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New PC - is this one any good

Started by jinky, November 16, 2009, 05:44:48 PM

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jinky

I know nothing about PCs - all I know is that my current one is a 6 year old Vaio that is so slow now and struggles to run the new Lightroom I have very quickly and has totally crashed twice in the last year when i have had to re-boot / restore the whole lot.
I want something faster / better powered and was going to look in the new year until I saw this Medion and wondered.
Yes it is at Aldi and I have heard some Medions have given problems but personally I have a 4 year old 122 medion laptop that never caused me to use the 3 year free warranty you get with Aldi and is running well now and I also have a Nedion screen that has been a good buy again with no problems at a great price.
Do you think the linked one represents good value for money with the 21.5" screen or would you wait until Windows 7 had bedded in and get a PC bigger screen in the new year?
If you cannot be bothered to look at the link these are the nmain features it has:

Intel® Pentium® processor T4400 2.20 GHz, 1 MB Cache, 800 MHz FSB
4 GB DDR2 SDRAM1
1 TB (1000 GB) S-ATA hard drive
NVIDIA® GeForce® 9100 MG DirectX® 10 graphics with 256 MB shared memory for full HD video playback and multimedia applications
4-in-1 multi-card reader for SD, MMC, MS & MS Pro memory cards3
Connections 2 x PS/2, 7 x USB 2.0, 1 x LAN 10/100/1000 MBit/s.

Screen -Full HD Touchscreen with single-touch control
21.5"/55cm TFT widescreen display in 16:9 widescreen format with full HD resolution (1920 x 1080 pixels)
Multi-standard DVD/CD burner4 with DVD-RAM and dual-layer support
5 quick access sensor points for multimedia functionality
Integrated sound system with 2 high-performance speakers
6 channel analogue audio5
1x mic in5, 1x line in5, 1x line out5, 1x SPDIF out (coaxial)
Digital DVB-T Freeview/Analogue TV-Tuner
Communication
Wireless LAN 802.11 standard-n technology with up to 300 MBit/s., 802.11 b/g compatible6
Network controller Gigabit LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit/s.) on board
Integrated 1.3 MP webcam with microphone
Huge software package (OEM versions) with Windows® 7 Home Premium, Microsoft® Works 9.0, Windows Live Essentials and much more...

Accessories included
Remote control, wireless keyboard, wireless optical mouse, external mains adapter incl. power cable, Windows Recovery DVD (32 Bit)

Grateful for any advice as money is tight and I need to make the right buy when ready. I can pass on this one for now and wait until new year as planned if no good but tempted given the three year return to base warranty and my personal experience of the brand.


oRGie

Hi Jinky, I dont see a link ?  but just wondered what the price for that lot is so I can compare for you.

Looking at the specs I would say its not going to be a nice smooth fast pc, the ram and fsb speeds are slow for current specs, mine is 1000mz fsb and I built this pc over 3 year ago, also video only has shared memory, so thats pants tbh ;)

Give us your budget and i will give you my thoughts on a cost effective system..  eg touch screen etc, waste of time, better to have a good 22"+ monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, well ok if you really want that, but I use wired and for you it would be cheaper, allow you to spend on the important stuff from the start, like fast motherboard, processor and ram.

whats your budget ?

Oldboy

Not had a problem with my Medion PC which I got from Staples over eight years ago.  ;D

Is this the one as reviewed in Computer Active? http://www.computeractive.co.uk/computeractive/hardware/2253242/medion-akoya-p4010d If it is then it's slightly under powered, as the graphic card is only 256mb and the norm now is 500mb and mine is 1tb.  ;D

jinky

#3
Wow you are so fast and helpful on here!
Sorry - this is the link:
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2827_11960.htm?WT.mc_id=2009-11-16-16-12
It`s going for £600 with the screen. As you say touch screen a little bit unnecessary as is the TV bit to be honest and yes it is that one by the look of it Oldboy. That didn`t come up for me when I did a quick search.
It`s 5-600 I would be looking to spend on a PC and a 21" screen if I could get one the right spec.
Any further thoughts welcomed and thanks again for views so far

picsfor

I have only just seen this, and for that price i'm betting you could do better.

