David Lock

Am looking to replace my five year really slow and clogged up old home computer used for home business, internet and use by reasonably responsible kids for schoolwork. Currently no ADSL in area but this may arrive this year. Prefer tower rather than laptop and want to buy locally with support I can call on rather than go for say, Dell, which someone told me was about best value price wise (?).
Local place top of the range package is as follows:

AMD Athlon XP2200+ Processor
512MB PC133 system memory
128MB AGP 3D graphics card
17 inch TFT slimline panel
120GB Fast 7200rpm hard drive
56k modem
Broadband & networking facility onboard
MS Windows Millenium or XP Home
DVD-Rom drive + CD re-writer drive + 60 watt stereo

Most of the above is way above my head so would this fit the bill or are there obvious questions I should be asking? Price £1299 inc VAT. I understand the 17 inch flat screen is expensive but I do like the larger screens as my eyes aren't 100%. Note I am relaxed about spending £100 or so over the odds if I can walk into a local shop and sort out problems rather than spend hours on the phone with PC support lines. Any advice/comments would be welcome. Thanks, David.

jase555

17" tft £286 plus vat for a basic one

depends on the graphics card , it may only be worth £60/70 new, and they are phasing out pc133, so to me it should be DDR not SDR, if its SDR its an old motherboard

hope this helps
jase

ChrisB

Few points IMO...

As Jase says, the memory is old PC133 SDR (Single Data Rate). DDR (Double Data Rate) is much quicker and the defacto choice for new PCs - we haven't built a new SDR RAM PC for months now.

Clarify what graphics card you are getting - 128MB AGP is a bit vague for me.

The XP 2200 CPU isn't really top of the range these days (XP 3000 is) but it will cope happily with general home & business use.

Take XP Home over Windows ME.

Is the TFT a good branded model (Samsung, NEC, Iiyama etc) or a cheap no name?

HTH,

Chris.

DominicA

friends have recently been buying from Dell outlet...

P4 2.53 512DDR2700, 60G 7200, 128Mb Radeon9700tx, CDR, 5.1 sound,etc for about £530 inc..... add a TFT on top and it's coming in at around £880 inc all in......

So, no, your deal is not looking very good at all...

David Lock

Thanks you very much indeed. Food for thought and at least I can ask some questions with a bit of background. As far as the screen is concerned the shop's separate parts price lists includes a 17 inch Flat Screen Panel Multimedia AOC (is that a decent brand name?) at £449 inc VAT which, from what you are saying, is over the top?

I didn't know Dell had outlets so will investigate. Anyone know a local one to me. I am now in Storrington, West Sussex which means Chichester, Brighton, Worthing as main towns.

Is the P4 superior to the Athlon (or is that a stupid question)? and what does a graphics card do?

Thanks again, DL




[Edited by David Lock - 4/30/2003 9:30:37 AM]

ChrisB

AFAIK, Dell Outlet is purely on-line still?

AOC is a pretty good name for monitors, although I would probaly rate it tier two compared to NEC, Samsung and others.

As something to compare the spec to, try this Evesham:

http://www.evesham.com/PCs/Info.asp?...A-F13B3BFE4F95 for £1179 inc VAT.

They do have a store in Royal Tunbridge Wells so 30 miles or so.

For general bang per buck, the Athlon is better than the P4.

Graphics card (aka AGP Card, Video card) is what drives the monitor so you can see what's going on

Chris.

[Edited by ChrisB - 4/30/2003 9:47:47 AM]