[ken979]

hi am am a newbie. my budget for a computer is £800-£1,500. the less the better. most important are the functions. i dont want to build the computer myself. that is not what i want to do. any recommendations on a desk top. it would be great if you could put links here

here are my requirements for the computer

1. record dvds, cd , dvd-rw cd-rw
2. watch dvd files
3.i want to store large files
4. big screen 19 and above
4a screen have to be good for the eyes
4b screen when watching movies have to be good.
5. no vista because i heard bad thing about the hard to use functions.
6. user friendly for beginners and easy functions
7. mircosoft office
8. i heard windows xp is good
9. watch dvds
10 have speakers chucked in or sound build in (if built in i would like it if i am able to switch off.
11. can plug into my tv to watch downloads that are on my computer
12. adobe to read ebooks
13. beable to use a scanner when i plug into computer
14.campatible with camera
15. has to be compatible with my panasonic gs 230 (camcorder)
16. large hard drive
16a beble to down load large files and not break down.
17. beable to watch dvds on computer
18 compatible with a computer servers
19. i am looking into internet marketing so a computer that helps that would be great. i am not into web design as i could outsource it.

if i left anything out please let me know. i am new to computers. thank you

[alex]

Just spec'd one for my boss actually, in pretty much the same situation as you except he wanted to game also. Hold on, I'll go find it.

He's more than happy with it by the way. Me? I hate it but then I hate most pre-builds.

[BrucieBonus]

Just to be clear, do you want to watch DVDs?

[alex]

Here it is

For his build though I spec'd the 320mb 8800GTS and 2x500gb drives and also did away with the 2 year cover and the bullguard AV.

As i said earlier I hate most pre-builds, especially from big builders that tend to be impersonal box-off-shelves-shifters as they tend to compromise the build in some way (check out the 667 ram in this one). More of a purist really. So you can do better than this one I strongly suspect.

For a spec such as yours I'd be looking at:

Cpu: Intel E6750 or E6850

Motherboard: P35 chipset, Asus is my favourite.

Hdd: Samsung T166 500gb (x2) or Hitachi Deskstar 500gb (x2)

Case: Whatever they carry really or whatever takes your fancy as the case, in this instance, is more personal preference than anything.

Ram: Bang for buck there's no better than Corsair XMS2 pc6400 (800mhz). 2x1gb dimms.

Graphics card: 8600GTS. Support for HDCP, DX10. Not a gamers card per-se but can on a whim on a 20-22" screen. Albeit at not great detail settings.

O.S: Yup, XP is a decent one. A lot more stable than Vista still is.

Screen: There's pretty much no, even generic, screens nowadays that ghost on fast moving images. The grey-grey times (time it takes for a pixel to go from grey, neutral, to a prescribed colour and back again) are pretty much defunct now but still used because people recognise the benchmark, and for marketing purposes. As you're looking at watching video primarily though you want to be looking for a high contrast ratio (shades of colours) and stay away from 6-bit panels as they offer less colours (around half a mil) over a 8-bit panel.

My choice for a good screen (with a good price) would be the Samsung 226, or the Asus Pw201 (i think thats the model number). Both superb screens.

You're not forced (generally) to purchase the screen from the vendor when you spec up a build so whilst it may cost a bit more overall at least you'll get the screen you want.

You've got Mesh's website already in the link but also have a look at:

here

and here

Hope this has been of help.

[ken979]

yes thank you

Originally Posted by BrucieBonus

Just to be clear, do you want to watch DVDs?

[ken979]

brilliant advice. they will build it for me. are you shore asking pcspecialist to build is cheaper. i thought if you buy it with monitor, key board mouse, every thing would be cheaper.

i guess i go to clockers for the mouse, keyboard and speakers. any recommendation on that too. is there any thing i missed out?

[alex]

I can't guarantee pcspecialist (or any other builder for that matter) will be cheaper as I haven't checked spec for spec. But they tend to better customer service and a good all round build.

The Mesh one is shouting out "E6850, E6850!!!" and it's a decent spec for the money but it is compromised, which will reduce performance.

You can pretty much spec everything on Pcspecialist (except brands in some components) whereas, using Mesh as an example again, with some builders you can't.

You will get it cheaper if you get a bundle, but, again, you may not get what is best for you. Hence mentioning about just buying a base unit from one builder and the monitor separately. You, personally, have to take into account your usage, so the quality of the monitor is of paramount importance.

I'd rather pay that bit extra and be happy with my purchase, than try to save a bit and not be happy.

For speakers, I'd be going for 5.1's. There aren't any films coded for 7.1 so don't bother with 7.1 speakers.

Logitech do some awesome one's in the Z5500's but they are pricey. But I do know of some great speakers in the Logitech X-530. 5.1, and the best bit? £35. In my honest opinion you simply cannot do better than these at this pricepoint. They are a definate steal.

Keyboard and mouse are pretty much a personal preference to be frank but you won't need any mouse over 1000dpi as it'll probably be too sensitive.

[ken979]

ahh i didnt notice the here it is link. thank again

[ken979]

edited found answer for it

[alex]

One last thing Ken, again considering your stated usage you might want to read this

(was going to type something myself but this says it better).

You do tend to pay more for a S-IPS panel but for your usage it should be ideal.

But, just so you're aware, my Samsung 930bf has a TN panel and the colour rendition and contrast ratio is superb.

My Samsung 244T however is a league ahead but then it cost 3 times as much, granted with a larger area and higher resolution.