Replacement PC

[plastic penguin]

At the mo I'm decorating and the next is the bedroom, where I have my desktop. Keeping within the downsizing mode which PC would you recommend.

Currently use it for work, scripts, coming on here, little'un uses it for catching up with latest TV favs...

Would a laptop or a iPad be more suitable? (also thinking ahead at downloading music).

Looked on PC World website and the prices and specs vary so much.

My current one is Dell, which we like a lot.

 

[MajorFubar]

Hi PP, theres no denying the attraction of a laptop, it being an all in one, but some people just simply don't get on with them and will always prefer a a tower-unit with a separate monitor/keyboard/mouse. If you have a preference for one or the other, that would help you narrow-down you search.

The advantage of 'separates' is you can build your computer to meet your needs,such as choosing your preferred screen-size, specifying a BD player or extra RAM. All of these things are more limited with laptops because by their nature they are not particularly expandable, and of course the screen-size is fixed (unless you buy another monitor of case). Historically, tower-units also had more durable hardware (such as he HDDs and fans), but these days I'm not sure there's much in it.

 

[AnotherJoe]

If you're after a desktop, something like the Chillblast Fusion Elixir for £599 is a good deal. A quad-core i5 overlocked to 4.5Ghz and a radeon 6850 graphics card.

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/desktops/372364/chillblast-fusion-elixir

Its always worth having a look at the pcpro a-list for ideas.

 

[plastic penguin]

Hi PP, theres no denying the attraction of a laptop, it being an all in one, but some people just simply don't get on with them and will always prefer a a tower-unit with a separate monitor/keyboard/mouse. If you have a preference for one or the other, that would help you narrow-down you search.

The advantage of 'separates' is you can build your computer to meet your needs,such as choosing your preferred screen-size, specifying a BD player or extra RAM. All of these things are more limited with laptops because by their nature they are not particularly expandable, and of course the screen-size is fixed (unless you buy another monitor of case). Historically, tower-units also had more durable hardware (such as he HDDs and fans), but these days I'm not sure there's much in it.

Well, I'm looking at laptop purely for convenience. You can move it from room to room. If desk top may as well keep my existing one as there's nothing wrong with it...

 

[MajorFubar]

Ah fair do's. I'm sure someone with good experience will be along shortly to give you some relevant advice

 

[Overdose]

At the mo I'm decorating and the next is the bedroom, where I have my desktop. Keeping within the downsizing mode which PC would you recommend.

Currently use it for work, scripts, coming on here, little'un uses it for catching up with latest TV favs...

Would a laptop or a iPad be more suitable? (also thinking ahead at downloading music).

Looked on PC World website and the prices and specs vary so much.

My current one is Dell, which we like a lot.

If you have a stable and serviceable desktop that does all you need, I'd be inclined to keep it. Depending on budget, perhaps an iPad II and an ATV, sample the wireless streaming thing. iPad II 16GB are still £320 I believe and they are perfect for 'consuming' data, particularly when loafing on the sofa or fave chair.

We have a Mac mini, Macbook, iPad and soon to arrive iPhone in the house and they all get on very well together, each having their own roles, they compliment one another very well.

 

[cheeseboy]

if your little un uses it for catching up with tv and such, an ipad might be no good due to the lack of flash support. Kids love them flash sites!

what's your budget?

 

[Overdose]

if your little un uses it for catching up with tv and such, an ipad might be no good due to the lack of flash support. Kids love them flash sites!

what's your budget?

That's a good point, but the desktop is still being kept and can be used for that purpose.

 

[bob.g]

I have a Dell Inspiron laptop, which has been very reliable. The strength of Dell is that they have superb customer service and you can purchase a Dell extended warranty that covers everything (except the battery) for years two and three. I'm now nearly at the end of the second full year with my current laptop and if I ever needed to replace it I'd buy the same again.

 

[cheeseboy]

if your little un uses it for catching up with tv and such, an ipad might be no good due to the lack of flash support. Kids love them flash sites!

what's your budget?

That's a good point, but the desktop is still being kept and can be used for that purpose.

erm, not meaning to sound rude, but isn't that up to the op to decide?

 

[Overdose]

if your little un uses it for catching up with tv and such, an ipad might be no good due to the lack of flash support. Kids love them flash sites!

what's your budget?

That's a good point, but the desktop is still being kept and can be used for that purpose.

erm, not meaning to sound rude, but isn't that up to the op to decide?

You don't sound rude.

The recommendation was based on my earlier suggestion of keeping the desktop and buying a different type of equipment to compliment what already exists. No point in changing for changes sake, there needs to be a move forward, not sideways.

 

[plastic penguin]

Let me clarify: My current desk top is fine and dandy and all that jazz...

As I'm decorating the bedroom soon I'm thinking about a replacement only because it can be used in different rooms (not too far from router). So really just posing the question whether a laptop can deal with my current needs, or would it be best just to buy a Ipad in addition to the desktop?

Dump the desktop and buy a laptop or keep the current effort and have a Ipad?

Cheers

 

[cheeseboy]

it's a tricky one.

If you want something portable to do your work on (scripting etc) then you're going to need a laptop. If it's just something you want to have a quick surf on in different rooms, then a tablet is a good idea.

