[AndrewE]

Hi all,

I'm new here. Please be gentle!

I'm in the market for a PC after living off a 14" Asus laptop for the past 3 years.

I'll be using it for Internet surfing, word processing, photograph and video/audio editing and a bit of web design in my spare time.

So I'm looking for a new monitor too, preferably with enough real estate to get two browsers going side by side.

Problem is, I have a pitiful budget of £350, simply because I'm not rich, I live in London and every godforsaken penny goes towards rent...so it goes.

So I'm wondering whether anyone has any suggestions at this price, I'm open to anything really.

Thanks alot,

Andrew

[muckshifter]

Welcome to PCReview.


While it is not impossible to build a PC on your budget, it is gonna be a wee bit tight to go for the 'latest' kit.

We do have a couple of Londoners who are not adverse in offering some assistance on self build, if you wish to go that route.

Your 'needs' are not that taxing if you bare in mind you may not be able to play the latest games.

It will also be interesting to see if our other knowledgeable members can keep within budget.

[AndrewE]

Muckshifter, thanks for the quick reply.

Clearly on a £350 budget I'm not going to be getting a state-of-the-art system. I'm not bothered about gaming. My main concern is for the PC to handle software like Adobe Photoshop, Premiere and Audition without too many blue screens of death and to have a half decent monitor with some space to play around with.

I'm not against building it myself, though for the sake of time, ease, and a semi-respectable warranty, perhaps a company like Dell would fit the bill?

So please keep any suggestions you might have coming. Really appreciate it.

[Adywebb]

Thanks for setting us this task Mucks

My first thoughts are that you are unlikely to find a half decent new system, including monitor and warranty at this price level., even from Dell.

I could build a good PC with a monitor using second hand parts for that amount, but it obviously wouldn't come with a warranty.

I am off to work, but I will do some research when I get back this evening

[Ian]

I saw this PC listed a couple of weeks ago when someone else asked a similar question - it comes to £329 and looks good value for money. It won't be any good at running recent games, but will be good for office/graphics stuff like you suggest (perhaps spend £20 on sticking another GB of ram in there though from Crucial.com).

Link to PC (reduce warranty to 1 year to get £329)

Dimension E520 (D06E02A)



Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 Processor (1.80GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)

Genuine Windows Vista Business - English

Dell 19" Value Flat Panel (SE197FP) - UK/Irish

1024MB 533MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]

250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst cache

Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000

16X DVD+/-RW Drive

Dell Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)

Dell 2 Button USB Scroll Optical Mouse - Black

Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability Microsoft Works 8.0 - English

[AndrewE]

@Adywebb - thanks and look forward to seeing what you come up with.

@ Ian Cunningham, this looks good, but unfortunately the link is not working for me. But I had a look at the Dell UK site and tried configuring a similar machine, closest I get is £380.

[floppybootstomp]

These components cost £347.49 inc VAT & delivery so we're within budget. They're from E-Buyer and if you use Google checkout you'll get a tenner off.

All the components are quality parts.

The motherboard has onboard graphics but will be fine for your requirements. It will not run most latest high res games, but will be happy with some older games.

There is no floppy drive and no Operating system. You will have to use the stock heatsink and fan, which should be fine (if you do order this, don't forget to order a small tube of CPU thermal compound with your order, I just remembered that).

However, you have a dual core 2Ghz machine, a gig of RAM, a 250Gb hard drive and a DVDRW. 380W PSU and a 17" TFT Samsung Monitor.

The case is a matter of personal taste of course, but I chose the one here as I liked the look of it and it was a fair price.

You may wish at a later date to add better graphics - that's ok, it has a pci-e slot.

Adding a floppy drive will add about £7.00 to the price.

Adding a DVD-ROM drive (to copy from, but it's not needed) will add about another £14.00.

Here we go, hope this picture is readable:

[Ian]

Originally Posted by AndrewE

@ Ian Cunningham, this looks good, but unfortunately the link is not working for me. But I had a look at the Dell UK site and tried configuring a similar machine, closest I get is £380.

I've updated the link to the site I found it from:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deal/32776...desktop-system-

If that doesn't work for you, try entering the e-code "305-D06E02A" on the dell site and then reduce the warranty to 1 year.

[muckshifter]

I say Folks ... stay away from Vista Business, it ain't needed and will make life a little harder when trying to use any multimedia software ... go with Vista Home Premium.


I hope they supply a "real" DVD too ...

[floppybootstomp]

Hmm, I wuz about to comment when CL deleted his post....

Oh well

I was about to say it's a big advantage having an operating system within the price as a basic decent version of Vista is currently about £130.00 I believe. It's probably possible to pick up a home edition of XP for about £65.00 though, but I don't know, I haven't looked.

However, as Mucks pointed out, Windows Business lacks too many of the things you'd use with a home system.

I always assume when anybody asks to spec a system that they have an operating system.

Or they could use a Linux Distro, Gimp, etc.

Another advantage with that Dell system was the 19" monitor, other than that, slight disadvantages, like Dell's non-upgradeability, and their rather crappy mouse, keyboard and speakers. Plus we don't know what make of components they've used.

As I mentioned above, I've specced quality parts and I wouldn't be ashamed to own any of the components and peripherals I've listed.

But you pays yer money you makes yer choice