Recommendation needed!

ronanc1000

Hey all, a question that pops up many a time but I need help.

I need a home pc. The main uses will be for Word docs, browsing and audio editing (audacity). Any recommendations? Trying to get something solid and nothing fancy it's just for the above no gaming, nothing. Overall I would like to keep costs down, that includes the monitor, keyboard & mouse etc. Cheers.

riclad

Get a pc , intel i5 cpu .500 gig OR 1TB drive.
see what is audicitys recommended specs.
21 monitor . from dell .or Pcworld.
get basic graphics card , 200meg vram .http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-3847-desktop/pd?ref=PD_OC
no need for a super fast nvidia card .Inspiron Desktop
€499.00
8gig ram.
recommended ram for audicity is 4gig ram.

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE3537078
The ASUS K20 desktop PC features ASUS SonicMaster audio, giving the K20 finely tuned surround sound for gaming and movies whether you're listening through speakers or headphones. In addition, ASUS AudioWizard provides five selectable audio settings for music, movies, games, voice recording, and speech to cater to your media preferences. An easy-to-use interface puts everything at a mouse click, you can even choose how it looks and feels.



K20 isn't just superb in performance, it's extremely quiet as well. You won't be disturbed when you leave K20 on overnight, as it runs whisper-quiet below 23dB at idle - more quiet than a typical library. No more disturbance when your studying or busy on work.


this would probably be quieter than a dell pc.


Summary

Clock speed 1.6 GHz
Turbo clock speed 2.16 GHz
Cores Dual core celeron cpu N3050

OR look in pc world for pc, monitors deals .

jetsonx

riclad wrote: »

K20 isn't just superb in performance, it's extremely quiet as well.

I've yet to see a Celeron chip offer superb performance:)

Asus make pretty good kit but this chip would struggle for audio editing
purposes.

ronanc1000

So not to go with the Asus then? What about Lenovo? Can anyone recommend a cheap monitor?

MarkAnthony

Steer well clear of PC World, the service is shocking.

Amazon, Komplett or Dabs would be your best bet. What budget do you have? I'd steer clear on anything under an i3 (so basically an i3, i5 or i7). If you want to go cheapest of the cheap there are some great deals on adverts, especially the liquidated office stock.

What is your budget?

Edit: Where are you based roughly - for example Galway has Mr. Terrorfirmer who is a very, very helpful.

MarkAnthony

Here's an adverts example went for €150

http://www.adverts.ie/desktops/hp-8200-elite-ultra-slim-i5-6gb-ram-250gb-hdd/9550093

It has a i5 processor, HDD was a bit small but it's easily upgraded with an external which plugs into the USB port. If you really wanted it to go like sh!t of a shovel and you're willing to open it up you'd replace the HDD with a Solid state drive for about €80.

As for monitors get the cheapest 1080p monitor you can lay your hands on for what you're doing. Size as suits. Again if you want to go ultra cheap second hand of adverts. Example.

ronanc1000

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Steer well clear of PC World, the service is shocking.

Amazon, Komplett or Dabs would be your best bet. What budget do you have? I'd steer clear on anything under an i3 (so basically an i3, i5 or i7). If you want to go cheapest of the cheap there are some great deals on adverts, especially the liquidated office stock.

What is your budget?

Edit: Where are you based roughly - for example Galway has Mr. Terrorfirmer who is a very, very helpful.

Hi Mark, cheers for that advice.
Spot on with PC world. Would never go near them again.
My budget would be sub 500. Desktop & Monitor.....

MarkAnthony

ronanc1000 wrote: »

Hi Mark, cheers for that advice.
Spot on with PC world. Would never go near them again.
My budget would be sub 500. Desktop & Monitor.....

Forgot to ask what size monitor you want.

ronanc1000

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Forgot to ask what size monitor you want.

Anything between 19 and 24 I'd say. Could pick one up on adverts to save money. Would def buy the desktop new though. Limerick/Tipp area.

MarkAnthony

Some options:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/fujitsu-esprimo-amd-gx-217ga-4gb-128gb-ssd-windows-8-1-vfy-a0525p50scgb-BKK3.html?src=3

Pros

SSD - will seem a lot faster than mechanical HD based machines.
Cheap
Small

Cons

SSD is small but you can plug in an external HDD
Dual core AMD quite underpowered - possibly not optimised for your software (audio)
Small form factor = not upgradable for gaming/editing if you ever want to.

http://www.dabs.ie/products/asus-k31an-uk009s-pdc-j2900-8gb-1tb-dvdrw-win-8-1-k31an-uk009s-BQDZ.html?src=3

Pros

Quad core - albeit a Pentium
Big HDD
8Gb RAM
Looks like mATX form factor, probably upgradeable.

