Time for a new PC - Need advice

[Mothman]

Been thinking that it may be time to change my trusted old HP Pentium 4 (Win XP) desktop PC, it still does 90% of what I want but I have noticed lately that it strugggles with some proceessor intensive tasks such as streaming video and ripping DVD's ect.

I'm a bit out of the loop with regard to current specs and so would appreciate any advice as to preferred makes, processors, amount of ram ect. A desktop form factor would be preferable with built in wireless if possible. A mega sized internal hard drive is not essential though I guess you can never have too much space. Also is Windows 8 now the weapon of choice for an O\S?


Cheers

[Tim]

Hi Rich, not sure if I will be much help as I have never bought an 'off the shelf' desktop computer having always built my own . . . previously because it was much cheaper (not so much now) but also because I like to hand pick the components - I spent more on the power supply and case on my last build than many people spend on an entire system! I'm very picky about power supplies as experience has taught me that a lot of peoples PC woes are caused by a cheap PSU.

Anyway, a bit more information is needed regarding your intended use - could you broadly outline what its intended use is going to be, so I can maybe help with the CPU? I take it you want an Intel machine? I would think an i5 should suffice unless you are a gamer.

Windows 7 or 8 will suit as an O/S, but 8 is quite a departure from what you are used to, but it should see you right for a good few years assuming that Microsoft stick with it? It should be a 64bit O/S and you need a minimum of 4GB RAM, 8 is better and its cheap right now, I have 16GB in my machine. If you are buying a new machine you may have no choice other than to buy a Windows 8 fettled one.

You really want at the very least a 1TB drive in a desktop and an SSD (Solid State Drive) for the O/S really make machines fly. Also look out for USB 3.0 and an HDMI video out. To give you an idea about an SSD, whilst I was messing around at the weekend testing scenarios for Geoff (Walpurgis) I noted some boot times with a clean Windows installation. A mechanical 7200rpm hard drive from turning on the power to it reaching the desktop took 1m 47s - a SATA II SSD 45s and a SATA III SSD 22s. Its not just boot times though, everything is really snappy and it even speeds up web browsing. So if you are investing in a new machine an SSD will pay dividends IMO.

I would buy a few magazines if it were me, PC Pro, PC Advisor and Computer Shopper to give you an idea of prices.

Regarding makes, well this is where I struggle as I have never bought one, but DELL, HP and Lenovo are sound. I personally don't like Acer due to their poor after sales service and website for drivers etc, which I have found lacking when fixing machines for friends - this is where the top two are ahead, not sure about Lenovo after sales, but I expect it to be good.

But buy some mags and take a trip to PC World would be the first thing I would do if I had been out of the loop since XP days

[isuckedmandelsonslemons]

Apple. They work.

[Firebottle]

+1
I'm totally frigged off with Microcrap (that's the right way to spell it isn't it?)

I've a relatively new machine running Win Vista and I still get the BSoD.

The next has got to be a Mac,

Alan

[stevekr]

Why not try a 'Hackintosh'. It runs osx and whatever other flavour of OS you'd like. Try tonymacosx86 lots info there. I've been running one for about five years and it's getting easier to do now.

[Mothman]

Tim, many thanks for the detailed reply. I'm not a gamer and audio duties are currently handled by a couple of SBT's, so I guess web surfing, rippings cd's & dvd's and streaming video from the likes BBC iplayer ect would cover most of it. Not looking for a cutting edge machine but also don't want something that is already at the bottom of the wood pile.

I must admit that I hadn't considered a SSD as I thought these had a very limited life span in terms of write cycles but maybe things have now changed?

I've experience Win 7 on my work laptop but will try to get a look at Win 8 before buying just in case it's very different.

Cheers

[Audioman]

+1
I'm totally frigged off with Microcrap (that's the right way to spell it isn't it?)

I've a relatively new machine running Win Vista and I still get the BSoD.

The next has got to be a Mac,

Alan

Should not be getting Blue Screen Of Death with Vista - something very wrong. Under specified PC ?

[Tim]

I haven't had a blue screen of death since an XP system about 9 years ago and it was a faulty power supply and that was my fault anyway, as I was over-clocking both the CPU and GPU and the power draw was too much for it. As said if you are getting a BSOD these days its your hardware at fault.

It amazes me the how little people know about PC's despite them being in most homes for over 10 years now

And guys, for goodness sake Rich asked for advice on buying a new PC, lets keep the Apple/PC war where it belongs, which is not here

Rich, from what you have described I would say you would be fine with an i5 CPU or if you go the AMD route, something like a new A8-5500, which is what I have. Great graphics from an integrated CPU and GPU which AMD are calling an APU (Accelerated processing unit).

[John]

I found moving to Windows 8 quite easy. With RAM I say anything between 4 to 8 GB will be fine you might not need 1TB if you not downloading lots of music and videos I would think 500 to 750 will be fine.

[Tim]

I found moving to Windows 8 quite easy. With RAM I say anything between 4 to 8 GB will be fine you might not need 1TB if you not downloading lots of music and videos I would think 500 to 750 will be fine.

Easy for you to say John, I have 12.5 TB here . . . you can never have too many hard drives