New PC Prices

This link was posted in another group:

£234.99 for a new PC including XP Home (although no monitor).

How long can prices keep falling? The mainboard I want for my next build
is nearly as much as that!

BoyPete...

This is what I've just built for my lad..............

Case + PSU 40.00
Mobo (Gigabyte) 46.00
Athlon64.3200+ 55.00
2x512 Kingston RAM 70.00
Sony DVD reader 17.50
Sony DVD burner 23.50
160 Gig HDD 60.00
Floppy drive 5.95
Graphics 512Mb ATI 115.00
cables 11.00
Extra fans 8.90
Belkin optical mouse 10.00
Multimedia keyboard 5.95
Belkin wireless card 24,50
========
£439.90

Should do all he wants for a couple of years.
To this, I also added a 17" TFT, 'given' to me by my neighbour.
Case os black, with Silver drives. TFT is black and silver.

Faolan...

For a basic system doing email/word processing it's fine. 256Mb of RAM=20
is a bit lean for XP though, ideally you need around 512Mb.

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

It amazes me how many pooters are sold these days with XP Home or Pro
pre-installed, but only 256 Mb of RAM so called reputable firms these days.
Now what would be the cost of them adding another 256 Mb during manufacture?
Not-a-lot wouldba my reply.

Jeff Gaines...

Still more than letting you add it yourself :-)

256MB is OK for an XP PC doing office/Internet type apps. Vista, though,
is a while new ball game - to get the complete tart's experience you will
need 1GB (or more) of memory and a DX9 compatible GFX card.

If you intended to do any serious gfx work expect to pay a lot more, I=20
am currently looking at around =A3800 for a new box to do my post process=
ing.

BoyPete...

I'd say they're geting rid of old stock.
Barely enough RAM to run XP
PCI-E graphics is the way forward. Not sure how long AGP cards will be
available if you wanted to buy one later
64MB 'onboard' graphics.........games are out, and only minimal photo work.
Smallish HDD by todays standards
Motherboard is socket 754, same comment as AGP cards.........How long will
CPU's be available for that.

Frankly, unless all you do is read mail and write letters, I wouldn't touch

Jeff Gaines...

That's probably what, 80% of users though? For that sort of use you could
buy it, use it for 3 years and throw it away :-)

BoyPete...

Yep, very true. But don't forget to consider the people that buy a basic
computer, then discover all the 'other' thinbgs they'd like to do. :)

Flyiñg Ñuñ 2°°6 +...

Aren't we all those at first?

BoyPete...

Precisely my point :)

it.

David C....

Anyone actually used ebuyer?

It's time I did "something" about my main PC, perhaps replacement
might be in order.

Jeff Gaines...

From other groups they seem fairly typical - fine as long as nothing goes
wrong. If you do have a problem you have to use a web based ticketing
system but they do seem to respond, though perhaps not too quickly.

linkuk...

Seem to be pot luck if things go wrong like cars. Luckily ive been able to
sort most problems out myself by using internet friends and resources.
The only problem with internet resources of courses is if its your net
connection thats failed youve had it! lol
Getting internet running is always my umber one priority when im reintalling
everything.

aa...

Certainly an impressive looking spec for the price. Anyone care to comment
as to whether this would *actually* be a sensible purchase? I'm looking to
replace my Desktop PC at the moment and had budgeted about £1000, but maybe

pmj...

I think that one is cutting a few too many corners.
It's well worth paying a bit more than that for a PC, if you want
it to be noticeably better than what you have already.
(& if it isn't, then there's no real reason to change, is there?)
:-)

I could substantially reduce that amount?

pmj...

Yep!

There's *no way* you would need to spend anywhere *near* a Thousand
Quid, these days, for a decent PC, with all the reasonable Specs &
Equipment that you are likely to need.

You don't do fancy 3D "Shoot 'em up" or Driving type Games, do you?
& neither do you do a lot (if any) of Video Editing & Picture Editing
or making Music etc, do you?

So you won't need anything expensive (& by "expensive" I mean more
than about 700 or 800 Quid)!

