Looking for a new PC

Gary Coyle

Gary Coyle

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Budget around £800 just for a base unit, whats best for mainly photoshopping, core 2 duo E8500 or quad core or the latest i7

was thinking along the lines of something like this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-E8500-4GB-DDR2-750GB-9800GT-Asus-Gaming-PC_W0QQitemZ330280522527QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopPCs?hash=item330280522527&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

would really like a Dell as they've always been very reliable for me in the past but they all ship with Vista and i dont really want to go with Vista.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-XPS-630-Computer-E8500-3-Year-Dell-Warranty_W0QQitemZ380111039585QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopPCs?hash=item380111039585&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A4|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dell-XPS-430-Q9450-ATI-1GB-3870-X2-1280GB-4GB-4-YR_W0QQitemZ170313556943QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Computing_DesktopPCs?hash=item170313556943&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1690|66%3A4|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318
 
Have you considered buying the components and building your own? It's really the best way to get the best spec PC for the money you have budgeted.
 
You want to buy complete and not build it yourself? only self build is always much cheaper and you get to choose each component and your o/s.


/MikeeB beat me to it.
 
Dont want to go the self build route, and as flying monkey says it can be cheaper to have it built, some of the dells on ebay are really good speced with bluray players for under £500 and you get 4 years next day warranty, i just wish they shipped with XP and not Vista
 
Gary Coyle said:
got the hassle of trying to find all the drivers then.
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Usally have the XP drivers on the makers website - never more than 30 mins work to get them all down. In fact you would probably have them all before the machine gets delivered if you know the model number :)
 
You're gonna be stuck with Vista then I'm afraid if you go down the Dell route. I doubt theres anyway to get XP on a brand new pre-built machine now without doing it yourself.
 
there are lots of vendors selling new machines with XP, its just finding the right one.

What i also asked which hasnt been answered is what processor/spec is better for heavy duty photoshopping.
 
Gary, any multi core processor you buy today will handle photoshop standing on it's head, only thing is memory, if you want to run xp you'll be limited to 3gb regardless of what is fitted.
 
Steep said:
Gary, any multi core processor you buy today will handle photoshop standing on it's head, only thing is memory, if you want to run xp you'll be limited to 3gb regardless of what is fitted.
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He's right regarding the processor. Any of the processors you've mentioned will do the job and more. And the 3gb limit only applies to Windows 32bit versions. Vista 64 bit will let you address more than 3gb (though quite why you would need that...)
 
I still can't see why so many people dislike Vista - being honest, once you start using it, it's not that different to XP. Driver support is excellent, and I've never had an issue with it. I run a dual-core Athlon 64-bit XP5600+, 4GB DDR2, and 2TB of drives on 64-bit Vista. Photoshop & Lightroom fly....

So I need to ask the question - Why don't you want Vista?
 
Vistas not that bad but if it were my money I'd hold off for windows 7.

Can't wait that long take a look at www.pcspecialist.co.uk you can pick any spec you like and they'll give you a price. You can also change the spec to see what difference adding more memory or a faster processor would make.

I haven't personally used them but it'll give you an idea whet your money would buy if you decided against Dell.
 
I'd agree about Windows 7, I'm running the beta on my main PC here and it's a joy to use.
 
I'd hardly say it's a joy to use but windows 7 is a heck of a lot better than the god awful Vista.

I thought you could roll back Vista to XP somehow?
 
Steep said:
Gary, any multi core processor you buy today will handle photoshop standing on it's head, only thing is memory, if you want to run xp you'll be limited to 3gb regardless of what is fitted.
Click to expand...

Apart from Win XP 64 of course!
 
reddeathdrinker said:
I still can't see why so many people dislike Vista - being honest, once you start using it, it's not that different to XP. Driver support is excellent, and I've never had an issue with it. I run a dual-core Athlon 64-bit XP5600+, 4GB DDR2, and 2TB of drives on 64-bit Vista. Photoshop & Lightroom fly....

So I need to ask the question - Why don't you want Vista?
Click to expand...



Simply because it is so much slower than XP 64 and it treats you like you need nappies!
 
Gary Coyle said:
Vista is a piece of crap and i wouldnt have it for free, its sooooooooooooo slooooooowwwwwwwwww
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What operating system are you running then? and what is the spec of your pc because Im running Vista home premium and its really fast.
Ive got an Advent quad core 2.2ghz with 4 gb ram package from pc world I upgraded my package from a 19" Monitor to a 22" all in for £530 it runs Cs4 suite Lightroom ect without a problem and quickly Im well pleased with it(y)

Edit:
This is the one I bought it was £499 when I bought mine it has gone down in price it is now £449.00 like I said I upgraded tp A 22" monitor and it cost me another £30 and im glad I did.
Advent PQD-5002 - Quad-Core PC
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/st...m=null&tm=null&sku=208748&category_oid=-35410
 
Hi Steffyboy, i run xp pro, i suppose i should say that my hatred of all things Vista is purely down to the fact that it is way slower then xp.

i suppose an upgrade in ram and processor might even it out a little bit
 
A decent spec computer now will run Vista/Windows 7 no problem (y) I've found the 64 bit quicker when performing tasks such as unzipping or processing pictures in Lightroom/PS but has its disadvantages when it comes to drivers (in some cases) and some programs (Google Chrome for one)
 
Gary Coyle said:
Hi Steffyboy, i run xp pro, i suppose i should say that my hatred of all things Vista is purely down to the fact that it is way slower then xp.

i suppose an upgrade in ram and processor might even it out a little bit
Click to expand...

I was all XP but I found with sp3 on it it was grinding to a very slow pace with a single athlon 2.2mhz proccessor and 3 gig of ram I installed Vista ultimate and it ran very much faster than xp thus the reason I upgraded and use the older pc as a family web/email spare. I have always built my own pc's but I couldnt have built any better spec for the money This system runs perfectly and takes all I throw at it its not a Games machine but Ive got an Xbox 360 for that. I know I could always stick a better g/card in there but I find theres no reason to do so. The motherboard will take up to 8 gig of ram but its pointless unless i'm going to run 64bit operating system *** why did it star the word B.u.t? lol the option is still there to upgrade if needed.
I will wait untill windows 7 is out there and maybe install that later on once all the bugs are ironed out.:)

Save yourself the money and buy yourself some new glass with whats left over ;)

Stef
 
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