PC Specialist - Experiences please!

[DonKiddick]

Does anyone have any experience - good or otherwise - of buying a middle of the road PC from these people?
My 8 year old PC (purchased from good old Evesham) is ready for replacing and I have heard negative vibes about some of the popular High Street suppliers.

[theprof]

Go for it. You won't regret it.

I have three PC's at home which are linked via a server in my hall to my university for me to access the stuff I need out of hours. I also have another PC that's linked to a government computer network as I do a bit of moonlighting for government agencies.

For technical reasons, these networks have restricted some of the freedom I'd like on the internet due to powerful antivirus and firewall protection that cannot be disabled.

In March, I started looking for a new fairly powerful PC that I could connect to Tiscali Broadband, my own ISP. I spoke to quite a few IT technicians at uni, who told me to steer clear of many of the most famous makes such as Dell and Acer. They had all heard of and had good experiences with PC Specialist. This was good enough for me so I went ahead and built my own system using the system builder online.

I can't remember all the spec, but I know the system I bought uses an 3.2 GHz AMD 6400+ dual core chip, an Epsilon 900w PSU, a "heat-pump" heatsink device for the CPU, a Nvidia GForce 8600 1024 mHz graphics card, ASUSTek M3A motherboard, 4096 MB top-speed Corsair memory, 2X500GB HDD, Realtec sound Card, 52 card memory card reader, 2 Lightscribe DVD RW Dual Layer drives, Asus wireless adapter card, TV card, firewire Ports, 10 USB2 sockets, upgraded wired keyboard ( I detest wireless keyboards and mice!), wired optical mouse, speakers, 19 inch upgraded LCD monitor (more pixels) and a silver aluminium Trigon case (hinged RH side only).

The installed software included MS Office 2007 trial - I didn't need this as I bought a two disc set of Office 2007 Professional Plus for around �40 from an educational supplier, which retails at over �400 from the likes of PC World ( Office 2007 student edition is rubbish compared to it and more costly when bought from PC World). Other software included LG video player, the latest version of Nero, sound

[theprof]

card software and wireless card software.

The OS I chose was Vista Home Premium and in doing so, PC Specialist surpassed themselves. You see, not only did they install the OS, but they also provided the original installation disc. This disc is NOT an OEM version but is identical to what you would buy in PC World complete with booklets etc. I took this disc into uni with me and the technicians had never heard of a supplier providing a full disc in this way due to the cost involved. But that was not all. Three months later, we bought our youngest teenage daughter a pink PC from AUT Computers which we asked them to put together from our specification before despatch (We couldn't get a completely pink PC from anywhere else). We chose not to have an OS installed by the supplier. When the PC arrived, we successfully installed Vista on it using the disc supplied with my PC, which saved us quite a bit of money.

The system works brilliantly and I've never had an ounce of trouble with it. The 4GB of memory allows the use of intensive programs such as Adobe InDesign CS3 and Adobe Photoshop CS3 alongside MS Office and surfing the web with no detectable performance slowdown.

So, what was the total cost of my PC? Including VAT it was just under �1100, which I've been told was an outstanding price. More than one person has told me they couldn't build it themselves for that cost and frankly, I don't know how they keep their prices so low even after taking the obvious into account such as bulk purchases.

I can't recommend PC Specialist highly enough.

[Ethel]

I've never heard of them but found this:
http://www.researchtalk.co.uk/rt/2008/07/04/pc specialistcouk-a-warning/
Could be a disgruntled ex-employee, I suppose.

Mixed reviews here:
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/com puter-hardware-reviews-write/124678-pc-special ist-co.html

The problem is people are all too happy to make their grievances and complaints known - you rarely hear of anyone praising a company or product.

I can tell you that I bought a low end Medion desktop around 7 years ago from a major high street non-computer shop. I have not had a minutes trouble with it and have spend just a few pounds adding more RAM (2 years ago) and an ethernet port.

I bought my Acer laptop around 5 years ago, again with no problems at all. I added more RAM last year.
Both machines get a lot of heavy use.

Computers, whether desktop or laptop, are a lot more reliable than they used to be and I think you'd have to be really unlucky to get a 'bad un'.

[theprof]

Ethel, thanks for that. it made interesting reading.

I can confirm that the claims made by the company about letting people know the progress of the order are true. We were sent daily emails showing everything from order received, to stock picking, assembly and testing periods. In fact, I think the testing took them three days.

As for the PC not being to the spec ordered, this was not my experience. We've taken ours apart and checked everything inside to make certain it is what was ordered. It is exactly as we specified even down to the brands. In addition, I was recommended to install a free program called Belarc Advisor to "interrogate" the PC for hardware and software and it confirmed it too.

If they have been bad in the past, they've obviously cleaned up their act now.

[Ethel]

You must have had reason to 'take your pc apart to check everything inside'. That is not something the average person when buying a new pc.

I'm glad your experience with the firm was good, but I still maintain that a bog standard �300 pc from the High Street is good enough for most home users, unless they are into video editing or high end gaming. Yours was �1100 which is fine if you need such high end kit. The average domestic user would probably do better buying a cheap one every 4 or 5 years. At today's prices that would the 16 years of use for �1100, and they are getting cheaper and higher spec by the month.

