Buying a New Computer ...

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dweeb

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Hello all, I'm planning to buy a new computer. I've got a budget of ~£500 (yes, I live in England).

I want a computer with a modest hard drive (~200GB), a good, fast processor and lots of RAM! My current computer has merely 512MB DDR and it's almost four years old now. It's really starting to struggle with simple processes and I'm fed up with it!

I'm not a "serious" computer-gamer (I play some PC games, most of which aren't CPU intensive) and I don't edit videos or anything like that ... based on this information, what would you recommend?

I've had a look myself, mainly on Dell.co.uk. I've found this one (the higher-end one):
XPS 210 Product Details

What do you think? Any help would be very much appreciated because I am no expert!
 
If you only have a choice of going with a pre-built computer than get the xps210 on the left. The one the cost 489. You should know that the intergrated video for the xps210 is not good at all so I recommend you getting another video card after purchasing. How much is 489 in USD?
 
Thanks for the response!

£489 = ~$992

Yes ... I did some research and noted that the graphics card is not very good ... I'll probably use my current one (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro), although it's old, it might be better.

Will the Intel Viiv Core 2 Duo E6320 Processor (1.86GHz,1066MHz,4MB cache) be fast enough, or should I upgrade it to the E6420 (2.13GHz) for ~£35 more?

As for monitors ... I have read that Samsung, LG and Hanns G are good. What do you think?
 
Please do not buy a dell therre ghay. Build your own super ownage ninja rig for the same cost that would kill that setup.

Also £489 Does not equal $992- hard ware is much cheaper in America. It would probably be more like 600-700 USD.
 
Please do not buy a dell therre ghay. Build your own super ownage ninja rig for the same cost that would kill that setup.

Also £489 Does not equal $992- hard ware is much cheaper in America. It would probably be more like 600-700 USD.

I could build one myself, I suppose. But I really don't want to! I don't know enough about computers and I don't have the time or the patience to build one myself; I don't need anything extradordinary, either, so a pre-built one should be fine.

I know what you're saying is the best option available, I appreciate that. But I'd rather go pre-built right now.

With regards to the conversion: yeah, I merely converted the value of the currency; I didn't take in to account the cost of hardware, etc. So your estimate is probably a lot more accurate than mine!

EDIT: would you recommend a faster processor?
 
I could build one myself, I suppose. But I really don't want to! I don't know enough about computers and I don't have the time or the patience to build one myself; I don't need anything extraordinary, either, so a pre-built one should be fine.

I don't want to pressure you but you don't have to know lots about computers, just rudimentary things, and there are many guides that include pictures that clearly show you how to do it. As for time/patience- it REALLY will only take a max of 2 hours, and I am not joking. If you get pre built, you will be heavily ****ed off when you try and upgrade that thing and you can't because all of your parts are proprietary.
 
If its a Dell you want, the you might want to grab that 6600 even though it might not be the best bang-for-the-buck. It's a good processor and you'll be glad you spent the money on it. As the the option of buying or building, its really your choice. If you don't think you up to the challenge of building, then buying the computer would be excellent.
 
OK, OK! You win! I think I'm going to build my new computer instead of buying one straight-up; I don't like the idea of not getting my money's worth, so if building one is more cost-effective, I'll do that.

As someone mentioned earlier, hardware is cheaper in the U.S than it is here in England, bearing this in mind, is it still a good idea to build my own?

I'm going to come up with a provisional system, post it on here and hopefully see what you think!

EDIT: is there any way I can find out which motherboard the XPS 210 uses?
 
It will most likely be a crappy Dell brand mobo and it will not be very good or compatible. The reason why they don't tell you about the mobo or the power supply is that they are so **** that they don't want to put you off.
 
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