up and I bet it will still be more than an equivalent Dell.
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well i think a Dell will actually be cheaper then build your own… i think i did check it. The only aftersale support which works is the guys in town who run a independent computer business. PCWorld/Dell and BT Excluded as they are not engineers, they are sales man.
Also, if going the XP Route, remember floppy drive with press f6 insert sata/raid floppy drive headache. I would go for mirror raid any day if keeping you work data on the same PC.
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Haven’t they got the SATA drivers in XP now?
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i have a dell dimension 9200 on xp
500 gig hard drive
32bit
intel core 2 cpu 6420 @ 2.13GHz
2gig ramand a custom built pc on xp built this in 2004
160 gig hard drive SATA
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2 gig ramiam very happy with my dell runs sweat as a nut. as for my custom built pc always had problems with it crashing with my experience, is crashes on average twice a week, with sign lab i put the 5min automatic save on not to lose a design.
but know Iam using also using photoshop, 2 hours working and it crashes bang squeegees,pens,keyboard,discs start flying! :headbang2:
iam als going to get a new pc soon will have a look on the dell website know.
the xps range is good but i think it is more for gamers (they have excellent graphics cards that you will be paying for but not using)
i think dell are pretty good all in all they know what components work good with each othere.
dell also have a new screen out it looks absolute fabulous, nice glass finish to it, nice way to show you re work of to customers. 🙂
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a good few mis types in that post 😛
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Scott, you say your ‘custom’ PC crashes all the time.
What memory (RAM) are you using – poor quality RAM or mismatched pairs can cause a lot of spurious glitches….just a thought.
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Would recommend DELL. It’s almost as costly to build your own as get the same spec from them…
Independent PC shops (unless you know the owners) can be little rip-off merchants using far too many ‘budget’ parts. Even going to Currys / PC world and checking out the special offers / manager’s specials.
Got my home PC on a spur-of-the-moment thing…nice spec, fast, good drives, Vista premium just no RAM (512Mb). Invalidated my warranty within minutes of getting home with a prompt upgrade or two.
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Get the hoover out!
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Dell is mentioned a great deal here, sometimes and on some specs especially the dirt cheap ones they can beat me.
Otherwise they cannot.
The comment on Independents using cheap parts is somewhat spurious and pretty offensive to be honest, I am an independent and will use the best parts I can for the budget available by the customer.
Independents also take a LOT more care in a build, they don’t want it back to fix for free if it goes wrong in a year, whereas Dell etc production line minimum wagers don’t care less, they are never going to see the machine again, so why should they take care in building it, we have had Dell machines come to us BRAND NEW, (as customers cant be bothered with return to base warranties) that have not had a simple IDE cable connected, we had one last week, brand new from Dell, CD wouldn’t play, there was no IDE cable connected, to either the mainboard or the DVD drive, we call those Friday afternoon PCS, IE the guy building them is keener to get to the pub rather than send out a working PC.I can build a mid to high spec PC cheaper than Dell, quite easily.
Its the entry level market that has been eaten by supermarkets and companies like Dell.
But I will say this, the 3 most popular machines we have in for repair are
1, Dell,
2, Packard Bell
3, Emachines.They are cheaply built, have little scope for upgrade and basically you get what you pay for.
I mean when Dell are not doing their "free memory upgrade" or "free delivery" scams, they are not even as cheap as PC world.
Read the small print, £60 delivery, if its not onsite warranty its £60 collect and return, 90 day or 3 month warranty on some machines, £25 if you want a floppy drive etc.
They all sound good on paper but a computer supplied by an independent or one you build yourself is a much better option.
I have 7 years in the PC retail trade now and feel more than qualified to make those comments.
Maybe some Independents use cheap parts etc, but the ones (like me) who want to stay in business do not.
(at least till my lease runs out, then Im done)Of course the people praising Dell will be the ones who have had the good machines quite obviously, but as mentioned above, we have far more of them in for repair than any other machine.