Cons

No SSD

http://www.dabs.ie/products/zoostorm-matx-intel-i3-4170-12gb-1tb-no-os-free-3yr-on-site-warranty-upgrade-7877-0836-BL8T.html?src=3

i3 - Good CPU (dual core but pretends to be a quad core)
12GB RAM - loads!
Big HDD

Cons

Looks a bit cheap (Build quality?)
No SSD
No OS (Windows) but you can get that very cheap/free - Free = insider program where you basically agree to have new windows periodically installed automatically. I have it and never have an issue.

Note: http://www.dabs.ie/products/zoostorm-micro-atx-mini-tower-a8-7600-8gb-1tb-windows-10-7877-0849-BQ28.html?src=3

Like above but with OS and an AMD quad core APU (basically a GPU and CPU together so okay for some light gaming)

Honourable mention:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/lenovo-e73-core-i3-4160-4gb-120gb-ssd-dvdrw-win-8-1-pro-10ds000puk-BQ7N.html?src=3

Note Dabs are not know for their CS but personally I've not had an issue with them. If in doubt find a similar spec on Amazon.

Edit: Any old USB Keyboard and Mouse you can lay your mits on will do.

MarkAnthony

This is in Kildare so probably a bit far but as a guide to what they should go for it's about right.

Just check compatibility (e.g. there's the right cable available) for whatever desktop you buy.

riclad

spend your money on a good pc,maybe a 21 inch widescreen monitor.
i prefer to buy a 500 or larger drive sata,
then spend money on a ssd drive .
sdd =windows loads 10 seconds faster ,
most people would not notice the difference , re loading media files from a ssd drive.

maki

riclad wrote: »

spend your money on a good pc,maybe a 21 inch widescreen monitor.
i prefer to buy a 500 or larger drive sata,
then spend money on a ssd drive .
sdd =windows loads 10 seconds faster ,
most people would not notice the difference , re loading media files from a ssd drive.

Everyone would notice the difference. Out of all the upgrades possible on a PC, moving from a hard drive to an SSD will net you by far the most noticeable performance increase, pretty much across the board.

Get a secondary hard drive for media if needs be.

Not using an SSD for the OS drive in a machine these days is borderline madness.

MarkAnthony

I have to say after having to image my drive and work off a HDD for a few days you would notice the difference IMHO.

Minute to minute use of the PC ~ less of an issue if you have enough RAM (and are willing to fiddle with settings) but using a 4GB machine with no SSD is bloody painful.

ronanc1000

Am I best to save a bit more past the 500 mark to get a better spec desktop with an SSD?

riclad

its easy to get any pc with a sata drive,

and put a ssd drive into it,at a later date
for 500 ,you,ll
have to get a secondhand pc and monitor .
I prefer to buy from adverts.ie ,
as you can pm the seller to get more info,
and check the sellers past history .
check the pc ,turn it on for 5 minutes, re sound ,is it very loud.
ie a bought a pc , it works fine,
its too loud to be usable psu ,fan is very loud .
dual core 2.o pc .

my hp dual core pc 2.o ghz is totally silent , unless i,m burning a cd disk.

MarkAnthony

ronanc1000 wrote: »

Am I best to save a bit more past the 500 mark to get a better spec desktop with an SSD?

Meh not really. To be fair to what Riclad is saying it's noticing a 'difference'. If you've always used mechanical HDDs then you've no difference to notice. I'd add one in later, it's very easy to do.

Could you link me to the software you're using, I never checked the specs. One thing to note do you need MIDI or high quality audio? Forgot to ask.

riclad

http://audacityteam.org/download/windows#sysreq

get a pc 4gig ram, at least dual core 2.0ghz

ronanc1000

Cheers guys for all the help! After looking at the various options, would this do?

http://www.adverts.ie/9590860

Ram upgradable too. With a monitor etc it's 250 which is good value?
Can it be upgraded to Win 10?


This is the second option from the same seller.

http://www.adverts.ie/9582840

Which would be better? The first seems to be better price wise but maybe the dell is better spec wise?

riclad

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE3537078
K20 isn't just superb in performance, it's extremely quiet as well. You won't be disturbed when you leave K20 on overnight, as it runs whisper-quiet below 23dB at idle - more quiet than a typical library. No more disturbance when your studying or busy on work.

i see no point in buying a preowned pc for 350 when a new one is 375

k20 is very quiet .so thats a plus point .




or else go for hp 8000 with a monitor.

i bought a small shuttle pc on adverts.ie dual core ,
but i don,t use it, as the psu is incredibly loud.
I never tested it til i got home.

