Pc Problems

[under par]

I've come back off holiday to find that my grandson has been playing about unsupervised on my computer and my PC that was already playing up (very slow and several glitches I could not resolve) has now ground to a halt.

I have my photographs and music backed up on a external hard drive thankfully!

So my FIRST question is.... Should I buy a new tower and start again or can my 6 year old tower be cleansed easily and have a new start with it?

I'm leaning towards buying a new tower currently... if the price is right


I mainly use my computer for internet and e-mail , storing photographs and small video clips.. also about 2000 mp3 music tracks. i do not use it for gaming or to play music.

SECOND question.

If I had £200 to £300 to spend on a new tower with Windows on, what spec could I or should I expect for my money... any links would would be gratefully accepted.

[ducasi]

Buy a new one – I'll leave Dreadful Scathe to suggest models and purchase options.

Am I right in thinking you are a iPod user? In which case, make sure you get a PC that has Windows XP on it, not just Vista.

[Trousers]

In which case, make sure you get a PC that has Windows XP on it, not just Vista.

Why?. .

[under par]

Buy a new one – I'll leave Dreadful Scathe to suggest models and purchase options.

Am I right in thinking you are a iPod user? In which case, make sure you get a PC that has Windows XP on it, not just Vista.

Yes I have had XP and would like to stay with that if poss. i don't fancy having to get used to a new operating system as well

[ducasi]

Why?. .

Because iTunes isn't compatible with Vista yet.

[Dreadful Scathe]

Buy a new one – I'll leave Dreadful Scathe to suggest models and purchase options.

Can I suggest he buys a Mac then ? To be honest, for what he uses it for, I don't see any need to buy a new computer at all, reinstalling the OS is far cheaper if you have the discs there. If you dont have the discs you would need to get them and maybe the hassle of reinstalling windows isnt really worth it - especially when you can buy this new PC with Sempron 3400+ Processor,512MB Memory and 80GB Hard Drive for £227 including postage. There are other deals of course - but the only thing i can think of that you may want is a DVD Writer or a new TFT screen, certainly you should be happy enough with the sound and gfx capabilities of that PC. I think external HDs are a good way to go for your modern day computer numpty

[StokeBloke]

If I had £200 to £300 to spend on a new tower with Windows on, what spec could I or should I expect for my money... any links would would be gratefully accepted.

I can't praise Morgan Computers highly enough. I would be looking at something like this from them. You're getting a brand new Pentium D 820 dual core processor, 512MB RAM, 160GB hard disk, DVD writer, flash card reader, XP Home & Works 8.5 for under £300 inc VAT. They are also currently selling 19" TFT widescreen monitors for £150 inc VAT or you can just use the screen you are currently using now.

HTH

[Dreadful Scathe]

I can't praise Morgan Computers highly enough. I would be looking at something like this from them. You're getting a brand new Pentium D 820 dual core processor, 512MB RAM, 160GB hard disk, DVD writer, flash card reader, XP Home & Works 8.5 for under £300 inc VAT. They are also currently selling 19" TFT widescreen monitors for £150 inc VAT or you can just use the screen you are currently using now.

HTH

It seems pretty good, but the extras it gives underpar he doesn't really need for the extra £60 it will cost him compared to the quoted £227 ebuyer box. I am as guilty of this as the next man of spending "just that little bit" more because it has "just that little bit" extra...but why ?

[StokeBloke]

It seems pretty good, but the extras it gives underpar he doesn't really need for the extra £60 it will cost him compared to the quoted £227 ebuyer box. I am as guilty of this as the next man of spending "just that little bit" more because it has "just that little bit" extra...but why ?

Well you pays yer money you takes yer choice I suppose.

As it's a photo's and music type thing he's after I thought the built in card reader, huge HDD and DVD-RW would be worth the extra pennies. Morgan do have lower spec machines for less money. I only mentioned Morgan because I have used them for years and they have real shops you can take stuff back to if there were to be a problem.

[under par]

I appreciate all the advice gents..thankyou .... I haven't got the disks for a re-installation so a purchase is probably on the cards....

[philsmove]

Their has been an issue with XP updates

Unless you’re looking for an excuse for a new toy

Try tuning it off and on several times (like about 6)

If you buy a new one with XP, you should be able to get a low cost vista upgrade option

In about a years time XP will seem as up-to-date as windows 98

Just after XP came out I had to buy 4 new computers for work, everyone told me to stick with 98

I am very glad I choose the XP option

When you get the new computer, create 2 accounts and password protect the one with admin rights

[philsmove]

, ....storing photographs ......

If you might, want to do serious photo editing later on
Consider a dual core processor and at least 1 GB of Ram

but his might push the price up towards £400

[Dreadful Scathe]

If you might, want to do serious photo editing later on
Consider a dual core processor and at least 1 GB of Ram

but his might push the price up towards £400

i doubt "serious photo editing" is on the cards

XP was out well over a year before i first installed it - windows 2000 was far better initially.

[killingtime]

If you might, want to do serious photo editing later on
Consider a dual core processor and at least 1 GB of Ram

You see photo editing, for most users, isn't that processor intensive. If you have 7 layers with alpha on them while applying some crazy filter with a 6MegaPixel image I can see you wanting some high end machine but changing colour balance or playing with filters shouldn't be that intensive.

Currently reasons to get high end machines seems to be gaming and video editing. Sure if you have some beast of a machine you can rip an album in a minute and a half but I'm sure most people can put up with waiting 5 minutes instead.

As others have already given machines at that price range I won't add my opinion. I've been thinking about upgrading too but, rather than build from scratch like I did with my current machine, I was thinking about buying a pre-built system without monitor or anything for around £500 which gets you a nice Athlon64 with pretties in.

[under par]

Hi everyone back on line with new tower I got this package from ebuyer

Item: Acer T180 AMD Athlon 3800+ Dual Core 1GB 160GB DVD-RW, VGA On-board, KB, Mouse Microsoft XP Media Centre -Free Upgrade to Vista
Qty: 1Cost: 255.27.

Thankyou all for your advice.

Check out my new threads for starting up problems.... coming soon to a cinema near you,,