Need to get a new PC or Laptop - Advise me please

[Del Boy]

I would prefer to buy from PC World due to discount and the ease of getting it fixed when it goes wrong(oh it will).

I want to play latest games including FM 2005 etc.

How much will i be looking to spend?
What do i need to make sure the thing has ie RAM etc?
What graphics card?

I know nowt.

[Corrupt Rose]

If you want to buy a PC capable of playing all the latest games, then if you're going to PC World, you're going to be paying way over the odds. The majority of the reasonably priced PCs you see in that place have absolutely awful graphics cards installed, meaning you have to spring for a better one on top of the price.

Of course, it all depends on the size of your discount.

Secondly, if you want to be playing games, and mobility isn't vital to you, get a desktop. If you definately want a laptop, then the sort you're looking for is going to be going for ?1.5-2k+.

To be honest, the easiest way to buy a PC is to say how much you're willing to spend on the thing, and then buy the best specs for your money. Doing it the other way round almost always leads to spiralling costs.


edit - Oh, and PCs tend to be pretty reliable these days. I run mine with all beta drivers, and all that 'risky' behavior, and I don't actually remember the last time XP crashed on me.

[Digfox]

Just some quick answers but:

Depends on what exactly you want, however aim for a Intel Pentium 4/AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB of RAM and a ATI9800 or Nvidia 6600GT class of card upwards.

These would all be enough to play HL2, Doom 3, Farcry, WoW etc. Also would handle an upcoming game like Battlefield 2 (based on EA's min/recommended requirements).

Hope that helps, happy to give more info if needed.

EDIT - some good advice about portability and setting a budget above ^

[Corrupt Rose]

If you want the machine primarily for gaming, then do your best to get an AMD64 Processor of some description, simply because the AMD will outstrip a P4 (in the same class) running an single application (whereas the P4 is better ar running multiple applications).

So basically, an AMD processor focussing on running a game will provide better results than P4 doing the same.

[Del Boy]

Ok sorry for lack of info.

I get 10% discount at PC World and they have buy now pay next year intrest free.

I have around ?1k to spend.

[Corrupt Rose]

Okay, I know you wern't keen purchasing online, but have a look at this:

AMD64 3000+
1024MB DDR400
80GB SATA Hard Drive
16x DVD ROM/52x CD
52x CD Writer
128MB 6600GT
400W PSU

This comes to ?534 delivered.

It's an extremely respectable machine, and will run just about any current game you want to throw at it. If you've got a budget of 1k, you can tweak the spec as much as you like, and beef it up a bit (I recommend a better processor, but don't go above a 3400+, as then you'll be bottlenecking with your graphics card).

A bigger hard drive wouldn't go amiss either.

http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk

---

They're a decent company, and friends have mine have bought off them in the past. The last guy I know who ordered from them said they were a little slow in delivering, but I know he was asking for and X800PE when they were virtually unobtainable.

Give 'em a call with what you're after and see how long it would take them to get it to you.

[Magnakai]

That's an excellent machine, but I'd especially recommend getting a larger hard drive, since ridiculous sizes are so cheap these days and your budget's got much more space.

They may well be a good company, yet they need to update their front page a little:

Half Life 2 and Doom 3 are almost here...Make sure your computer is powered up for the experience with one of our powerful base units

Erm!

[SaijoBob]

If you want a good price and guarantee, I recommend Dell. If you buy from them online you can get some extra discounts. Type "5% Dell Discount Coupon" in google and see what it comes up with. I think www.couponmountain.co.uk might still have it.

I've bought a couple of Dell computers, and they have been good both times. Low hassle, decent power.

[PeteJ]

We have some Dell at work, and I would never, ever buy one again. If anything goes wrong you have to buy specific Dell stuff to fix. They suck, or at least the ones we own do Wouldn't mind one of their widescreen 21" TFT's though.

The above machine Rose spec'ed sounds pretty damn good to be honest. I also recommend trying www.lowestonweb.com if you want good stuff (unboxed, unbranded) extremely cheap. They are run by Evesham, so have very good service and although the branding sounds dodgy, I've not heard of anyone having bad components from them. I bought an X800XT Plat for less than most places were selling the X800.

