New PC- Calling all techies!

kyle4jem

This it totally not diet & fitness related.

We need a new PC - mine is 7 yrs old and getting slower and slower; the hubster's belongs in a museum.

Neither of us are big PC users, although I'm your typical surfer and I also like looking at youTube, iPlayer etc. I also have lots of digital photos.

I've seen two reasonably priced PCs: one is a slime-line tower and the other is an all-in-one.

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-h330-desktop-pc-with-aoc-e2050s-20-led-backlit-monitor-12061919-pdt.html

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/lenovo-c325-2-20-all-in-one-pc-11875781-pdt.html

Spec & pricing are practically identical... I just wondered what you guys think?

PS... The hubster doesn't want a laptop.. he's a bit traditional about his computer use and I prefer working with a normal keyboard/monitor too as I have to use a laptop for work and it can be a bit frustrating at times.

mostaverage

It's been a while since I dipped my toes into the murky waters of windows PCs (being a mac convert for a few years) but I would say the tower has the better CPU whereas the all-in-one has the better graphics performance. So I guess it boils down to whether you are going to do more graphically intensive work or not. If you have a PC World local to you take a trip along and have a look at them and play on the for a while, see which one feels snappier for you & which one is goinf to fit into your space better.


Then go buy an iMac instead ;-)

kyle4jem

Buy an iMac... do you want me to end up in the divorce courts :laugh:

I won't say the OH is a luddite... after all we met online and he does use one at work, but like a lot of folks who can drive, the don't necessarily know what's under the bonnet.

10 years ago, I knew a lot about PCs and OS as I worked in an office with other techies and to a certain extent I am quite techie (I'm a PM and coordinate system implementations) but it seems to me that PCs have come on in leaps & bounds and I've kinda got lost in the forest of doublespeak and can't see the woods for the trees.

I just want a PC that is fairly future-proof (my own emachines PC has done me proud and when it's running it's ok, but I find that after booting it sometimes takes 10mins to open a browser - I use Chrome, but have IE and Firefox installed too although my PC doesn't really like FF :ohwell: and I need IE to do payment transactions that my PC using Chrome won't let me do :grumble: )

I like the idea of a touch-screen computer, but don't think the OH will get to grips with such electrickery. In essence, I want something that boots in 2mins and is ready to use and doesn't take 10mins to open a webpage. I'm a simple man with simple needs

KitTheRoadie

Well basically they are the same PC, I think it comes down to personal choice when they are this closely spec'd.

Faster processor or better graphics, the choice is yours!

Personally I'd go for the Graphics but I've always been a AMD/ATI fan so that combo would win it for me, I think the All-In-One is easier on the eye too!

Good luck in choosing, sorry I won't have been much help! :ohwell:

flimflamfloz

Well, since you seem to keep your PCs for a long time (7 years), the "all in one" might not be a good idea.
The case is smaller so it might become hotter, might take more dust and might be harder to clean, so might "explode" before the other one. Also, touch screen on PCs I think is a joke, unless you want to spend your life cleaning the screen from your fingerprints.

Not sure also if you can replace components easily in an "all in one", and expand easily (I've never owned one). You can change the screen, increase the amount of RAM, add hard drives in the normal desktop though. Not sure if you know how to do that but for me personally flexibility plays a big part.

To be honest, judging by your requirements, a PC from a few years back with a basic processor and basic graphics card should be enough.

If you want a really fast computer though, my best advice (which you should listen to!!! ) is to buy a SSD (solid state drive). My laptop reboots in 20s top thanks to my SSD and this is bliss (the RAM and PROC are never the weak links these days, it's more the hard drives so SSD is the WTG).

Don't go for Mac, they are overpriced for what you would do with it - unless you're a Mac fanatic but really the new Windows 7 (8 is coming?) is probably as good if not better than OSX for people who do not use the command line.