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My current desktop PC is a good machine but getting a bit long in the tooth now (2007).
Used all day every day for work, which consists of word processing, web tools, photo editing and other general media kind of tasks.
Would be good to have video editing abilities for personal use too.
I've got a current i5 Vaio ultrabook for my laptop and happy with that level of power I think.
Budget around £700, give or take. There's just so much choice, it's doing my head in.
Thanks 🙂
Throw 8Gb and an SSD in the one you've got, send me £400, and you'll come in £100 under budget!
Motherboard and chip combo, some more ram and a video card (probably new psu)
My machine's started hanging and crashing recently, and it's responsible for my income (and tax deductible), so I'm thinking a new machine that will last me another six or seven years is sensible.
Definitely keen on SSD - time is money after all.
What would you experts buy? Come on, we all love spending other people's money...
If you want something bombproof, quiet and powerful, get ye to the dell business outlet and pick up a precision desktop. Pick one with a decent amount of ram (or add your own, but beware some will need registered memory) and away you go.
Be way overkill for your needs probably, but it'll fit in your budget.
Or get a cheaper dimension and splurge the change on a big monitor or two and an SSD, will make more practical difference.
Or spend all £700 on a pair of nice big monitors (go IPS for better colour) and just connect up your laptop.
I'd build something lovely, its really not that hard. Something along the lines of:
Fractal Mini Case - £68
RM450 PSU - £76
Crucial MX100 256GB SSD - £75
8GB Corsair Ram - £64
MSI Z97M Mobo - £106
Intel i5 4690K - £172
MSI 750Ti TF GPU - £107
H80i CPU cooler - £55
OEM windows 8.1 - £30
2TB HD - £60
Although if I had a strict budget of £700 for everything I'd build a cheaper PC based around a AMD APU (CPU and graphics card combined) and buy a nice keyboard, mouse and 2 24" monitors.
OP, the budget is quite generous. If you want to spend that much put a chunk of it into a good 24/28-ish screen. I would get 8GB RAM and 256 SSD with maybe another HDD for data and an external drive for backup. You don't need too fancy a processor for what you are doing (unless you really want to get into more serious video editing)
I've built my own in the past but last month I got 1 from these guys http://www.overclockers.co.uk/ and it's a beast!
Budget was slightly bigger though as I'm using it to Run DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop and some big 3D packages, plus BF4 and Elite Dangerous 😀
My machine's started hanging and crashing recently, and it's responsible for my income (and tax deductible), so I'm thinking a new machine that will last me another six or seven years is sensible.
Unlikely to be the computer's fault. That's heading out in rush hour traffic and blaming the car for being slow.
Dunno, could be the PSU or heat. I'd run realtemp to check the temperatures (under 90 if its an Intel chip working hard) then boot from a Linux Live DVD image or a USB stick and if its not the heat or the OS I'd borrow a known good PSU. Then maybe you need to replace something.
You may want to anyway, just because, but that's your call.
Thanks for all comments, it's all useful.
I honestly didn't expect so much resistance to the idea of replacing an eight year old PC. How old are the machines you IT professionals run in the workplace?
If you want something bombproof, quiet and powerful
Yes, quietness is vital.
Unlikely to be the computer's fault. That's heading out in rush hour traffic and blaming the car for being slow.
Molgrips has Eric Cantona hijacked your login?
😉
Well two things
1) A 7 year old PC should be fine, so throwing it away would be a waste
2) PCs do not get slower, a Windows installation gets slower if you don't look after it. So saying your PC is getting slow isn't accurate.
By all means spend £700 on a new one, but you probably don't need to.
How old are the machines you IT professionals run in the workplace?
Many of them are probably no more powerful than yours. I don't even check nowadays.
[i]I honestly didn't expect so much resistance to the idea of replacing an eight year old PC. How old are the machines you IT professionals run in the workplace?[/i]
Older than that. You try replacing 9000 of the buggers. It's not the machine that's the issue by the way. Who cares, just buy something reasonable for the hardware and the most popular operating system. Job done. The issue is getting it to work with the hundreds of enterprise applications that up till now have only been accessed by IE6.
@molgrips: you're saying ^ that most folks' machines are on a par with OP's 7 year old machine, I find that hard to believe..
Admittedly IT managers aren't IT developers - but if I was still using my m/c from 7 ears ago I'd be crying (and not very productive...)
Bought a semi-custom - suppose bespoke is more like it - PC for my lad from Scan, though there were a few problems it now runs pretty well and he's very pleased with it..