Mainly - you are getting the Windows 7 band wagon 'muck'.
They are shoving out stuff with a nice new Windows 7 badge on and saying 'you must have this'

Next, you have Xmas coming up - and that is where the real fighting comes. Wait for a month and see what turns up. For £600 i'm betting you will do a lot better.

Technology prices are the only ones guarenteed to fall!


Oldboy

A quick look at Dabs shows these without a screen:
http://www.dabs.com/products/fujitsu-dp3-core2quad-4gb-1tb-bluray-vista-home-premium-5L4Q.html?refs=412110000

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-dx7500-core-2-quad-q8300-3gb-2x500gb-vista-business-downgraded-to-xp-pro-62PQ.html?refs=412110000

I would choose the first one listed with a 22in Samsung monitor for £650.67 and includes free delivery. I brought this monitor from them and it's a cracker.  ;D

oRGie

Quote from: Oldboy on November 16, 2009, 06:44:50 PM
A quick look at Dabs shows these without a screen:
http://www.dabs.com/products/fujitsu-dp3-core2quad-4gb-1tb-bluray-vista-home-premium-5L4Q.html?refs=412110000

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-dx7500-core-2-quad-q8300-3gb-2x500gb-vista-business-downgraded-to-xp-pro-62PQ.html?refs=412110000

I would choose the first one listed with a 22in Samsung monitor for £650.67 and includes free delivery. I brought this monitor from them and it's a cracker.  ;D


I agree, that first machine with the 22" monitor would be great. The only thing in the spec that could be better is the 800mhz ram, but you could allways upgrade that at a later stage if you found you needed too, doubt you would though..

picsfor

i'm going with oldboy and orgie on this one.

Definitely a better deal and it's from Dabs...

jinky

Thanks for that then - I`ll wait and see. Would rather have Windows 7 built in than vista with a small charge upgrade to 7  so I`ll give it time for 7 to settle down, come built in and look at dabs and the spec you have outlined.
Thanks all ;)

Oldboy

Quote from: jinky on November 16, 2009, 07:00:44 PM
Thanks for that then - I`ll wait and see. Would rather have Windows 7 built in than vista with a small charge upgrade to 7  so I`ll give it time for 7 to settle down, come built in and look at dabs and the spec you have outlined.
Thanks all ;)

I'm sure if you call them, they would provide Windows 7 on it for free.  ;D

jinky

I noticed a post that in theory they offer it for free but the poster says there was an admin fee of £22 and a further charge of £10 with it not being possible until December. I can wait until it comes installed so no problem. At least I know the right things to look / ask for now - even if I don`t know what they mean. :D I have visions of the old Mot the 9 o'clock news sketch about woofers and tweeters or the Armstrong & Miller laptop one of last week when they asked if he wanted the cabbage leaf edition. For those not watching it was about add ons at a price to future proof and he took the cabbage leaf edition which had ... a cabbage leaf stuck on the top of the screen. He was sick when he saw someone with a carrot edition which had... ;D
You had to be watching

Oldboy

Sorry, didn't notice that. If it's a free upgrade then Microsoft should provide a download for it, but just checked and they don't.  >:(

picsfor

Quote from: jinky on November 16, 2009, 10:12:35 PM
You had to be watching

Yep - i thought it summed the whole market up a treat - with humour to match

Jonathan

#13
Quote from: picsfor on November 18, 2009, 10:01:00 PM
Quote from: jinky on November 16, 2009, 10:12:35 PM
You had to be watching

Yep - i thought it summed the whole market up a treat - with humour to match

Yeah but I kept getting 80's flashbacks..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSINO6MKtco

ETA: The Register had a bit of fun recently at M$'s expense.  They pointed out that a brand new copy of OS X (not an upgrade but that's a small fib) is in most cases cheaper than a free copy of Windoze 7.
It's Guest's round

picsfor

yes i think that was the sketch mentioned- like you i did see the comparison

funny really how the technology has moved on but attitudes to technology haven't...
That done - time to get my new Canon with green shutter button  :)

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