£500 Desktop ?

[BRUN]

my grandad wants a new PC, his budget is £500

i was just gonna go for a Dell, but does anyone else have any good deals on at the moment

and also with the Dell, do i go for the 570 or 580 at £499, i used to know everything about the spec of different components, but now i dont know anything lol

the 580:

Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 540 (3.06GHz, 4MB)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit - English
ATI Radeon™ HD 5450 1GB DDR3 graphics
4096MB Dual Channel DDR3 [4x1024] Memory
1TB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive

the 570:

AMD Athlon™ II X4 630 (2.8GHz, 2MB Cache)
Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64bit - English
Nvidia ® GeForce G310 512MB graphics card
6144MB Dual Channel DDR3 [2x2048 + 2x1024] Memory
750GB (7200rpm) SATA Hard Drive

im thinking the 580 has the better processor and to go for that because the RAM can be easily upgraded later on

its gonna be used for general internet/Skype but also quite a bit of Photoshop use and maybe some video editing, but mostly Photoshop

 

[Gareth]

I'd agree, stick with the Intel over the AMD for sure. Graphics card is also much better which will help with Windows 7.

 

[BRUN]

thanks, any idea what monitors are good at the moment, are Iiyama still good ?

looking around £100-£150, about 22" ?

 

[rogueneo]

Ebuyer.com have really cheap monitors and components.

 

[BRUN]

which are the brands to go for though for monitors

 

[Gareth]

I like Viewsonic, they give a very crisp and clear picture. I've got two 17" TFTs on the PC downstairs, I've had them a number of years now and they have been faultless.

I've also bought a number of Viewsonic's in for work and have yet to see a fault with any of them.

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/151336

 

[Andy.]

It depends on whether you are fussed about the colour rendition or not. Most of the cheap LCDs are TN panels which do not have a full colour depth as they only offer 6 bits per RGB channel so you will never get the 16.7 million colours from a 24bit true colour panel. The colours also change as you move your viewing angle infront of the screen.

The cheaper price of the TN panels far outweighs the advantage of the colours for me personally though and I do a lot of work in photoshop etc. I have a Samsung monitor and it has been great. I don't think there is much of a difference TBH.

P.S. go for a 24" at least!

 

[Pete.M]

Ebuyer.com have really cheap monitors and components.

Wouldn't touch them... I've heard too many bad things, people not receiving orders etc etc. (this was over 5 years ago though, I am much like the OP I have fallen out of touch with whats the good stuff now a days (my usually rule is bigger is better!)

Monitor wise I have a Samsung and cannot fault it at all, cracking monitor (22inch widescreen) I paid about £150 for it a couple of years ago, along with that I use dual screen, having started using it at work I wouldn't be without it! Much better than a larger screen!

ETA: Its Full HD using the HDMI out on the graphics card so image quality is sweet

 

[JonniP]

dell outlet online shop

 

[Gareth]

I've never had a problem with ebuyer and have bought a lot from them, Scan's (www.scan.co.uk) service though is second-to-none, amazing. I've bought a lot from them also, usually I'll buy from them or ebuyer depending on price.

 

[BRUN]

Samsung were always pretty good when everything was CRT, not far behind Iiyama so i might look at those aswell

 

[Gareth]

I've had problems with my Samsungs (dead-pixels, monitors flickering) the customer service is fantastic, but despite having replacements the problems have re-occured numerous times.

 

[BRUN]

Iiyama it is then

 

[Ads_172]

Worth considering building it yourself mate? You will get a much better PC and it really is easy. There are loads of guides you can follow now.

 

[Pete.M]

I've never had a problem with ebuyer and have bought a lot from them, Scan's (www.scan.co.uk) service though is second-to-none, amazing. I've bought a lot from them also, usually I'll buy from them or ebuyer depending on price.

Ah well thats fair enough if you have positive experiences, mine is just hearsay at the end of the day. Scan I can recommend too, I live near them, they are right next to the reebok stadium!

 

[BRUN]

Worth considering building it yourself mate? You will get a much better PC and it really is easy. There are loads of guides you can follow now.

ive built a few pc's before but i dont really think ill save much once ive bought a genuine copy of windows 7, if anything at all

 

[poopipe]

dell outlet online shop

that^^

i saved about £1200 on my big 3d workstation from there. it'll be the first place i go come upgrade time.

Dell have been making perfectly decent systems for 4-5 years so I wouldn't build myself these days - its not cheaper, it's a pain in the bum and you don't get a warranty.

 

[Gareth]

yeah I'd agree, I've got a colleague who wants a new PC for around £400. I've told him to go straight to Dell and not bother building it himself, by the time you factor-in piece of mind, warranty & OS into it, its not worth doing it yourself (not at that price anyway).

The PC I'm building myself at the moment is likely to cost me a fair bit more than I could buy one for, but it will be custom built to a very certain look and spec I want, for that I am willing to pay a bit more.

 

[BRUN]

Dell for me have knocked home builds on the head, they are cheaper than anyone else and once you buy an OS i dont think you really save anything

i think were gonna get a Dell monitor as ive found a decent one they do, 23", for a reasonable price

 

[Malachi]

Bit late maybe, but as said before checkout ebuyer, and also overclockers.co.uk.

 

[BRUN]

i wouldnt buy from overclockers.co.uk ever

 

[z8jay]

ocuk are fine until you have to return something.

their delivery charges are quite ridiculous aswell

 

[JJ!]

I'm using a 22' LG faltron (w2261vp) with my mac and I am finding it superb! Can pick one up for around £120.

 

[BRUN]

he went for a 24" Dell in the end, its a nice spec of machine too, upped the ram to 6gb

 

[Malachi]

I bought an OcUK PC just after Christmas last year. To date it is running perfectly, and delivery was free Plus it was the cheapest around by far as I wasn't prepared to build it myself. Last time I did that it asploded.

 

[Griff]

ocuk are fine until you have to return something.

their delivery charges are quite ridiculous aswell

Not for me. I get free delivery from them.

 

[Mark One]

I've ordered by old man a really nice AMD Phenom II system. I'm building it though....
It'll be 3.2 Ghz Quad Core, 4gb DDR3 £520 delivered with no OS.

 

[Malachi]

No offence intended, but what will your dad be doing that requires quad core and 4GB DDR3? Seems overkill tbh.

However, you can pick up i3 systems with decent RAM and an OS for about £370 delivered now iirc.

 

[BRUN]

yup we went for the i3 system from my choices on the first page but upped the RAM

 

[Malachi]

Fair enough, as long as you're happy I wish choosing a laptop was just as easy