New computer time

[irv_b]

Our main computer is on it's last legs (9ish years old Dell dimension 2400)so much that it's a pain to use it, so I have been looking around for something new. We have a 4 year old Mesh comp which has been reliable so far and they sent a newsletter with these  sale items and was wondering what you wiser tech heads thought:
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODCATEGORYVIEWPAGE&USG=APPLICATION&ENT=APPLICATION&KEY=136463&x=1
So  I was fancying this one
http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.aspx?PAGE=PRODUCTCONFIGPAGE&USG=PRODUCT&ENT=PRODUCT&KEY=1005691
At a push depending on how much of a discount they give for students ( 1 kid at uni and 1 doing graphic art &design at 6th form next year) I could be seduced by Apple but will have to change all the editing software and wouldn't want to get into being Apple dependent, so has anyone knows/heard of better deals around!
TIA Irv

[bones615]

Have a look in dixons/currys/pc world refurb section, you may get more for your money.  i have had 2 laptops and a desktop and have no complaints. Had problems with the latest desktop but they sorted it with no problems.

Simon

[irv_b]

Thanks Simon but my foster son had a refurb lappy from PCworld and had the opposite experience to you! He had nothing but grief with it

[Oldboy]

The Mesh PC looks ok, but for that price only 4gb memory and 1tb hard drive isn't very good. Have a look at this one: http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-pavilion-h9-1040uk-core-i7-2600-8gb-ram-120gb-ssd-gtx-550-ti-w7hp-7PZ0.html?src=3 OK, it's a bit pricey and doesn't include a monitor. Set up correctly this will fly through anything you throw at it, and if Windows is set-up on the SSD, start-up will be two seconds, with all the applications you need ready started. 

[picsfor]

Nice machine, but he's only £100 shy of a nice 27 iMac with Thunderbolt...

I mean, what's not to like about a shiny 27" iMac, and thunderbolt technology?

As for his kids - Dad would become so cool  getting an iMac, especially with their educational stuff 

[anglefire]

I have a 80Gb SSD in my latest home built PC - boot up is quick, but not 2seconds quick - about 30 from cold. I didn't g o for the fastest SSD available at the time, but an Intel one which has better reliability.

Programs do start very quickly though - they are a couple of seconds -even CS5 only takes a few seconds

[spinner]

Nice machine, but he's only £100 shy of a nice 27 iMac with Thunderbolt...

I mean, what's not to like about a shiny 27" iMac, and thunderbolt technology?

As for his kids - Dad would become so cool  getting an iMac, especially with their educational stuff 

Lion. A lot of software that worked with Snow Leopard don't work with Lion. That's why I haven't upgraded.

[Markulous]

I'd be slightly wary of Mesh as they've not had resounding feedback on delivery times - and they did go bust not that long ago (but were picked up and carried on by their current parent company)

If you're going for 64bit it's pretty pointless not going for at least 8GB - but be prepared for some of your older peripherals having probs connecting through lack of 64bit drivers. SSD drives are OK but they don't actually prove to be much faster in the real world (set up 'doze on a 10k rpm drive with nothing else loading and you'd see - as you load additional startup apps and drivers it all slows down)

[Hinfrance]

I mean, what's not to like about a shiny 27" iMac, and thunderbolt technology?

Let's start with 'shiny'. Followed by 'white'. It could only be worse if it was pink. 

[spinner]

If you're going for 64bit it's pretty pointless not going for at least 8GB - but be prepared for some of your older peripherals having probs connecting through lack of 64bit drivers. SSD drives are OK but they don't actually prove to be much faster in the real world (set up 'doze on a 10k rpm drive with nothing else loading and you'd see - as you load additional startup apps and drivers it all slows down)

Yes, I'd forgotten about that, neither of my perfectly functioning HP items (scanner and printer) had 64 bit drivers so when I went Mac, I was forced to replace them. 

[spinner]

I mean, what's not to like about a shiny 27" iMac, and thunderbolt technology?

Let's start with 'shiny'. Followed by 'white'. It could only be worse if it was pink. 

It's the 'shiny' bit that drew me to mine. But the 'white is at the back, the screen has a nice 'black' border and the bottom trim is brushed aluminium. But, like with Lion, 'thunderbolt' is a) too new and b) too proprietary, making it c) too expensive.

[irv_b]

Thanks for the replies guys, I thought this would happen and I'm now more indecisive
OB I couldn't stretch to that much and to be honest I'm not a shiny kind of guy Andrew you've seen me and I how I dress 
The hunt will go on!

[Hinfrance]

This probably won't help, but what I do is wait for whatever is my current PC to go belly up, and then hunt out the highest spec just obsolescent PC from the supermarket (we don't really have Currys type shops here, the supermarket sells Apples too). I don't worry too much about the hard drive size as all my data are on external drives anyway.

The last one was a bargain - a Packard Bell 32bit (3 years old now) that even with only 3gb RAM runs faster than our brand new 64bit lap top. Don't know why, it just does. I think it must have eaten some apples, because it's got 4 cores apparently

[Oldboy]

Thanks for the replies guys, I thought this would happen and I'm now more indecisive
OB I couldn't stretch to that much and to be honest I'm not a shiny kind of guy Andrew you've seen me and I how I dress 
The hunt will go on!

You are a plumber in London! Money is no problem. 

[irv_b]

Thanks for the replies guys, I thought this would happen and I'm now more indecisive
OB I couldn't stretch to that much and to be honest I'm not a shiny kind of guy Andrew you've seen me and I how I dress 
The hunt will go on!

You are a plumber in London! Money is no problem. 

Ha ha if only