New PC Help

16 Dec 2009

I am thinking of upgrading 'old faithful and getting myself a nice, all singing, all dancing, new PC after Christmas. I have been looking on a few websites but after reading all the bumf about what is out there, I have not a clue what to go for dunno

I mainly use the PC for Internet browsing (here), a little bit of (legal) downloading, photo editing, playing music, sometimes watching/basic editing of videos (no, not porn) and my Uni Course work. I am really after something which is a bit quicker than what I already have (plus its over four years old now and probably ready to die on me at any moment) and where I can have a few things open at once without the thing going on complete go slow.
I will probably get a monitor separately and don't need an enormous hard drive as I use 2 external hard drives, one for Uni, one for photos etc, and I back up to (his) network drive. Not bothered about wireless connection but I do know I want a card reader and as many USB's on the front as possible.
I am not sure whether I need to go for Vista or Windows 7, and what processor do I need? Quad core? Dual Core?
Help urgently needed and preferably in English and not 'geek' speak (remember I am blonde) lol

16 Dec 2009

Hi NWC
I run a website design company and we have recently upgraded a couple of our computers, we opted for Quad core processors, 8gb ram, hard drive, running windows 7.
If your only really using your computer for a bit of browsing and music etc, you should be fine with a dual core processor, The minimum ram you want is around 2gb but i would go for 4gb (vista and win7 both need a min of 2gb to run) and i would choose win 7 over vista due to the many bugs that vista still has.
have a they have great prices on pre-built pcs and accessories
Hope that helps
Stu

16 Dec 2009

i dont know i think the ? would be
1, which is better intel or amd
intel was more for office computers, amd was more a gameing machine ( multi use )
2, vista or windows 7
if you are more used to xp or xp professional then use windows 7 , vista still has bugs in system
3, dual core or quad core
quad is the new so why buy dual core as older
4,as quoted memory can be awkward
but remember hard drive cpu mainboard and memory anyone slower will slow your system down not by much these days as tech has caught up

16 Dec 2009

Thanks Stud, just waiting for the window to open so I can have a look at the site you recomend wink

16 Dec 2009

not a problem ive bought a few things from them over the years and never really had any issues. There based in Manchester too so if you have a problem you can always pay them a visit smile

16 Dec 2009

Quote by Big1gaz1
i dont know i think the ? would be
1, which is better intel or amd
intel was more for office computers, amd was more a gameing machine ( multi use )
2, vista or windows 7
if you are more used to xp or xp professional then use windows 7 , vista still has bugs in system
3, dual core or quad core
quad is the new so why buy dual core as older
4,as quoted memory can be awkward
but remember hard drive cpu mainboard and memory anyone slower will slow your system down not by much these days as tech has caught up

Thank you

and think it probably will be windows 7 (plus it seems cheaper so I can spend more on the PC) :wink:

16 Dec 2009

Quote by Naughty Wigan Couple
I am thinking of upgrading 'old faithful and getting myself a nice, all singing, all dancing, new PC after Christmas. I have been looking on a few websites but after reading all the bumf about what is out there, I have not a clue what to go for
I mainly use the PC for Internet browsing (here), a little bit of (legal) downloading, photo editing, playing music, sometimes watching/basic editing of videos (no, not porn) and my Uni Course work. I am really after something which is a bit quicker than what I already have (plus its over four years old now and probably ready to die on me at any moment) and where I can have a few things open at once without the thing going on complete go slow.
I will probably get a monitor separately and don't need an enormous hard drive as I use 2 external hard drives, one for Uni, one for photos etc, and I back up to (his) network drive. Not bothered about wireless connection but I do know I want a card reader and as many USB's on the front as possible.
I am not sure whether I need to go for Vista or Windows 7, and what processor do I need? Quad core? Dual Core?
Help urgently needed and preferably in English and not 'geek' speak (remember I am blonde)

My computer is older than yours and it does all of the above with no problem. If your computer is slow then make sure its fully debugged use all the normal stuff like Spybot search and destroy and advance system care. Make sure you clear all of your Internet browsing history regularly as well. Ram is important to your PC speed 1GB should be more than enough for the applications you have listed, I am doing all of the above on 712mb of ram. Check what applications are running when your PC starts as too many un needed applications will slow it down.
Check what performance you get from your Broadband connection, guessing thats what you use. You can do a speed test here
If you really are only using simple stuff you dont need an all singing and dancing PC. Its surprising what PC's are capable of if they are not trying to do unnecessary tasks or running too many applications at once.

16 Dec 2009

I could help..........but you wouldn't listen would you.......:mrgreen:

17 Dec 2009

Quote by tweeky
My computer is older than yours and it does all of the above with no problem. If your computer is slow then make sure its fully debugged use all the normal stuff like Spybot search and destroy and advance system care. Make sure you clear all of your Internet browsing history regularly as well. Ram is important to your PC speed 1GB should be more than enough for the applications you have listed, I am doing all of the above on 712mb of ram. Check what applications are running when your PC starts as too many un needed applications will slow it down.
Check what performance you get from your Broadband connection, guessing thats what you use. You can do a speed test here
If you really are only using simple stuff you dont need an all singing and dancing PC. Its surprising what PC's are capable of if they are not trying to do unnecessary tasks or running too many applications at once.

I do use spybot regularly, and have just done a complete reinstall to get rid of all the bits I was hanging on to, internet history and old tmp files removed regularly and I am also running on 712mgb ram. My internet is 20mgb and is running fine but the PC is slow when I have a couple of things running (and goes to virtually a holt when Im in chat, with cam on). I did look at buying more RAM but its that old, I can nearly get a new PC for the price I will have to pay for RAM lol

Quote by markz
I could help..........but you wouldn't listen would you.......:mrgreen:

Listening? Is that available on broadband or dial up wink

17 Dec 2009

Hi! Have you thought about getting a Mac? I have a pc, but much prefer using bbw_lovers Mac.. super fast and can have a myriad of things all open at the same time...
*kitty*

17 Dec 2009

Quote by Naughty Wigan Couple

I did look at buying more RAM but its that old, I can nearly get a new PC for the price I will have to pay for RAM

Ebay is your friend should cost no more than a few Â£
Anything from a pentium 3 upwards should run the applications you listed with no problem. It could be getting hot or you could have a high level anti virus as anti virus takes your PC speed down dramatically sad

In fact it could be a million thigs so if you cant be arsed go with a new one :lol: Just PC's aint that cheap for anything decent anyway.

17 Dec 2009

Quote by markz
I could help..........but you wouldn't listen would you.......:mrgreen:

Do you blame her?? lol