And no it isnt because there are more about, there are just as many Compaq, HP, etc we just seem to have the same old faces crop up more than others
rant over
Steve -
We bought a Dell to run Onyx for our Mimaki, but specced it up quite a bit
from their base models, and I have to say that it’s been pretty solid in the
2 years that we’ve had it. I think it’s pretty much horses for courses. If you
buy as cheap as possible, then I wouldn’t expect it to last as long as a higher
specced model, as the components would probably be of a poorer quality.
Could be wrong though….just going on my limited experience.(Still prefer Macs tho…. 😀 )
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I bought one off Ebay, 250 gig hard drive, core two duo, 4 gig memory, DVD etc etc, for just £235.00 including VAT. Only downside was no operating system, however this pc runs my mail server so works hard 24/7 and has never crashed or failed in any way in just over 6 months.
PC’s are very cheap nowadyas and my way of working is buy them off somewahere like ebay for as little as possible, run them for a couple of years then upgrade.
Regards
Russell.
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Ebay is quite a cheap way of getting a PC as a lot of people on there work from home building them, I have priced up some of their PCs they build compared to my trade suppliers prices on an exact same spec and they could only be making between £5 and £10 on each one sometimes, after ebay fees, Its crazy.
One return and you are out of pocket.
I guess its an incentive to build it correctly.
One thing that ensures you dont get many returns is to not supply the O/S with it, as this is where most faults and returns lie, IE installed programs, downloads from the net etc.
It just gives the ebay suppliers some recourse when people say their machine is faulty, and in all probability its something they have done while installing the operating system or other software/hardware.
However all machines we supply are installed with windows, antivirus and anti spyware programs and all windows updates and tested on the bench for a day before they go out.Im just glad Tim does it all now and I dont, its a headache, I just pay the bills and bank what little money the place makes.
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quote Steve Underhill:Dell is mentioned a great deal here, sometimes and on some specs especially the dirt cheap ones they can beat me.
Otherwise they cannot.
The comment on Independents using cheap parts is somewhat spurious and pretty offensive to be honest, I am an independent and will use the best parts I can for the budget available by the customer.
Independents also take a LOT more care in a build, they don’t want it back to fix for free if it goes wrong in a year, …..SteveSteve, no offence meant as you evidently have pride on your work – hence the "Independent PC shops …. CAN be little rip-off merchants using far too many ‘budget’ parts" comment. (And not ARE…)
Now I used to do ‘the odd’ new build PC (& shift recycled units by the pallet load to IT guys as Linux firewalls) and stopped doing the new builds because of DELL…why should I spend 2 hours doing a build & legitimate software install to make £20 or £30 more than they could mail order it for? Hence my comment about some small independent shops – with associated large overheads HAVING to resort to cheaper components just to make a few quid to stay competitive in the market (if they are useless at repairs). eg. why fit ‘ASUS / GigaByte’ motherboards that everybody and their dog has support & drivers for when you can use ‘Xing Chong’ boards at a fifth of the cost…or glitchy ‘no-name’ RAM that’ll probably be OK instead of a reputable brand – even a budget Kingston.I’d rather pay a bit more and get reasonable quality than be purely price purchase – but unfortunately the home PC market is very price driven.
So again – nothing personal…just from my own personal experience of a few of the local shops, about 50% fell into the ‘cheap crap’ category…generally the ones hanging on by the skin of their teeth…
Dave
edited to clarify a point
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Scott, you say your ‘custom’ PC crashes all the time.
What memory (RAM) are you using – poor quality RAM or mismatched pairs can cause a lot of spurious glitches….just a thought.
i think i put 1 gig in first then put another gig in so i may well of used 2 different makes, i will check that.
steve
i had my home pc built to spec at a little bussiness like yours, its been back about 10 times through out the year, they even installed the wrong CPU fan which in the end it buggered the processor!
