Time for a new computer-what do you think of these two?

[Jon Marshall]

I think they are well overpriced. A well specced Dell would be half of that.

[Karl Williams]

I’ll agree with John Lorraine. PC world are expensive. Try looking at Staples web site. I bought mine from them 4 years ago and it was only £600 then. I’d presume your software is based on XP or earlier? So will your software work on Vista?

[Karl Williams]

Try these.

http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/ca … ptops+-+HP

http://www.staples.co.uk/ENG/Catalog/ca … her+Brands

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hi chaps, I only put that link up cos it showed the 2 computers side by side, so easy to compare.
Makro have a Sony Vaio all in 1 but version 1, which is under £600, as far as I can see the only difference is that the version 2 has bluetooth.

[Karl Williams]

Makro just sell boxes Lorraine. What back-up will you get?

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hi Karl, thanks for the link, but I’m not looking for a laptop, I was looking at all-in-one desktops. 😕

[Lorraine Clinch]

quote Karl Williams:

Makro just sell boxes Lorraine. What back-up will you get?

I expect just the manufacturers warranty, but as the Sony warranty is only 1 year RTB anyway, doesn’t really matter where it comes from.

[Hugh Potter]

find the spec of the pc you want and take it to your local pc shop, i did this and ended up trading it for a job!

[Marcella Ross]

I’m the same Lorraine …………… need a new PC and don’t know where to start!!!!!!!!!! 😳
Just phoned a company and told them what I do and what I ‘think’ I need 😳 :lol1: and they’re calling me back with a cost.

Will let you know how I get on, if they email me a breakdown of what they’re quoting me for I’ll pop it up here and get feedback as to whether it’s a good deal or not.

[David-Foster-]

Hi Lorraine

If you are going to buy an all-in-one you have to get an iMac 😀 no question the best one.

But…

I don’t think you need an all-in-one. If desk space was tight or something like that, or it had to look good, possibly. If something goes wrong in an all-in-one it needs to be sent back for repair or a proprietary part will be needed. Downtime at work!

As Hugh said, once you have a spec, go to your local nerdy :lol1: PC shop. Get one built out of standard bits, motherboard, case, hard drives etc. You can upgrade, replace bits at will then. Your monitor you have now might be okay, or get a new one that will last several upgrades.

I love my Macs but when it comes down to it I have a PC about 7 years old, upgraded bits when needed and it runs my plotters, scsci scanner etc with all the old ports, serial, parallel etc.

Most importantly of all, stick with Windows XP Pro! Don’t go near Vista :lol1:

If they want to charge you extra for XP downgrade discs do it. Your existing license might work though if it didn’t come with your old PC.

[Lorraine Clinch]

Hi David, thanks for that, very useful. I think I will go up to the PC shop in the high street, see what they say.

So, another question, what spec should I be asking for? I’m thinking graphics card etc.

[Karl Williams]

Sorry Lorraine. I only had a quick look at your link and thought they were laptops. Must get my eyes tested! 😮 🙄 😎

[Gary Birch]

I have had a few from http://www.cclonline.com

Never had any issues with sales or aftersales service.

Cheers

Gary

[Tim Painter]

My VAIO experience is avoid them like the plague.

I would go to a local outfit and get a custom system made.

Make sure whatever you get that you can go to the local PC guy to upgrade or replace anything in the future.

My only concern with things put in small boxes is heat which is the bain of many PC headaches and failures I feel.

Also consider Windows 7 is on the horizon.

[Peter Normington]

PC world actually do some some very good deals, but you need to sit down in the business section and they will spec a machine and give ytou a quote.
I am not sure what you mean by an "all in one though"?

Peter

[Nicola McIntosh]

as a suggestion, try here lorraine, this is where I would buy a pc from, some brilliant machines for the money, I couldn’t build one for the same spec as these, get a nice big flat screen and hide your desktop? 😀

nik flip would help if i put up the link 🙄

http://overclockers.co.uk/

[JonPinder]

Hi Lorraine,

My first advice would be don’t get one built to order by a small shop they often are no cheaper in the long run than buying a good deal off the shelf from the likes of PC World/ staples etc and backup can be poor (only my experience and opinion of course).

If you’ve got the budget, like David says mac’s are great and you can dual boot them with XP pro so you have mac on one side and windows on the other. All the people I know who have bought Macs after being on Windows have never looked back. You may need to replace software to run on the Mac as your old software might be Windows only. Macs without doubt have the edge on all PC manufactures when it comes to build quality and design.

I had a Sony Vaio laptop for five years used it everyday and never had any hardware problems. Gave it to a friend and they still use it now for internet browsing etc and it still going strong. Sonys in my experience are generally reliable but can cost more than other brands that have the same spec or better.

