Ot Where To Get A 'puter

[Exmoor Beast]

I am after a new 'puter, got a new big flat screen for the CAD work, new speakers and the keyboard/mouse etc are all almost new. We are just about to get a new laser printer so I really just need the 'box'.

I don't need mega performance, no interest in games whatsoever, main uses are:

email/web browsing

AutoCAD

some picture manipulation

music playback/downloading

website updating.

So, who do I go to?

Will

(confused of Exmoor)

[02GF74]

I would guess that most of the high street stores Tesco/Dixons/Curry/PC world/Computer Planet etc: will sell the whole bundle including monitor & keyboard.

One possibility is Maplins; you can build it piece wice motherboard, processor, HD, power supply, case with fany neon lightning etc. but going by you previous posts involving electrickery, this would not be the ideal route for you.

If you as the stores, maybe they will sell the box on its own or else flog the monitor on e-bay. There are many backstreet small PC sellers that would do this, they appear and disappear all the time. Failing that, a look in Computer spotters monthly may help.

[Mark90]

Have a word with Chris Watts, he was saying he can get good deal on Dell's.

Even if Chris couldn't get good deal, I'd say buy direct from Dell.

[Fishd]

Second recommendation for Dell. If you want a deal and aren't too interested in having the "latest and greatest" look for links to the Dell Outlet on their homepage, you can usually get a hundred quid off or so.

I like Maplin... but I'd never buy PC gear from them, they stock all the cheapest and nastiest stuff usually.

Great place if you know what you're after is www.ebuyer.com I'm a happy customer of theirs, nothing more. But it's only a recommendation I'd make if you know exactly what you want.

Dell is low hassle, low price and I've found their customer service to be better than most.

[Exmoor Beast]

I was expecting Dell to get mentioned, we used them when I worked for a living

Any more folks?

Will

[v8bertha]

Theres a huge place in Portsmouth called Novatech. They are like a huge version of your local computer shop, except it ain't gonna go bust.

They have won numerous awards from the computing press and will build a PC to the spec that you want, including the afore mentioned blingy neon lights!!

www.novatech.co.uk

HTH

Dan

[Neil Marshall]

I am after a new 'puter, got a new big flat screen for the CAD work, new speakers and the keyboard/mouse etc are all almost new. We are just about to get a new laser printer so I really just need the 'box'.

I don't need mega performance, no interest in games whatsoever, main uses are:

email/web browsing

AutoCAD

some picture manipulation

music playback/downloading

website updating.

So, who do I go to?

Will

(confused of Exmoor)

Have a look at this website/ring this chap - normally has some interesting stock as an official Dell re-seller...very reliable [have bought a number of boxes and monitors for work]. Good aftercare. Can get all software at OEM prices.

http://www.mmtrading.co.uk/home.asp

0208 281 0314

regards

Neil

[white90]

Will

Scrumps builds top quality machines

give him a call.

[BogMonster]

I can vouch for Dells as well. Our company buys all Dells through our UK office and ships them down to us, we have 2 in our office, I have one at home, one of the guys in the workshop also has one at home and several other people over in the other office use them at work, no problems with any of them AFAIK, seem to be good machines and very reliable (famous last words.... )

My previous PC was a "built to order in an AT case" by a local computer store in Worthing and I thought it was great when I got it, fast and quite a bit cheaper than the "brand name" ones, then it blew up (power supply) then it blew up again (hard drive) then it blew up again (total motherboard failure) all in the space of about 18 months, and now I think I understand why the "proper branded PCs" are a bit more expensive - you get what you pay for! I'll be getting another Dell when the one I have at home starts to feel like a 100,000 mile 2.25 diesel, but having just doubled the memory in it, it feels like a new computer again so I reckon there are a few years life in it yet

I probably would have bought a Dell laptop but as I was in the UK recently I did some scouting around and found a nice Toshiba one which had all the stuff I wanted on it, also having seen Dell laptops I thought they felt a bit flimsy compared to a Tosh.

[Guest MJG]

Dell, Dell and thrice Dell.

Easily IMHO the best value PC's around at present.

I use one at home and at work and my PDA is a Dell Axim - so I am a bit of a Dell fan you might say.

Not sure about just buying the tower/desktop unit though, I think they will do this.

I'm sure a call to their very helpfull sales staff (In Bombay me thinks, this being one of the ways they keep the price down) will get you sorted though.

They also pop up from time to time on eBay, but you need to exercise due caution here of course.

[Mark90]

Will

Scrumps builds top quality machines

give him a call.

Used to be the way to do it, but these days you struggle to buy enough parts to build a PC for what you can buy one for from the likes of Dell.

[Guilford Dave]

Will

Scrumps builds top quality machines

give him a call.

Used to be the way to do it, but these days you struggle to buy enough parts to build a PC for what you can buy one for from the likes of Dell.

Yes but be careful with the extras from Dell. Free printer but only comes with a test ink cartridge. 2 Black and one colour cartridge $150.00 ish, Cables @ £29.00 upgrade to DVD player from CD £49.00 etc etc .

Good value for the basics but be careful for higher specs on their up sell.

[wormhole]

If you are using AutoCAD I would recommend you get a machine with a seperate graphics card, possibly a gaming card would be the cheapest way, we have just bought a computer today, for working AutoCAD...

AMD 2600 Sempron

basic motherboard with onboard network and sound

CD-RW & DVD-ROM combi

512MB RAM

40Gb Hard disk

Geforce 5200 graphics card with 128mb memory

all build in case etc... no monitor, keyboard or mouse. price was £280 inc VAT from the local computer shop

I would recommend this as a minimum spec for anyone running AutoCAD to do anything other than very basic 2D work.

