Help me please.

Budget is tight but looking to buy a half decent home pc. Primarily for email, internet and to run AutoCad. I'll not be doing any 3d stuff so lightning graphics not essential although I prefer to use 2 monitors so i'll be sticking in another video card in any case.

My real problem is speed. I recently changed jobs so had to give back my Core Duo laptop. That's left me with a 1Ghz machine i built about 5 years ago with 256Mb of ram and a 20Gb HDD! It really struggles once word, Autocad and firefox are running.

Is this good value?

It looks ok but i'm dubious about Vista. I have lost touch and know nothing about it so would appreciate some feedback on the negative comments i'm hearing. XP does the job just fine for me and if Vista allows microsoft to monitor my every hardware and software installation or change i'd rather stick with xp.

Under normal circumstances i'd build a pc for myself but like i say i'm out of touch, dont have the time and doubt i'd build one for much less money than the one in the link above.

Thanks in advance

Johnny

Dont sound too bad the processor is a bit stingey though.. i cant imagine Gladiator have them stock piled ready to go, no doubt it will be built to order so you should be able to request XP Pro..

Only thing i would be dubious about is the fact there is 1 brand name in that spec (AMD) all the other stuff could be cheap nasty ****e that wont last long, companies normally want to gloat if they are using good components. The way i always sell our PC's is a 2 litre engine made by ferrari is NOT the same as a 2 litre engine made by Lada!!

You get what you pay for..

Dont sound too bad the processor is a bit stingey though.. i cant imagine Gladiator have them stock piled ready to go, no doubt it will be built to order so you should be able to request XP Pro..

Only thing i would be dubious about is the fact there is 1 brand name in that spec (AMD) all the other stuff could be cheap nasty ****e that wont last long, companies normally want to gloat if they are using good components. The way i always sell our PC's is a 2 litre engine made by ferrari is NOT the same as a 2 litre engine made by Lada!!

You get what you pay for..

Cheers but what do you mean the processor is stingey! What should I be going for?

Even with a cheap n nasty pc most components should have a reasonable lifespan. Apart from the cases being as thin as paper (and just as sharp) I find the biggest issues are insufficient cooling and crappy fire hazard PSU's that are undersized and about as stable as my 1 year old on a mountain bike.

Is Vista worth having? Does Vista itself require an internet connection for anything other than initial registration or checking for updates like XP? How does it differ from XP significantly and am I asking for trouble if I want it to work with my existing HP Laserjet or Designjet printers?

Cheers but what do you mean the processor is stingey! What should I be going for?

Even with a cheap n nasty pc most components should have a reasonable lifespan. Apart from the cases being as thin as paper (and just as sharp) I find the biggest issues are insufficient cooling and crappy fire hazard PSU's that are undersized and about as stable as my 1 year old on a mountain bike.

Is Vista worth having? Does Vista itself require an internet connection for anything other than initial registration or checking for updates like XP? How does it differ from XP significantly and am I asking for trouble if I want it to work with my existing HP Laserjet or Designjet printers?

Vista - tried it.

Unimpressed, extra complication and very little to offer over XP.

As a Bye the By went on to another site (LockerGnome) and a resident geek said it did nothing for him i.e. increased his productivity naught, was no faster, no better in total.

I've uninstalled it (and I use the computer like crazy - not just for Word, Outlook etc / or Games like so many).

Try Evesham computers. They may be experiencing financial difficulty, but you might be able to secure a cheap computer as a result! I have a desktop and laptop from evesham and they are very reliable.

http://www.evesham.com/

Have a look at the Novatech site Computer Supplies from Novatech they do all sorts PC Ranges : Novatech and most are only pc, keyboard and mouse so if you have a monitor already it's ideal.......have dealt with them for over 7 years and have had 4 pcs and various bits also have ordered from them for friends and had no problems....first class service (and no I don't work for them)

I had this issue recently (accelerated by a faulty motherboard! ) and if you already have a decent case and monitor, just buy a motherboard bundle, graphics card and hard drive from somewhere like Novatech and DIY it (took me a couple of hours to switch everything over) and reuse your current copy of XP

Most motherboards these days come with on-board graphics so you might not need to buy a separate one - I have no idea how demanding Autocad is...

Chris

I had this issue recently (accelerated by a faulty motherboard! ) and if you already have a decent case and monitor, just buy a motherboard bundle, graphics card and hard drive from somewhere like Novatech and DIY it (took me a couple of hours to switch everything over) and reuse your current copy of XP

Most motherboards these days come with on-board graphics so you might not need to buy a separate one - I have no idea how demanding Autocad is...

Chris

I did exactly that and got a much faster pc for less dosh

I've recently bought a motherboard bundle from Maplins and it worked a treat. They're currently offering a mb and decent processor for around £100.

Evesham Computers are good (I've bought several computers and lots of components from them for over 25 years as I live locally) but they have recently "restructured" so ask pertinent questions if buying from them at the moment.

Regards,

Garth