Like Peter says you can pick up a good deal on hardware from PC World business centres as long as you get an adviser that knows what there talking about. You can order business base units usually for next day delivery that include Windows XP roll back disks. If you do order one of these order a HP and pay the £20 extra to roll it back to xp.

I wouldn’t worry to much about buying a PC with Vista on it. Ive been running Vista for over 8 months and after you switch off some of the fancy features it runs fine in my opinion. The only downside when I bought a computer with vista on was I had to upgrade from corel draw 11 to X3 as 11 wasn’t compatible with Vista. So you may find if you swap from XP to Vista you may need to upgrade some of your old software. If you’ve got expensive software you know wont work on Vista then buy a new unit with XP downgrade.

The setup I decided on was a laptop so I had portability should i need it, then when i’m doing my artwork i plug in a 22" external monitor with external keyboard and mouse so it acts more or less like a PC. Get the best of both worlds.

Ive rambled on enough hope I helped, all the above is only my opinion of course.

[Lorraine Clinch]

Thanks Jon, Nik and everyone else who’s replied.

I have always had the impression that Macs are really difficult to use? What is the difference between a Mac and Windows? I know people with Macs say they love them, but why?

[Peter Normington]

Buy a mac by all means they are easy to use, but for your use, a 300 quid pc will do the job, and I dont mean that in a disrespectfully way.

Also signlab will not run under mac os

Peter

[Jamie Wood]

Although I use Macs, I agree with Peter. You are probably best sticking with what you know. You would need to replace all your PC software with their Mac
equivalents, which could end up being expensive. If you did and up going with
a Mac, you could install XP onto it, and either dual boot it, or get software like Parallels or VMware Fusion, which allows you to install Windows, and run in a
virtual environment. If you buy a PC, make sure you put as much RAM in as
you can afford, as this will make a big difference.

The reason I prefer Macs is simply that it was the system that I learned on and
got used to, so I got to the stage where I could pull all the software apart if I
had problems, and knew how to fix it. I never got to that level of expertise on
a PC, so get frustrated when things go wrong. Macs tend to be less techy to
use, although this doesn’t mean that they are still not powerful tools, so after
all said and done, I think a lot of it is down to personal preference and percieved value. (If it was me though, I’d buy a Mac!

:D)

[Zoltan Guban]

If you going to buy "all in one " it is like a laptop everything is soldered on main board, and if the graphic card goes wrong you need to replace all the board and no possibility to upgrade the graphics later or add a second network card or etc. One time i got one old sony vaio black screen service quote was a lot of money they ask me to take a look on it. I clean the ventilation with a vacuum cleaner and is still working. If it is just for some office and browsing buy something cheap and silent if for graphics add some memory and a better processor and a good graphic card. Check for the drivers before you by because i got my dell laptop with vista and it was not easy to put xp on it. I know you want one AIO but it is same as laptop.

[Alan Drury]

When I need a new PC I get the local and trusted PC guy to build one for me, It will have extra ports and parts I trust, I will have the Windows discs not some recovery disk that format my drive and puts back the surplus software I didn’t want in the first place. I also have 2 Acers, 1 Medion and 1 Dell all newer, all supposedly higher spec than my custom built and all slower than my custom built and if I have trouble it will be with one of these machines.
I may pay a little more but the extra is worth it in reliability alone let alone advice when needed.
Alan D

[Lorraine Clinch]

Well, I have taken all the advice on board, wrote a list and paid a visit up the Street to our local PC shop!
I am getting a tri-core processor, 3GB memory, 500mb hard drive, a good graphics card (but not quite gaming spec), 11 USB ports, a parallel port (for the CX24 and PC60) – that is if I can find one! – wireless card, DVD drive and Win XP home. Cost: £500.

What do you think? Do I need to change/add anything? What do you reckon to cost? I should have it next Friday.

[Zoltan Guban]

One more thing the power fun should be with the big ventilation 12cm it is more silent. I can say nothing to the price because i build my desktops myself.

[Lorraine Clinch]

Well, I am all set up on my new PC, I took all the excellent advice onboard, and had a PC built to requirements, and so far so good. It’s so quiet I only know it’s on because I can use it, and speed seems to be good (quad). I have loaded all my programmes on, and all the work files I have ported over, so I hope this is going to be OK now.

I’m dead pleased because I have done it before the old PC broke forever, so have got everything on in my time, not in a rush!

I also have a 22" widescreen, which I will put up another thread for, see if I can get an answer to my query.

Thanks to all of you who helped with my computer-buying.

Lorraine