SO i,m concerned as to ,is it noisey .

i have a hp dualcore pc cpu 2.o ghz ,its completely silent .
size 12 x14inch
cost me 75 euro preowned , with 6months warranty.
bought here http://www.electronic-recycling.ie/

2gig ram 80gig sata drive .

ronanc1000

riclad wrote: »

http://www.elara.ie/productdetail.aspx?productcode=ECE3537078
K20 isn't just superb in performance, it's extremely quiet as well. You won't be disturbed when you leave K20 on overnight, as it runs whisper-quiet below 23dB at idle - more quiet than a typical library. No more disturbance when your studying or busy on work.

i see no point in buying a preowned pc for 350 when a new one is 375

k20 is very quiet .so thats a plus point .




or else go for hp 8000 with a monitor.

i bought a small shuttle pc on adverts.ie dual core ,
but i don,t use it, as the psu is incredibly loud.
I never tested it til i got home.

SO i,m concerned as to ,is it noisey .

i have a hp dualcore pc cpu 2.o ghz ,its completely silent .
size 12 x14inch
cost me 75 euro preowned , with 6months warranty.
bought here http://www.electronic-recycling.ie/

2gig ram 80gig sata drive .

Can one be bought on that site? Can't find anything for sale through that link, only info on recycling.

riclad

you go there in person,
say i,d like to buy a pc, i want a dual core pc 2.0 ,ghz.
ram 2-4gig,
they only sell 80gig drives ,
i want a tower pc ,
or a small factor shuttle pc,
drives cost 10 euro.
ram 2gig = 10-15 euro.
there business is recycling .
they sell maybe 1 pc every 2 days.
monitors lcd 1080x 1920 res 17 inch cost 20 euro.i bought pc there 2 years ago.
buy pc without the drive .
i bought drive in cex 500gig 25euro sata .
ITS not advertised on the web,
re selling pc,s as their main business is with large companys .
take 50 pcs,delete all data from drive ,
recycle pc.


theres one 1 person there to fix pc,s

they don,t really want dozens of people everyday calling to buy pcs .
the profit they make on selling 1 pc is maybe 25 euro.
you get a receipt for the pc ,
eg dell 570m 2gigram, 60gigdrive price, 70 euro.


There,s ONE thing i wont buy on adverts.ie ,is a hd drive by itself.
cex is cheaper and you get a warranty on it .

https://ie.webuy.com/

ronanc1000

riclad wrote: »

you go there in person,
say i,d like to buy a pc, i want a dual core pc 2.0 ,ghz.
ram 2-4gig,
they only sell 80gig drives ,
i want a tower pc ,
or a small factor shuttle pc,
drives cost 10 euro.
ram 2gig = 10-15 euro.
there business is recycling .
they sell maybe 1 pc every 2 days.
monitors lcd 1080x 1920 res 17 inch cost 20 euro.i bought pc there 2 years ago.
buy pc without the drive .
i bought drive in cex 500gig 25euro sata .
ITS not advertised on the web,
re selling pc,s as their main business is with large companys .
take 50 pcs,delete all data from drive ,
recycle pc.


theres one 1 person there to fix pc,s

they don,t really want dozens of people everyday calling to buy pcs .
the profit they make on selling 1 pc is maybe 25 euro.
you get a receipt for the pc ,
eg dell 570m 2gigram, 60gigdrive price, 70 euro.


There,s ONE thing i wont buy on adverts.ie ,is a hd drive by itself.
cex is cheaper and you get a warranty on it .

https://ie.webuy.com/

So would it be worth emailing them? As I'm in Tipperary. So I could get a simlar pc package to the adverts hp 8000 listed? The whole package sub 100? That's excellent! But buy a drive from CEX?

riclad

i buy all my drives from cex,sata pc or laptop type.
that place only sells 60-80gig drives .
You can only buy pc,s there in person, not by email.
look on adverts.ie ,
pc dual or quad core , at least 2.oghz near where you live in.

they only sell pcs,1.5- 2.oghz dual core ,

they only sell pcs that are maybe 3plus years old .

cex has shops in most countys in ireland.

dual core pc on adverts ie 2.oghz,2gig ram, 80 gig drive , 45 euro on average .

ronanc1000

Is this one reasonable price wise? About 250 including a monitor.


http://www.adverts.ie/9590860