What PC base unit should I buy?

[pink21]

Our Packard Bell has packed up on us have taken it for repair and told mother board and other parts have gone possibly due to a power surge. Repairers offered to build a new one for us and transfer our current hard drive for �400 - does this sound reasonable.

If I were to buy a new one I would welcome any advise on what sort of spec I should get. Not a games player, just internet use, spreadsheets, transferring music to Ipod.
Should I go for Windows Vista?

Thanks

[ACtheTROLL]

from the sound of it .... you can get away with quite a low spec machine (I'd recommend a whopping hard disc though!)

It depends on your budget ... a p4 3Ghz - 1Gb ram & 500Gb hdd would do.

however these days ... it tends to be dual core ....
a lower spec machine
http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/pro ductdetails.aspx/inspndt_530?c=uk&cs=ukdhs1&l= en&s=dhs
and I think youll find XP fairly races!

I like vista .... but in your case .... why rock the boat .... ?
that way your existing software will work OK.

don't forget to hang on to your old HDD ... stuff it into a usb enclosure ... then you have your stuff safe .... and you can use it for backup when yopu have your new machine setup

[vehelpfulguy]

This is a good site for finding recent Dell deals

http://www.hotukdeals.com/

Near the top just chose a "topic" of "computers" and a "forum" of "deals" then click on the large "NEW" tab and it will list all the latest computer deals.

There are loads in there.

[vehelpfulguy]

>Repairers offered to build a new one for us for �400 - does this sound reasonable.

It depends what it includes.

If it is just the system unit (the main box) then that sounds a little high, if it includes a new screen, keyboard, speakers, mouse, software etc then that is reasonable.

[vehelpfulguy]

How about this Dell system unit for only �211

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/confi g.aspx?b=&c=uk&l=en&oc=D032002&s=bsd

Original price = �188 (plus VAT).
Replace Vista with XP, still �188
Reduce warrenty to 1 year = now �109 (plus VAT)
Change disk size to 160Gb = now �129 (plus VAT)

Go to basket and it comes to �211.57 (with VAT and delivery)

That is a good price for a Dual Core, Windows XP, 2Gb of memory, 160Gb hard drive +keyboard & mouse.

You can use your existing monitor and speakers, or buy new ones for around �100 (dont buy the Dell monitors they are overpriced).

That comes to a total of �300 which is �100 less than the repairers are saying it will cost.

[Hymie]

In general, I would agree with what the others have recommended so far. But rather than connect your old hard drive via USB, why not incorporate it as a slave drive within your new PC. It is very easy to do.

I have two discrete hard drives within my PC, the main advantage is that I can very easily back up important data from the Master to Slave drive (although my PC might die � it is very unlikely that both drives will fail simultaneously). Also, should you want to run two operating systems (Windows/Linux), these can be installed, one on each drive.

If you don�t want to add the second drive to your new PC � rather than putting the old drive into a USB enclosure, a cheaper option is to buy only the necessary cables with PSU, to allow connection via USB.

[ACtheTROLL]

Hymie

The reason I suggested a USB enclosure is that a new machine is likely to have a sata rather than pata interface.
(not good to mix DVD/HDD on the single IDE channel)