 

[shooter]

This is something i've been pondering also PP.

I think i could just use an iPad for what i need a pc for, i was concerned because i needed Word and it wasn't available but there seems plenty of options that i could use. On the music front i will either go the NAS route or the Vortexbox and compleatly eliminate the PC from that equation with any pictures stored in a cloud and not using any memory (havent gone that route yet but this is what im thinking)

These things need to be updated over a few years mainly because a) they breakdown b) they get outdated. My windows PC previous packed up when the HD caved in after a few years and it wasnt worth fixing as it was out of date, i solld it as scrap. Now this iMac has lost sound from the headphone out and the Superdrive doesn't work any more and i've only had it a 4 years. It seems that however much you spend these things they only have a short lifespan.

An iPad is a interesting proposition for sure.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Free Kingsoft software on Samsung Galaxy 10.1 with flash is a possible too.

 

[egg1000]

Looking at your requirements, as you don't use your computer for gaming, you're toying with the idea of an ipad and finally the scripting thing. I reckon your best bet would be a macbook air. The observations about the lack of flash on an iPad is relevant if moshi monsters is the order of the day, although theres a moshi monsters app for the ipad, it's not the same as logging in properly. Although, iPlayer, 4od, ITV and Channel5 all have iPad apps, so watching TV, is fine on an iPad. Not only that, but there is also the Catchup TV app, which allows you to watch live Tv on the iPad. I've been a PC user for 15 years and a mac user for 4 just over years. My old Mac (judging by ebay) is still worth about £400 and is still as quick as the day I bought it... and no anti virus on it! Just treated myself to my second mac (an air) and I'm staggered at how much quicker it is with a SSD (even with only 4GB of ram). If you keep your eyes on hot uk deals you can occasionally pick up a 64gb one for £500 to £600 which, as far as I'm concerned is an absolute steal. I've just acquired one of the most recent ones with 4gb of ram and it edits video like you wouldn't believe. I'd strongly urge you to go and have a play with one in your local PC World. They're so light!

I'm guessing that you're a quality HiFi buff, so you'll have an appreciation of how well made, well designed tech can make your life easier. No one I know of, that has bought a Macbook since I bought mine, has ever gone back to a PC. Although our IT tech at work uses both platforms happily and is perfectly happy with Windows 7. We had one for a while, but the following may explain my loyalty.

We also have a Time capsule with an attached HDD, which I store films and music on, although my library is kept on my Mac, we can stream music from the Mac, to the living room via our Apple TV, and into the room upstairs via an attached Airport express unit. Both of which cost us less than £100, yet we have the same flexibility as a Sonos system, or something far more expensive. And the LAST thing, is if you own an iPhone, you can use it as a remote, and send the music to whichever room you want. If the Mac's aren't on, there's an App available (without jailbreaking) called filebrowser (for iPhone or iPad) which detects the attached network drive and allows streaming to the device, or again, attached airplay devices.

Hope I haven't bored you, I know there are advantages to cost and gaming flexibilities from PC's. But I'd strongly urge you to *** into a PC world or an Apple store if you can and have a play. Best place for bargains as well is the Apple Refurb store (scroll to bottom left on Apple Store website). Thats where I got mine from.

 

[plastic penguin]

Thanks egg1000.

I don't want to go down the gaming route because... well... I'd lose the family, until they got bored with it. I'd rather little'un use her imagination rather than consumed by computers.

My current desktop is pretty good quality and it does all we need from a PC at present, and I'm thinking 12 months ahead. The idea is at some point, couldn't say when, there will be a need for perhaps streaming stuff to the hi-fi.

 

[egg1000]

Thanks egg1000.

I don't want to go down the gaming route because... well... I'd lose the family, until they got bored with it. I'd rather little'un use her imagination rather than consumed by computers.

My current desktop is pretty good quality and it does all we need from a PC at present, and I'm thinking 12 months ahead. The idea is at some point, couldn't say when, there will be a need for perhaps streaming stuff to the hi-fi.

Sorry not sure if I made myself clear. I was recommending a Mac, because you didn't need a computer for gaming. Macbooks are great at pretty much everything you'd need, but admittedly not gaming.

 

[eagle123]

I got a desktop all custom built, with gaming in its sight, now i am in the similar dillema as the op, i been looking at laptops with discrete graphic cards, a 1080p hd screen, a ssd or mssd with a tradtional hd, been looking at a couple of asus laptop range the n series look attractive, and also the zenbook range, both of them got aluminium bodies, and can be had with ssd, but the zenbook are expensive you looking at £1500.

Another one is the samsung range the 9 series, or the 7 that appealling to me

or you can have a custom laptop from the pc specialist range or scan computers do gaming laptops, with them you got the fexibility to decide what you want.

choices choices

 

[Papalazarou75]

http://www.ebuyer.com/407538-zoostorm-desktop-pc-7873-1076

I can recommend these Zoostorm pc's. great value for the money ,ok you gotta get an os but there are plenty of free ones & Windows 8 can be bought for £25 right now (yes it will install fine on new hardware).

my daughter has had one for a couple of years albeit on older pc , but it is spot on