Do you want the Price to Include a Monitor, or not?

That can make a difference of a 100 Quid or so - if you already
have a decent Monitor to use, then you may be able to save some
Cash by buying one without a Monitor & spending the Cash on more
RAM (or a bigger, faster Hard Disk, though these days even an
"El Cheapo" type Machine has a big enough Hard Disk for most people).

The days of ever-increasing Processor Speeds are over now, so don't
judge a PC by its Processor Speed - it would be a good idea to go
for one of the new Intel Core 2 Duo Processors - they have been
getting rave reviews all over the place recently - they really are
noticeably better (quicker, more powerful) than the previous Intel
& AMD Processors

That Page has Links to lots of different Reviews of them.

Also, think about what stuff you want in it - do you want built-in
WiFi & Bluetooth etc?

& do you want a TV/Radio Tuner Card in it?

Don't go for one that includes a load of extra peripherals such as
Printers, unless you really need a Printer as well - cos the Printers
that are Bundled with PCs are usually ones (such as Lexmark) that
cost very little to the PC Supplier, cos the Printer Manufacturer
expects to recoup the Costs on the price of the Ink Cartridges.

If you are thinking of getting the new windoze Vista, when it comes
out (next year), then it may well be worth making sure the Machine
you get now will Run it OK.

aa...

linkuk...

Ive been buying pc' since the mid 80's and i wouldnt dream of paying £1000
for one.
The prices have dropped drasticly over the years but what tends to happen is
that sellers try and maintain prices whilst giving more for the money.
ie. More speed, bigger hard drive, dvd rewriter as standard, extra RAM
memory, internet enabled etc etc etc.
If you want anything extra then you buy it seperately and have it installed.
The next windows apparently needs much better graphics so for anyone wanting
to use trhe new windows to its limit they are likely to need an extra
graphics card which would be better than the onboard graphics (and more
expensive)
When i get my next pc i will focus on the fastest processor that i can
afford at the time, a reasonable amount of RAM memmory, a DVD rewriter,
network card, (dirt cheap anyway) and probably a decent graphics card.
Other things that im likely to be interested in will revolve around
speakers,Monitor and perhaps miscelaneous usb devices.
I am not bothered any more about how big the hard drive is because for all
long term storage such as music and movies i reply on my existing usa hard
drive which i can swap between machines and usa as a backup.
Dont forget that most electronics are made by the same companies who stick
different lables on so dont think that paying extra for a brand name will
give you better value for money.
Just my thoughts after many years of wrestling with trying to decide which
deal is the best each time ive upgraded etc, hope it helps a bit.
Dave

aa...

Yes, that is helpful, thanks. The reviews on ebuyer certainly sound
positive, though like some of the reviewers, if I went for this, I would
most likely be looking to upgrade on RAM memory, Graphics card, keyboard and

linkuk...

Before you decide on a graphics card it may be worth asking around technical
groups about what card is likely to be needed for the next vista windows
version so that if you can afford to cover that eventuality it may be worth
it, even if you dont intend to get the new windows as soon as its out.

aa...

Thanks, I'd certainly be looking to buy a system that would safely cope with
Vista.

A technical help place ive used a lot is on paltalk which is a chatroom
system covering all sorts of things but includes pc support rooms.
They are all sound and vision as well so they explain things verbally as
well as typed.
(paltalk is a free program that can be downloaded and installed and also has
music rooms where you can both listen and play music.)

aa...

Thank you, will have a look at Paltalk.

mouse.

Thanks, that's helpful. I'd heard of 'dual core' but shall now definitely
include 'Intel Core 2' as a requirement and decent graphics card and sound
cards as well as good quality monitor and speakers.

I'm not really bothered about WiFi, Bluetooth, tv / radio cards as basically
I'm after a good quality reasonably future-proofed (eg. Vista capable)
machine that will form part of my home office. You're right, no games and
probably no video / picture editing at this stage, but would like it to be
capable of easily handling other modern media type applications eg.
downloading videos, music etc.

Anything else I should consider at the outset?