Computer recommendations please (1 Viewer)

[Minxy]

Well it had to happen at some point, hubby's desktop pc has decided to keel over, it has been playing up for a while ... kept loosing the date/time and sometimes he got the 'black' screen of death (obviously fancied a a change from the usual blue one!) ... he'd lent me one of the cables from his twin monitors so I could plug a monitor into my laptop then the following day his pc had a hissy-fit the and whilst he's managed to get it going it's obviously not a happy bunny ... looks like a motherboard issue so probably not worth messing about with ... can't complain as it was 'free' to us a few years ago anyway.

Soooooo .... whilst I've got an old HP laptop he doesn't like them so wants another desktop pc. Doesn't have to be anything fantastic as he doesn't play games etc but something with a goodish processor and storage, a few USB ports etc, he can transfer across some of the bits if needs be but it MUST be able to run 2 monitors (ie dual head) which I think most can nowadays anyway.

Anyone know of any good deals or where to have a shuftie?

 

[Gellyneck]

If it's something cheap and cheerful for running basic tasks you're looking for it's maybe worth considering a refurbished machine from somebody like http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/407/Desktop-Tower-PCs-Systems/ ?
If insufficient storage you could add an external hard drive.

 

[magicsurfbus]

Happy enough with my HP PC but I doubt if that will impress.

What I would say is most definitely remove your old Hard Disc Drive from your old PC before disposing of it, and consider installing it as a spare drive in whatever new one you get. Just delete the Windows folder once you've recovered any essentials from it - saves a load of faff.

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[tonyidle]

Maybe try changing the RTC battery first?

 

[Minxy]

Maybe try changing the RTC battery first?

Already done that ... but it's 'doomed'! Hubby can work on PCs and fix them etc, and has done so for many a year so if he says it's stuffed, it's stuffed unfortunately.

Happy enough with my HP PC but I doubt if that will impress.

What I would say is most definitely remove your old Hard Disc Drive from your old PC before disposing of it, and consider installing it as a spare drive in whatever new one you get. Just delete the Windows folder once you've recovered any essentials from it - saves a load of faff.

Not wanting to impress, just something that won't cost the earth to do the job he wants to without having to watch paint dry. I've already said about putting the existing hard drive as a slave in another machine which he will probably do and then can use it as a back-up drive along with an external one to be safe.

We always split the drives anyway on our pcs and laptops, C: for the system, D: for our files etc, that way if we ever have to do a reinstall of the system it doesn't affect the rest of the stuff. Most people don't bother but it's something that has proved to be a good policy over the years!

 

[Just smiffy]

I haven't used a computer/laptop for 3yrs, had to plug one in the other week to dig out some old pictures and I thought I'd gone back to the dark ages...

I've been so impressed with an iPad for that 3yrs that I bought a large iPad Pro last month and I don't know what I'd do without it...

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[Langtoftlad]

Dell Outlet often have some good deals on business type machines - not usually top spec multimedia, graphics etc...
outlet.euro.dell.com/Online/InventorySearch.aspx?cs=ukdfh1&c=uk&brandid=1

 

[TheCaller]

pcspecialist.co.uk are worth a look. Although they specialise in the games market, you can say exactly what you want & more importantly, what you don't want.

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

Hi @Minxy Girl,
Tell him to try www.fiercepc.co.uk If he knows a bit of what he is doing. The last pc I bought from them I specified everything to the last nut and bolt and ended up with a four monitor blistering business machine cheaper than a recon from Morgan it even worked out cheaper than I could have bought the bits individually. Built tested and guaranteed and shipped out to me in France. They had never done a four monitor machine before so became quite interested in making sure it all worked out of the box as they were not sure of my spec as I didn't want it for gaming. So specified what to them were very low spec passively cooled Graphic cards to keep the noise down. I supplied the monitors so just the PC.
Tell him to be very careful with the box though. The one I chose made cable routing quite difficult for them. And I could have done much better with a bit more research.
Good luck to him,
Steve
p.s. Forgot to say, they even answered my questions on a Sunday, excellent customer service.

