Desktop PC recommendations

Mr Simpson

Hi all,
Just looking for some recommendations.

Can anybody recommend a Desktop PC for a friend of mine. They're looking for Windows 7 minimum, and it would mainly used for just web browsing and word processing, they wouldn't be using it for gaming or anything. They're also looking to spend as little as possible really, around the €350 -400 mark (if thats possible)

Thanks,

MarkMc

yoyo

Would building be an option Mark? Would give you a hand putting one together if ya want

Nick

Mr Simpson

I suppose its an option alright, depends on cost obviously. Was looking at a Dell there. Inspiron with 1.8ghz processor, 4gb ram, 500gb HD, Windows 8, Intel Integrated graphics. She doesn't need Office, so it works out at €350 without the monitor. What do you reckon?

yoyo

MarkMc wrote: »

I suppose its an option alright, depends on cost obviously. Was looking at a Dell there. Inspiron with 1.8ghz processor, 4gb ram, 500gb HD, Windows 8, Intel Integrated graphics. She doesn't need Office, so it works out at €350 without the monitor. What do you reckon?

What model processor is it? If it's a Celeron forget it

Nick

Mr Simpson

That be the one, may I ask why?

yoyo

MarkMc wrote: »

That be the one, may I ask why?

Celeron and AMD Sempron are budget CPUs, usually fine for a while then become noticeably slower. Typically have less cache and resources and will become a bottleneck if a computer upgrade is ever done. Better off spending the bit extra and going with a decent dual core CPU, like the Core i3 range.
Not too familiar with the dual core variants, but there are reasons they can be baught for under €50

Nick

Eboggles

MarkMc wrote: »

Hi all,
Just looking for some recommendations.

Can anybody recommend a Desktop PC for a friend of mine. They're looking for Windows 7 minimum, and it would mainly used for just web browsing and word processing, they wouldn't be using it for gaming or anything. They're also looking to spend as little as possible really, around the €350 -400 mark (if thats possible)

Thanks,

MarkMc

Something like this would be your best bet:

Item|Price
Intel Pentium G860 Box, LGA1155|€57.92
MSI B75MA-E33, Intel B75, mATX, DDR3|€52.50
8GB G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€28.05
Samsung SSD 830 64GB SATA 6GB's Basic|€59.99
Samsung SH-118AB schwarz|€13.19
Antec BasiQ VP350|€34.47
FRACTAL DESIGN Gehäuse Core 1000 black|€35.35
Rechner - Zusammenbau|€20.00
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€320.46

That comes assembled too. It's from a German company called Hardwareversand, we use them all the time over at PC Building & Upgrading. It has everything in there, but no Windows. If the rig is just going to be used for word processing and web browsing, there's no need to spend more than what I have listed.

It's a crazy computer for the price; the CPU is the exact same as the i3, just without Hyperthreading (only used in things like video editing). I have an SSD in there, which should make the computer run like a lightning bolt. This is how fast an SSD is:

Or with Linux:

As for operating system, you should really consider a Linux distribution. They've really come on over the years and are now a proper, fully functional, robust set of OSs. Linux mint (http://linuxmint.com/) would be your best bet if you wanted something that closely resembled Windows. It's really easy to use, and comes with Open Office built in! Other ones to consider would be Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/), Kubuntu (http://www.kubuntu.org/) or Xubuntu (http://xubuntu.org/). Xubuntu has a Mac-esque dock, by the way.

Mr Simpson

Thats absolutely class Eboggles, I'll definitely look into that. I fear trying to convince her to get Ubuntu or Linux may be slightly challenging, I'm sure I could sort something though.