Personally I would avoid a computer based on a Intel Celeron as I believe they are too slow, 512mb RAM ‘cause its quite cheap this will run everything you want...

for info this is the current requirements for AutoCAD

Intel® Pentium® III or later processor or compatible, 800 MHz or higher

Microsoft® Windows® XP (Professional, Home Edition, or Tablet PC Edition with SP1 or SP2) or Windows® 2000 Professional (SP3)

512 MB RAM

500 MB free disk space for installation

1024x768 VGA with true color

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 (SP1 or later)

CD-ROM drive

Mouse, trackball, or compatible pointing device

Hope this helps

[wormhole]

Doh!

[FridgeFreezer]

A second vote for www.novatech.co.uk and a vote for www.refreshcomputers.com too.

Also agree you'll want a decent graphics card, in fact almost a gaming spec PC, for CAD. Although it's less exciting than gaming it puts similar loads on graphics & memory.

[Exmoor Beast]

What about Morgan Computers? I have used them for other bits and their service was good.

I don't use 3D AutoCAD at all, currently runs just fine on 800Mhz processor and 128Mb RAM and I have used it on much less than that. I think computers are hugely over specified now.

I can see some sense in getting a DVD writer so thats on the list

I was thinking something like 2.66 processor and 512Mb RAM and HD of 40Gb+, our ex demo Laptop has something like that and it seems plenty quick enough to me. At £400 I am pleased with it.

Will

[darthdicky]

I'd say Dell or Mesh.

I've been very impressed with my Mesh PC which is now 2 years old and still works fine (touch wood!). Only thing that went wrong was the DVD drive breaking and they came out and replaced that for free. My grandad's one still works fine apart from the Mitsubishi monitor which is dying and getting very fuzzy now.

The place I'm working at the moment bought me a new Dell PC to work on and I'm pretty impressed with it. It's not a cheap one (3Ghz, 1GB RAM, 300GB HD etc. about £780+VAT I think) but it's got an upgraded 19" Ultrasharp monitor (very very nice, but this one is faulty and they still haven't replaced it after 2 weeks. Customer support is very good, always get through quickly but the suppliers haven't got enough spare monitors or something)

IMHO with most of these ones now it's not worth choosing a cheap one and upgrading the bits to the spec you want, just find one of their pre made ones of thats nearest spec-wise as it works out cheaper overall and you get the rest of the components set up to work with it better.

Richard

[Roz]

Another vote for Dell, Cheapest I could find with the spec on offer!

[M005]

Dell desktop, Dell PDA & Dell laptop

Sounds like another Dell vote to me

[Outrage]

I'd also vote Dell,

We use them at the Airport and i've got one at home. If u buy online, uncheck the best warranty tick box - go for the lowest warranty and you will save even more of the listed price, mines 3 years old without ever having a single hardware problem.

[BogMonster]

I'm beginning to see why Dell is reckoned to be far and away the largest PC manufacturer in the world

We're an unimaginative bunch aren't we

But as they say, if it ain't broke....

I also unchecked the warranty cover on mine, as I figured if I phoned them and asked for an "on site repair" I'd get told to * Off! Saved £99 IIRC

[Neil Marshall]

I am after a new 'puter, got a new big flat screen for the CAD work, new speakers and the keyboard/mouse etc are all almost new. We are just about to get a new laser printer so I really just need the 'box'.

I don't need mega performance, no interest in games whatsoever, main uses are:

email/web browsing

AutoCAD

some picture manipulation

music playback/downloading

website updating.

So, who do I go to?

Will 

(confused of Exmoor)

Dell's outlet store ships boxes without monitors......you have a great choice and often they are higher spec. You do NOT need a three year back to base warranty as they are reliable....and there's always a local guy you can carry a dead one into. Dell's online support for updates and advice is second to none.

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/topics/p...c=uk&l=en&s=dfb

Dell outlet currently has free delivery.

Sample: P4 2800 160Gig HD, 1Gig RAM, 48 x DVD/CDRW, Win XP Home, MS Works 7.0 at £460 + VAT

However, the Dell Re-seller mentioned above [MM Trading] - absolutely NO connection to me, just a good long term experience - is cheaper.

For £325 + VAT [£375 inc 15" LCD monitor if required]:

Dell Optiplex 170L Smallform Desktop, Intel 3.0Ghz CPU, 512Mb Memory, 40Gb Fast IDE Hard Drive, CDRW/DVD Combo Drive, 1.44 Floppy Drive, 56K V92 Modem, 10/100 Lan Network, Wireless Keyboard and Wireless Digital Mouse + 15" 1505FP Digital/Analogue TFT LCD Monitor, Pre-Installed Win XP Pro, Supplied with 1 Year FREE! use of Norton Anti-Virus software, Resources Drivers CD Rom Disc. 1 Year RTB Warranty.

For £329 + VAT [££79 with monitor]

Dell Optiplex 170L Medium Tower, Intel Celeron 2.8Ghz CPU, 512Mb Memory, 40Gb Fast IDE Hard Drive, CDRW/DVD Combo Drive, 1.44 Floppy Drive, 56K V92 Modem, 10/100 Lan Network, Wireless Keyboard and Wireless Digital Mouse + 15" 1505FP Digital/Analogue TFT LCD Monitor, Win XP Pro, Supplied with 1 Year FREE! use Norton Anti-Virus software, Resources Drivers disc. 1 Year RTB Warranty.

Genuinely nice, dependable and HONEST husband and wife team....no problem too much, good shipping rates. Have official relationship with Dell - their stock can be returns/refurbished/overstocks but mainly cancelled or superceded orders [every item Dell sell is bespoke, so a 'finished order' gets in the way at Dell].

http://www.mmtrading.co.uk/home.asp

0208 281 0314

Let me know how you get on if you use them.

Neil