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[Chrysalis]

Hi @Minxy Girl,
Tell him to try www.fiercepc.co.uk If he knows a bit of what he is doing. The last pc I bought from them I specified everything to the last nut and bolt and ended up with a four monitor blistering business machine cheaper than a recon from Morgan it even worked out cheaper than I could have bought the bits individually. Built tested and guaranteed and shipped out to me in France. They had never done a four monitor machine before so became quite interested in making sure it all worked out of the box as they were not sure of my spec as I didn't want it for gaming. So specified what to them were very low spec passively cooled Graphic cards to keep the noise down. I supplied the monitors so just the PC.
Tell him to be very careful with the box though. The one I chose made cable routing quite difficult for them. And I could have done much better with a bit more research.
Good luck to him,
Steve
p.s. Forgot to say, they even answered my questions on a Sunday, excellent customer service.

I'm just being curious or nosey, but why do you need 4 monitors, unless you are gaming? I have 2, and use it a lot with many applications open at the same time, but just drag whichever app I want to the second screen. I'm willing to be convinced though, and have seen my son use 3 for gaming

 

[magicsurfbus]

We always split the drives anyway on our pcs and laptops, C: for the system, D: for our files etc, that way if we ever have to do a reinstall of the system it doesn't affect the rest of the stuff. Most people don't bother but it's something that has proved to be a good policy over the years!

Sounds like you're on top of it. Where my old HDD is partitioned I make a store of all the installation software I normally use when setting up a new PC, so it's available on the new machine straight away and I don't have to go digging around for CDs. Likewise, a USB stick with it all on is invaluable. I hate setting up new computers so anything that saves time is a bonus.

 

[PhilandMena]

I have this. Not cheap but performs well.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1403980/acer-aspire-v3-574g-review

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[EuroTrotters]

Mac all day

 

[OldAgeTravellers]

I'm just being curious or nosey, but why do you need 4 monitors, unless you are gaming? I have 2, and use it a lot with many applications open at the same time, but just drag whichever app I want to the second screen. I'm willing to be convinced though, and have seen my son use 3 for gaming

Hi Chrysalis,
I do not allow any games within a mile of any of my computers except one Suduko game on the iPad.
I do a lot of share dealing so will have about twenty windows with different tickers and graphs running all of which I need to watch all the time. Or if I am programming I will have a number of different resources open to cut and paste and refer to and do not want to keep switching between apps on view.
Usually I have Thunderbird open in the far left hand one so I can read emails as they come in and work on the three which are directly in front of me.
Once you get used to multi screens it is far less productive to work only on a laptop. When I move I want to design my office so as to be able to have eight screens. I don't have the space at the moment.
Just me perhaps.
Steve

 

[Minxy]

Mac all day

Not a snowball's chance in hell ... had one once and apart from the funny 'eyeballs' that watched the mouse cursor move round the screen we hated it!

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[Minxy]

Once you get used to multi screens it is far less productive to work only on a laptop.
Steve

That's the only thing I miss about using a laptop - at home we've had twin screen on the PC for years so at work when we got new PCs along with larger screens and I found that the new PC boxes had dual head graphics I kept my old screen (which was going to be consigned to the store room, or slung out) and used it alongside my new one and it really increased my efficiency as I didn't have to keep switching between email, excel, word, other programmes etc, or printing loads of stuff off to be able to refer to it whilst working on it - being able to also keep my boss's diary on screen whilst reading emails about setting up meeting was a big bonus. I had to fight to keep it though as one of the assistant directors complained at the extra energy to power the additional screen which would have been miniscule compared to the amount of 'staff time' saving that having the 2 screens made ... he lost ... I then got the other office staff to use their old screens too and it made a lot of difference to how quickly they could do their jobs (finance, room bookings etc).

At home I find it invaluable to have 2 screens when doing things like tax returns as I can view the downloaded statements on one screen and enter the details into my tax spreadsheet on the other. I use an old Relysis TV/monitor that we had in our MH many years ago which I kept to use with my laptop when needed ... that's the one that he lent me the cable for that seems to have kicked-off his PC having a hissy fit!!!!