[theprof]

Yes, Ethel I did need high end kit. As for checking the PC internally, not having dealt with them before, I needed to know I got what I paid for. As for whether this is something, the average person does, given the rubbish that's installed in the likes of �200-�300 PC's from PC World etc, I'd highly recommend it. Like it or not, in this world, you only get what you pay for. Buy rubbish and expect rubbish performance.

I'd agree that if you only want to surf the web and use a few standard programs, then a bog-standard PC is OK. This has always been the view and recommendation of people who write editorials in computer magazines. Furthermore, given the complaints that people make of such retailers washing their hands of complaints outside the guarantee period, I doubt that even a cheap computer lasts four or five years without some degree of problems.

As for upgrades, such as memory, the buyer would be better making certain they've got suitable memory before purchase so these things don't arise. You don't invite trouble needlessly.

[theprof]

Incidentally, there's enough information out there from reliable retailers, books and magazines to tell you the amount of memory and suchlike you need based upon the intended use of the laptop or PC.

[trish432]

I have to agree with Ethel about Medion, I have had mine for 3 years without any problem. My daughters also have Medion, and my sister.
One of my daughters and my sister bought their`s from Woolworths, but I always buy any equipment such as computer, tv dvd recorder etc. from Aldi, as they supply a 3 year guarantee.
Another good thing about medion is that they supply a windows disc and also an application and suport disc, which is used to return your computer to factory settings, and takes about 10minutes.

[Ethel]

As you will see, my old cheapos are still doing very well, not a bit of trouble and they both get a lot of use.

Many people buy computers with features they never have a need for, nor properly understand the functionality of many of the features.

After 5 years use, I don't object to spending �40 on more memory. No matter how much you pay for a pc today, you can buy better specs for half price within a year or two.

So DonKiddick, I hope you are better informed than you were before you posted your question. For every one who loves a certain brand, there will be another that has had a bad experience. Trish and I are happy with our 'cheapies' and if I need to buy another pc tomorrow, the ones I have will owe me nothing.

Before you buy, know what you need - how you will be using the pc. For example, today's pcs can come with blu-ray players and tv tuners. Do you need or want that?

Just be sure your new pc has enough RAM for the operating system - at least 2 GB. Go to a large computer shop and have a good look at what is available. You can get pcs with huge screens, and laptops with tiny screens,

Buy the latest PC magazine of your choice, as theprof suggests, and read the reviews and get a feel of current specs.

If I remember rightly you are planning on going over to broadband - you won't believe the difference

[theprof]

I have nothing at all against Medion PC's. My brother-in-law who lectures in computer science in the South of England is on his third and I had one myself a few years ago. It worked like a dream.

However, these PC's currently retail at around �500 without the monitor in stores like Aldi. whichever way you look at it, you're getting �500 worth of raw computing power with 3 or 4GB of RAM. These are powerful machines.

However, just sit back a minute and think about the type of rubbish that was promoted by PC World over the Christmas period. They were pushing a PC (can't remember the model number) for around �250 -�300 with the monitor included. Given that even a basic LCD monitor costs in the region of �80 - �90, they can hardly install quality components in the tower of that PC can they?
When you take into the cost of essential peripherals and software such as keyboard, mouse, speakers, cabling and MS Works etc, it's time to ask serious questions about what's being bought - ignorance is no excuse.

As far as PC's becoming better value for money are concerned don't be too misled. Years ago the choice was only between high- end Pentium and slightly cheaper Athlon chips. Since then, we've had the likes of the Centrino, Turion, Celeron lower-performance chips introduced which certainly work, but have enabled manufacturers to build machines like the PC World one for next to nothing. When you factor in stuff like on-board sound and graphics, these computers are just a joke. This is a major reason why the price of computers seems to be coming down. What retailer tells you that these lower-performance chips struggle to process data in comparison to the computers with the big boy chips sitting next to them on the shelf?

Memory prices go up and down from week to week due to fluctuating demand for memory from PC manufacturers.

(continued)

[theprof]

I won't deny that there's not a market for these cheap PC�s, but if there was ever a case for caveat emptor, this is it. Don't forget, I'm not including Medion in this.

Most major manufacturers like Toshiba include a recovery disc to reinstall the OS. However, it's not the same as a new OS disc that you'd buy from a retailer and I received with my PC Specialist PC.

As far as buying an overloaded features PC goes, I agree with Ethel. However, don't make the mistake that you can only buy high-end PC's from PC Specialist. If you don't want it, don't include it in the system builder. You certainly don't have to include the kind of stuff I elected to put into mine and they will build you a PC for under �300 if that's what you want. Omit the blue-ray drives and TV Tuners if you don't need them. If you don't need a monitor, don't buy it.

As Ethel says 2GB of RAM is generally regarded as the minimum memory nowadays. PC Advisor magazine has unbiased monthly reviews of the most popular PC's on the market and for general advice try ComputerActive magazine which is published every fortnight.

[ChuckFickens]

DonKiddick has got his moneys worth with reading on this one and they have had lengthy advice from two of the most respected contributers on this site. so for my 1pence worth...

I have never heard of them, but from reading the above they sound like they have been round for a little while and offer a pretty much "we will build whatever you want service"

if you take a build what your want option you have to start thinking thing like "do I need that killer graphics card" or "do I need 5.1 surround sound"

if not and if they are a decent company then tell them what you want to use the computer for and get a spec from them, dont buy it there and then, tell us and let us know what spec they propose and sure we will all put forward views on if it's too low, overkill, or spot on.