FWIW, 5 years max, after which they get replaced by the outsourced providers. Apparently that's the tipping point where it gets cheaper for them to replace them than to deal with the issues that come as they get slower (sorry, for pedant molgrips, as the software running on them requires more capability for the same apparent performance).
But for home use, 8 years isn't silly. IIRC our media PC is about that age and still running fine. I do make sure it isn't running loads of unnecessary stuff though.
But to the original question, £700 is quite a lot to spend IMO but if you must, suggestions above have been reasonable, especially if you can put it against tax.
@chakaping buy yourself a new machine, you are worth it. You can clean down the disk on the old one and sell it then you won't feel guilty 😉
Keep the old one as a media computer.
How old are the machines you IT professionals run in the workplace?
FWIW and to provide some balance to those above saying it doesn't matter these days....
My two main machines are both under 1.5years old, and top end at the time (you still can't buy a faster laptop CPU, nor more RAM). I do have specialist needs though, and although I guess i'm an IT professional I think of myself more as a scientist.
Would you be playing any games on it? I'll see what I can knock together.
£643 draft to get you started, top of the tree i7 Devils Canyon (none K version, unless you want to overclock?) 16gb memory, best SSD on the market EVO 840, 1tb backup drive, ultra quiet, dust proof Fractal R4 case, quality branded 600w PSU. HDMI output, and the on-CPU graphics is pretty good on the i7, but a graphics card could be added...
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1) A 7 year old PC should be fine, so throwing it away would be a waste
2) PCs do not get slower, a Windows installation gets slower if you don't look after it. So saying your PC is getting slow isn't accurate.
Can of compressed air would be a good start.
Thanks for the additional contributions, I'm not completely fixated on a new PC but I don't have the time or experience to poke about inside it too much (I do try to get the dust out now and then, probably overdue another spring clean).
Also I seem to be increasingly restricted with what can run on XP - and I'd have to pay for a new version of Windows on top of additional RAM etc.
Interesting reading cruzcampo, the current PC is a high-end self-build by FiL but off-the-shelf seems more practical this time.
I had dismissed the idea of using the laptop with a monitor, keyboard etc because previous portables seemed to have a shorter lifespan - wouldn't I be likely to shag it using it 10 hrs a day?
Using the current machine as a media server might be a good idea, but isn't the trend for media consumption going towards cloud delivery?
revious portables seemed to have a shorter lifespan - wouldn't I be likely to shag it using it 10 hrs a day?
No, why would you? They tend to have a shorter life span cos you carry them about the place and drop them etc. They're fine when actually in use.
And if you're saving £500 say (£200 will get you a half decent monitor, even twice that saves 100s) then you can afford to replace the laptop sooner, or buy higher quality when you do.
If you CBA to build a whole pc, how about a prebuilt motherboard bundle (from Novatech or similar) that should just screw into your existing case
Add a new disc if you want and maybe a power supply though yours should be fine if it was a fancy build in 1st place
I still have an ancient P4 I still use on occasion - 10 years old now?
Having said that I'd be looking at getting a new PC if I was the OP as tax deductible and can sell the old one on. Would then have a nice new shiny PC to use for the next 7 years with that lovely Windows 8 installed 🙂
Edit - actually I'd just use the laptop for a while!
No, why would you? They tend to have a shorter life span cos you carry them about the place and drop them etc. They're fine when actually in use.
I've previosuly had mid-range laptops and they've become unuseable after a few years of light to moderate use.
Current one is a top-end Vaio Ultrabook, and doesn't go out and about much at all. I thought I'd spend more on it in the hope of getting better longevity (hardware and power-wise).
Hmmmm. May need to ponder further. Also bit wary of bloating laptop with all the occasionally used stuff that ends up on the main machine.
Have a look at Dell Outlet Business - got a couple of machines from there this week (about £400ish), slap in an upgraded Gfx card and you're good to go
I've previosuly had mid-range laptops and they've become unuseable after a few years of light to moderate use.
Unusable how?
My company frequently had to get screens replaced on the Dell laptops we were using 5/6 years ago.
Current Lenovo is still working nicely at 4 years old.
chakaping - MemberInteresting reading cruzcampo, the current PC is a high-end self-build by FiL but off-the-shelf seems more practical this time.
If you want something off the shelf not far off the custom spec I listed above how about this... £485 with free delivery, Devils Canyon I7 CPU, 8gb fast 1600 DDR3, Samsung EVO SSD for snappiness, 1tb storage, case, PSU, dvdrw etc, full tower basically...