 

[Minxy]

I have this. Not cheap but performs well.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/laptops/1403980/acer-aspire-v3-574g-review

He wants a desktop, not a laptop.

 

[DBK]

More expense of course, but an SSD drive makes a huge difference over a HD. Have one of the latter for storage of photos etc, but changing mine to SSD has been like leaping a century.

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[Geo]

This guy sells refurbs some good fast and reliable, budget machines I have used him for personal and Commercial items over the last 3 years
and always been delighted for reliability im a big fan of refurbished updated DELL machines
Hubby will see the value im sure HERE

 

[Gromett]

I'm just being curious or nosey, but why do you need 4 monitors, unless you are gaming? I have 2, and use it a lot with many applications open at the same time, but just drag whichever app I want to the second screen. I'm willing to be convinced though, and have seen my son use 3 for gaming

I used to have 4 monitors as well. A central one, a left and a right one, then one above the central one. The top one had my server monitoring software running and if anything changed in the status of any of my servers I caught it immediately. The left one permantley ran my Thunderbird mailclient next to a browser with my ticketing system in.

The central monitor ran whatever I was doing at the time and the right one was running a web browser with any reference stuff. So if I was programming I had my dev environment open on the centre screen and on the right screen would be the API references for example or debugger/profiler.. I would occasionally run other stuff on the left screen as well.

I miss that setup as in my van I only have space for 1 display. Although if/when I get my engine sorted out I may do some joinery and move the storage above my single monitor and add a second one up there, and then add a third one to the right. I can dream .

 

[DBK]

Terry Pratchett had six monitors, but only because he didn't have room for eight.
http://www.pattayadays.com/2009/11/why-do-you-have-six-monitors/
Hopefully not linked to his early onset dementia.

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[TheCaller]

Terry Pratchett had six monitors, but only because he didn't have room for eight.

I only have three monitors, but only because I can't afford to have six.

Well you wouldn't work on a 23" desk, would you? Constantly having to put one piece of paper down on top of another, then swapping them back again.

 

[Minxy]

Well, thanks to everyone who made suggestions on where to go!

The hunt is over, we've been Googling, Ebaying, Gumtreeing etc and found an advert on Gumtree for a nice tower PC local to us - the advert was rubbish so hubby rang him and found out more detail and then we went round to have a shuftie and 'rehomed' it!

Its a custom build gaming one:

AMD A8-5600K apu with Radeon HD graphics
8gb RAM
1tb hard drive
RW DVD drive
Windows 10 64bit operating system (legit version)​

Plus an Acer 24" monitor (second hand cost around £80!)

All for the extortionate sum of £100 ... yes £100!!!!

The lad recently upgraded to an XBox with Lightstream fibre and uses that for all his gaming, web browsing etc, so although the box was only built just over a year ago (by his dad who's a computer geek) he found he doesn't use it now so it was just gathering dust in his flat and he wanted rid of it.

Fortunately we've already got our Office software so the fact that it isn't on won't be a problem, probably what has put others off buying it as he said he'd had other calls.

It doesn't have twin head graphics but as the screen he's bought is so wide he can have things open side by side on that so he probably won't need 2 monitors anyway although he'll try his existing graphics card in it if he finds he does or just buy one as they're not expensive.

I recon his old box should be worth some money as its a gaming one with twin fans - if the motherboard has crapped up although we're not sure what it is now as its decided to let him install and run Windows XP but won't tolerate Windows 7 at all ... weird! He might sell it as a 'repair' job or strip out the components and sell them separately ... but that's for another time.

Just got to try to get used to fl@ming Windows 10!

 

[androidGB]

Doesn't sound much like a gaming computer to me, but I'm sure it will be fine for your uses, and a great price to boot.

It's unusual these days for computers not to have several video outpurs DVI, VGA & HDMI, so it may be just a case of buying a cable


Andrew

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[Minxy]

Doesn't sound much like a gaming computer to me, but I'm sure it will be fine for your uses, and a great price to boot.

It's unusual these days for computers not to have several video outpurs DVI, VGA & HDMI, so it may be just a case of buying a cable


Andrew

Yes it's got other bits too but not of much interest to us so didn't bother listing them!