I'm not sure if your 10% discount at PCWorld is going to get you enough to be honest, but you may find something special.

[SaijoBob]

I guess I've just been lucky with Dell's My Inspiron 5100 has lasted me for almost 3 years now, and has been lugged to work and back a heck of a lot.

The keyboard broke, but that was after I dropped some speakers on it... Ebay have cheap Dell replacement parts if you are out of warranty.

Anyway, look around for a good deal and I'

<ERROR ERROR ERROR>
<SYSTEM SHUTDOWN>
<THANK YOU FOR BUYING DELL>

[djjimbob]

Here's what I sent to a build your own pc forum...


Actually, it started with ordering Broadband. I chose Freedom2Surf at www.freedom2surf.net - They seemed to have good things said about them and ordering and installation presented no problems. It was a wires only service for 25quid a month and I supplied my own NetGear 834G Wireless Router which I bought from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000TZ8Z8/qid=1114586083/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-7193191-0141219

Oh yeah, it a 2MB line with 50GB limit per month - although you can download as much as you want outside peak times. It hasn't gone down yet, totally solid for 2 months now.

Now it's time to build a PC!

I started by buying some tools from Maplin:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=32142&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=&doy=27m4&Cache=#CacheID

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=17269&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=&doy=27m4&Cache=#CacheID

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=33778&TabID=1&source=15&WorldID=&doy=27m4&Cache=#CacheID

That's an anti static wrist strap, some red cable ties and an 18 piece tool kit. Total Cost: ?18.47

Then it was over to ebuyer at www.ebuyer.com:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=7102499544&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=72294

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=7102511520&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=83738

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=7102519002&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=79189

That's an MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Socket 939 motherboard, an Antec SLK 1650 case in black and an AMD 3200 Winchester 90n CPU.
Total Cost: ?297.05 - Grand Total: ?315.52

Now to Overclockers at www.overclockers.co.uk - I'm such a whore, I will shop anywhere - basically the cheapest!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Thermal_Materials_27.html

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Maxtor2.html

That's some Artic Silver Thermal Compound and a Maxtor DiamondMax10 300GB hard drive, both items at the top of the pages.
Total Cost: ?142.77 - Grand Total: ?458.29

Overclockers again for my memory:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Corsair_XMS.html

On that page it's the Corsair 1GB DDR XMS3200C2PT TwinX (2x512MB) CAS2 (MY-030-CS) - Which is basically 1GB of really nice memory spread over 2 sticks. The price has dropped about 20quid since I ordered about 1 month ago. Unbelieveable.
Total Cost: ?117.70 - Grand Total: ?575.99

Back to Ebuyer again for an extra case fan and a floppy drive:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=7102650000&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=62047

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6059250753&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=56770

That's a Mitsumi internal black floppy drive and an Antec 80mm case fan. Total Cost: ?15.41 - Grand Total: ?591.40

The dreaded www.scan.co.uk supplied my video card:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=162840

That's an Asus N6600GT PCI-Express.
Total Cost: ?131.00 - Grand Total: ?722.40

And finally, a DVD-ROM drive to load my O/S:

http://www.epcbuyer.com/products.asp?recnumber=3669

That was from www.epcbuyer.com and they were the only suppliers I had problems with. They took the money out of my account and then did nothing for 7 days until I sent them a few mails, which they didn't respond to, but the parcel came 2 days afterwards.
Total Cost: ?19.84


Grand Total: ?742.24

The grand total includes all VAT and shipping costs and may well be different to what the websites are offering now. It also includes a floppy IDE cable which I didn't actually need as one cam with the motherboard.

I will post again later after drinking my coffee to explain building the thing.

Jimbob

[Del Boy]

Great advice from all, but lost on me.

I wont beable to build one myself so the best computer to buy from anywhere would be?

[StanBush]

Personally i built my own PC but have always heard good things about mesh mate.
http://www.meshcomputers.com/updated/matrix_2_1.htm
This one is in your budget and will blow through all modern games