(OPAL COMPUNTERS)IAM NOT SAYING YOU ARE THE SAME!!!
they most defiantly didn’t run mine on test for a day!with my experience i would recommend dell as i have had no problems with.
but as steve says he has them in for repair quite a lot
😕 -
But not everyone "knows me" either and still come to me, so that comment was also a bit unfair as not many people who bring in a PC for repair know the owner.
but I am selling the business anyway, I hate computers its a dying trade to be honest, Ive seen business slope from £500-£1000 a week to sometimes little more than a hundred, I can just about pay the rent and bills & mortgage with what the shop does, luckily our Sign making and T shirts are going well and soon will provide an income and I wont rely on the computer side of it.
I know about a lot of independents and their cheap parts, and rip off prices, but maybe thats why Im not making much money at it, because Im too honest for my own good, I never replace something that doesnt need replacing or do work that doesnt need doing, I always use branded boards/memory etc and give a full warranty, but I have seen a steady decline in sales over the past 4 years almost entirely due to the big firms like Dell, Staples, Tesco, Asda etc, I mean what do Asda and Tesco know about computers? nothing they have no after sales support just sell them next to the fruit and veg, its just corporate greediness, in the past few years they have basically got into everything, shopping, home insurance car insurance, computers, consoles and games it just serves to put small firms out of business.
Ah well thats life, and Im glad in 18 months Ill be out of it.And Scott, there are some computer independents that are a lot like signmakers with the old ebay machines and a dodgy copy of signlab etc, they are chancers, do anything to make a quick buck whether they know how to or not,
If a machine comes back for repair they will blame it on something youve done in the hope you wont argue, same as with cheap vinyl.
But as for fitting a wrong CPU fan on a build is nigh on impossible if you buy boxed retail stuff, they come with the fan and a 3 year warranty, its only the mismatched OEM stuff that gets mixed up, if you dont nkow your stuff it will happen,
its hardly rocket science and would be happy to show anyone here how to build one from start to finish,
Just as a thanks to Dell, and Tesco etc
LOL :lol1: -
i used to run part of a shop with a TV electrical repair, built up a name for myself about 10-12years ago. I was more into fixing Windows 95/98 problems, more of a computer engineer. I used to buy in parts and build and sell, used to make money. Learnt a lot about the trade however I ended up with computers with an intermittent fault on the motherboard, this cost me in the long run as it didn’t happen until a few weeks of use(PC Chips early boards, need I saw more to those who know). Now I just refer people to another shop.
Then i decided one day when I visited Tescos and saw £1000 christmas computer deal, I decided then I need to stop selling computers, I could not compete or make a profit as I could see the new year was going to difficult. So I stuck with working in print, eventually drifted into programming and i made a bit of money, I also was drifted in sign making and silk screen during the course.
I still see trade prices (CMS, Spire to name a few where i used to order from).. now with the likes of Ebuyer and SCAM/N, there isn’t much margin in it, the other thing is knowing which bit goes with what, how to install XP etc. profit is low on new builds, however if building gaming rigs then you can get up to mischief with prices lol
I stick with sign making and programming atm
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Hi Jason,
I have both those machines just with a bit more grunt in them, anyway, I have both windows xp x64 and vista x64, but Flexisign 8.1 won’t work on x64. what are you using to drive your printer and cutter?
We have Mimaki JV3-130 and CG-130 + an old Roland PC-60I need to build a new computer for my partner? he is using Flexisign ! which I think isn’t the smarted program in the world, at least not in managing computer resources
Cheers
Henrik
quote Jason Xuereb:Dave,Why stay away from 64bit? I use all my design applications on my design machine.
Quad Core 6600
4GB ram
80gb scratch disk
2 x 250 in raid 0
simple gfx card
xp 64bit.That little machine hammers.
My next machine will be a Dual Core with aftermarket cooler
8Gb Ram
4 x 250gb drives in Raid 0 with dedicated raid controller
2 x 80gb in raid 0 for scratch
gfx card with dual dvi outputs
xp 64bit.Now that thing will boogy
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