Help on sourcing a PC for relative

censuspro

My father has asked me to source a pc for him as the current one is approx 8 years old and very slow. He uses it for ms office and internet and occasionally has to dial into work remotely.

He wants a fact pc, that has about 4 usb ports and a 20" monitor.

I assume the processor will determine the speed of the pc, can anyone tell me what the standard processor is these days i.e. i5 or i3 and would it be prudent to get a better processor so that he doesnt have to change in a couple of years.

Can anyone here point me in the right direction ?

Skerries

would you be willing to buy off the internet from such sites as www.hardwareversand.de which is the best priced pcs for your money or would you prefer to buy from Dell or in a bricks and mortar shop?
what is your budget?
will you need an OS?
will you need keyboard, mouse?

fulmer1984

imo you won't get a decent computer for under €500. i'd stay away from Dell if at all possible. does your Dad use the computer much?..might be a waste of money getting something high spec if only used seldomly...

andrewire

All you need is a good combination between hard drive and RAM. Don't get anything that has less than 4GB of RAM, specially if your Da uses Windows 7. Go to PC World and take a look but always compare prices online, you might find the same computer for much less.

fulmer1984

you dont need 4GB of RAM, 3 is more than enough to run windows 7 and MS Office. youd get away with 160 GB harddrive too, much better option than having a 4GB RAM with an unnecessary 250GB Hard Drive

censuspro

His budget is around €600 - €700 and would ideally like to future proof for that price also.

His usage is every day but it's primarily the internet and ms office i.e. email and word.

Would prefer to buy from a bricks and mortar shop as would like to have somewhere to go back to in the event that anything went wrong.

Jonny7

Just go with a Dell I would say - www.dell.ie
http://ireland.dell.com/ie/en/home/Desktops/inspiron-570/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-570&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1&ref=dthp

that will run everything internet and excel and general use for the next 5 years no problem

obviously its not for hardcore gamers

only thing is, when you switch it on, just get rid of all the bloatware crap on it

If you aren't partial to dell, then as others said, try a bricks and mortar store.. just be cautious.. they can utterly rip you off with a much older machine

fulmer1984

nah stay away from Dell, i'm using a Sony Vaio with 3GB RAM and Windows 7 and its excellent. only cost €550 too...

Hank Scorpio

From my own personal experience i would definately go with hardwareversand.de

For your price range you could definately get a nice i5 760 build with a solid low range gfx card and 4 GB of memory.

Delivery is 30euros and they will build the PC for you for an extra 20euro. Bare in mind they use bank transfer, however if your a BOI 365 customer you can now instantly set them up as an affiliate. The details for there bank were posted in a thread here now so long ago.

If your willing to go down that route I`d be happy to suggest a build(and im sure many others will aswell)

Not a big fan of dell or the machine above

Jonny7

Personally I would never get a PC from dell for myself, but I am an enthusiast who knows how to build a PC and install an OS and iron out the little problems that arise

Albeit every single PC I have ever ordered from Dell (about 25 or 30) for friends/relatives/whoever whether through the website, through refurbished old ebay site, or from the outlet has always just worked - all the people who ordered them just wanted a PC that would switch on and no building jiggery pokery

If you just want a PC that switches on and will run internet and office for the next ten years get a 700 euro Dell complete with monitor

If you want something better, higher quality, more upgradeable - then go with hardwareversand.de

censuspro

Op here. Can anyone recommend any specific models?

Jonny7

here you go
http://ireland.dell.com/ie/en/home/Desktops/inspiron-570/pd.aspx?refid=inspiron-570&s=dhs&cs=iedhs1&ref=dthp

That should show 4 models

They all include monitors and a 1 year coverage

Because he isn't gaming or doing hardcore dvd encoding then I would recommend the one with the AMD Athlon™ II X3 435 processor for 579 euros.

That processor is highly recommended, has 3 cores which makes it nice and zippy and the PC has 4 gigs of ram which is grand

If you go for the higher model you get double the harddrive space (does he even need that much?) some extra ram which is okay, but 4 is recommended these days even by gamers and an extra core (making it a 4-core processor = quad)

If you get either, I would suggest starting it up, and when in windows get rid of the junk on it, the mcafee and all that.. there are amazing free anti-viruses online, I use avast which is great

He might be used to an older operating system, but tell him he should get used to windows 7 because most people are loving it

If you want to buy from a bricks and mortar shop, maybe you can use those models as a template to check if you are getting good value or not
Ram 4 gigs minimum (everyone uses 4 now, no real need for more.. juuust yet)
Processor 3 or 4 core (will last many years because programs are starting to take advantage of them more and more)
Harddrive space - well up to him, can always be upgraded.. a 1000 gig harddrive is now 50 euros or less

Since I am a bargain hawk I went straight for the Dell outlet site, but its still under construction, maybe worth keep an eye on as soon as its properly live, have been some great bargains in there that work perfectly (maybe only a light scratch on the case or whatever)

If you want to order PC parts from abroad and build one up yourself, then you could go with hardwareversand.de
The same spec PC would cost about 450 euros and then 30 for delivery, plus 20 euros if you want them to build it for you.
If you fancy some quality time with the dad you could go for it, or if you just want something that works etc right away I would recommend the Dell