Advice wanted for a new stack PC computer

[PeckhamRose]

MrPR needs a new Windows computer, and has decided he still wants a tower system as apparently you can get more for your money than even the largest laptop. I wouldn't know. I am still happy with the laptop I bought as a result of a wonderful recommendation on here from someone whose name I am ashamed I have forgotten!

If anyone can assist with suggestions, I would be grateful. I thought towers had gone out with the Nokia...

Edited to switch the word stacks for Tower!

[mrmarkie121]

Hi PR, I am a local IT expert and have advised many people on here as to which Desktop or laptop would be right for them however, there is a few things I or anyone else would need to know before I/we advise you. First of all, is it for work or play? Second would MRPR be using it for any type of graphic design or gaming? Third how much memory/storage would he be wanting. And last of all does he want windows 7 or 8 or a apple mac? The answer's to these few questions will determine which type of machine is best for him.

Kind Regards

Mark

[PeckhamRose]

Thank you so much MrMarkie21!

We are not 'gamers', and we are PC folk, never got into Macs.

Not sure of the difference between Windows 7 or 8.

He'd want it for work and play. But 'play' is - as I said - not heavy gaming stuff and neither do we download films.

He stores a lot of stuff, specially photographic stuff on an external hard-drive but it would still be useful to have as large a memory as possible. He's a photographer by the way.

Thanks again!

[mrmarkie121]

Windows 8 is really all about touch screen and app's where as windows 7 is much more user friendly and 99% of people would pick windows 7. One more question, does he want a brand new desktop or a refurbished? also as you stated he is a photographer we are heading towards a packard bell imedia which has photoshop included :)

Kind Regards

Mark

[PeckhamRose]

I shall PM you, to prevent others being bored of this thread. Thank you once again. x

[mrmarkie121]

Yes good thinking. :)

Kind Regards

Mark

[LadyDeliah]

Try Dell Outlook. I get all my work computers from there. You can get high spec refurbed towers for about ?300. Never has a problem with any of them and they all come with Windows 8 installed.

Most have a 1 year warrantee too.

[Lowlander]

How quiet are these Dells? Are they comparable to laptops?

[LadyDeliah]

I've never noticed a noise from them. We have an old Acer that you can hear start up but I wouldn't describe that as noisy either.

Do you have ultra strong hearing or something or a really old computer?

[mrmarkie121]

LadyDeliah Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Try Dell Outlook. I get all my work computers from

> there. You can get high spec refurbed towers for

> about ?300. Never has a problem with any of them

> and they all come with Windows 8 installed.

>

> Most have a 1 year warrantee too.

Wow ?300 for a refurbished pc what a rip off!!! you can buy a brand new packard bell imedia from pc world with 3 years warranty. 8gb ram, 1tb hard drive fully HD windows 8 for ?279!!!

[LadyDeliah]

I prefer Dell myself, they last forever.

[Jeremy]

Entry level PCs are generally fine for anything except gaming or other specialist CPU-intensive software. I imagine photo editing software would run OK on pretty much anything (although I'm just guessing). All PCs now seem to have wi-fi and HDMI/full HD. Hard disk space is becoming less important with the growth in cheap/free cloud storage. TBH a cheap ?300 job like markymark suggests would probably be perfect.

Edited to say - the pro range Dell PCs are built like tanks and will have superior components, so maybe not a bad option if you can pick up a refurbed one. But their home PCs will probably be no better than a cheapo Packard Bell or Acer.

[LadyDeliah]

Just looked at the Dell Outlet page and they only have more expensive ones at the moment. They have lots of deals, but you need to check what is availble. The desktops I got for the office ranged from ?250 to ?300 and really fast with a massive hard drive. Clicking on anything is almost instantaneous and start-up time is about a minute.

[mrmarkie121]

Here is my main point, buying a refurbished computer from dell is the same as buying a cab drivers old car, It will have high mileage, been used every day until he got a new one. Dell rent pc's to offices and once they are returned they sell them. Office pc's used every day for most of the day without a break/only ever turned off at night. The cpu will have been under lots of pressure and will be half burnt out. So why would you buy that when for a cheaper price you can buy a brand new one with 3 year's warrenty? it makes no sense to me at all when the spec's of the pc from pc world are better than these old refurbished dells.

The NHS and many other companies use dell just for the fact that they get them cheaper or rent them. Plus this lady has already had refurbished desktop's and had problem's with them.

Kind Regards

IT Expert

Mark

[PeckhamRose]

A PC tower from PC World for ?250 - 279 just does not sound Good enough. How technical a reply is that. A tough call is this one!

[Jeremy]

The thing is... men always want a better spec than they need. From your description, the cheapest available desktop PC will probably be absolutely fine. But no, we want an i7 processor. We want 32GB of RAM.

We want a 30" 2560x1600 monitor (with a ?500 graphics card). We want SSD boot drives.

Just for watching YouTube, listening to Spotify, and playing Minesweeper.

[PeckhamRose]

Do people still play minesweeper? I did the hard version in 100 seconds and my evil aunt deleted the score.

[Jeremy]

I do. As well as watching YouTube and listening to Spotify.