New computer - help and suggestions needed

[ClaretTony]

I think my current computer might be trying to tell me it hasn't got too long a shelf life left. It's just taken me about 20 mins from switching on to being able to get on the message board, I get go slows periodically and all round it is not proving to be very efficient.

Buying a new one is something I've always found to be a minefield to be honest. I don't use it for too much other than general internet browsing, updating UTC etc. and general things.

I know I might get lots of different suggestions but would appreciate any that you might have as to what would be best and where to go (and I know a few of you will be more than happy to tell me where to go ).

[LoveCurryPies]

Do you need a computer? Would an iPad be able to do all the things you need? Would be easy to use around the house or even when out.

Do you need to be portable? Have you considered a laptop?

[ClaretTony]

I don't think an iPad would fit all the needs to be honest although I appreciate it would be much more portable.

Always previously had a desktop - I used to use a laptop at work (some years ago) but had a docking station on my desk so I could use a decent mouse, keyboard, screen etc. So I've probably never really considered a laptop previously.

For someone who worked in IT for years and someone who sits using a computer for so many hours every week, I don't really have much idea.

[LoveCurryPies]

I must admit I'm not sure I would want to use an iPad if it is for several hours each day.

I just use an iMac....plug it in, turn it on and use. Easy!

Expect the PC users will be here any second!

[Quickenthetempo]

I was looking at updating my tower as it was having loads of problems but it still had plenty of spec for what I needed. To match what I already had was proving expensive so I took my Tower to Rapid IT in Padiham to see if it could be fixed. £50 and it was sorted.

Definitely worth seeing if it can be repaired first unless your wanting a massive upgrade.

[Walton]

For home use it's laptop all the way in my opinion.

I got a HP one from PC World a couple of years ago which has been absolutely brilliant. I wouldn't have started to consider a HP or PC World previously, but I took a chance and I've been rewarded.

I paid £400 for mine, and the equivalent looks to be around £480 with them these days.

It replaced a bells-and-whistles laptop worth well over £1k, and knocks it into a cocked hat.

[IndigoLake]

I recently asked for some advice and ended up buying a Macbook Air. They don't come cheap but they're much cheaper than the Macbook Pro. I've only been using it for a couple of days but the difference in quality between that and my old Acer is astonishing.

[lesxdp]

Just a thought Tony but have you considered talking to P3 computers. Don't know if anyone has used them but a number of years ago they seemed very helpful when I was looking for a PC although I admit in the end I bought a Dell. No particular reason though except maybe I thought a "Big Name" would be better.

[pushpinpussy]

try deleting all that porn Tony. it might speed it up a little.

[ClaretTony]

try deleting all that porn Tony. it might speed it up a little.

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

If you're looking for something to simply update the site and do other basic stuff with and you want to stick with Windows you can't really go far wrong with anything running an Intel i series processor (an i3 will be perfectly ample for what you want)

[IAmAClaret]

From your 'use' description, you don't need an Apple device of any sort... unless you want to have a shiny laptop with an apple logo so you can look cool in the eyes of other people with shiny laptops with the apple logo on.

Stick with what you know, look for something with an SSD (256 or 512GB) and 8GB RAM,i3, i5 or i7 CPU. The rest depends on you, how light, how big the screen is, build quality etc.

[FactualFrank]

Always previously had a desktop - I used to use a laptop at work (some years ago) but had a docking station on my desk so I could use a decent mouse, keyboard, screen etc. So I've probably never really considered a laptop previously.

That's why I've never loved laptops. Because I've never been a fan of the keyboards nor the way you move the cursor. That and I work from home, so of course never really found the need for one.

I guess it comes down to where you do most of your updating/writing. If it's at home, I'd stick with a desktop.
You can always connect to your desktop from your phone or somebody else's laptop via something such as Team Viewer if the need to do articles away from home is few and far between.

[iluva64]

I'm an Apple person myself, you could keep your monitor, keyboard and mouse and go for a mac-mini. Below is whats on offer on Apples refurb site. You still get 2yr warranty etc etc. My office has everything bought thro refurb and I have no problems.

[IndigoLake]

I'm an Apple person myself, you could keep your monitor, keyboard and mouse and go for a mac-mini. Below is whats on offer on Apples refurb site. You still get 2yr warranty etc etc. My office has everything bought thro refurb and I have no problems.

Yes, I bought a refurbished Macbook Air for a 15% discount and it comes with the same guarantee as all the others. I might be mistaken but I think Apple products come with 1 year of AppleCare with the option to extend it another 2 years as long as you buy the extension within the first year.

[MiltonKeynesClaret93]

A Mac mini is actually a very good shout.

[Bacchus]

My laptop is on its last legs and I'm considering whether I really need another one or whether to invest in a decent tablet instead. You can still get a keyboard, mouse, external storage etc, you can easily hook it up to a tv if you really want to. Most programmes you'd use on a laptop are readily available for a tablet. You might lose a little processing power, but unless you're a serious user it shouldn't really affect you so the benefits of portability / space saving outweigh that for me.

Still undecided, it would feel wrong giving up a pc / laptop in some way but I think it's just a mindset thing that I need to get over (much like buying cds vs subscribing to Spotify or buying real books vs a kindle.)

[ClaretTony]

That's why I've never loved laptops. Because I've never been a fan of the keyboards nor the way you move the cursor. That and I work from home, so of course never really found the need for one.

I guess it comes down to where you do most of your updating/writing. If it's at home, I'd stick with a desktop.
You can always connect to your desktop from your phone or somebody else's laptop via something such as Team Viewer if the need to do articles away from home is few and far between.

I don't like the way you move the cursor on a laptop either, always have struggled with it.

The bulk of what I do on this site is at home. The only other device I use, other than my PC, is my phone. It's more limited but enables me to do basic updates and set up man of match votes etc. after away games.

[aggi]

Personally I'd go with a refurbed business laptop that's a couple of generations old. The main difference is battery life, you won't be getting 8 hours+ like some of the modern laptops but you should get 3 or so. You can plug it into your keyboard, mouse and monitor but it is convenient to have a laptop occasionally.

A lot of them tend to be Dells and Lenovos which are pretty tough (so long as you don't care about cosmetic marks). Going the refurb route gets you much more power for the price.

Personally I like the Lenovo X220 but the Dell Latitude's are perfectly decent as well. There are a few refurb companies on ebay (look for the long established ones with a lot of ratings). I've purchased from this one before with no issues:

This is good value per the specs, but I'm not that familiar with HP
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HP-EliteBook- ... SwB-1Ypy05" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Big screen Dell
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Precisio ... SwB-1Ynffh" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Decent value specced out with an SSD and additional memory (8GB is the most you'd need)
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Latitude ... Q#viTabs_0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Similar but you can upgrade the processor
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FAST-Windows- ... XgS64GzIwA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Realistically an i5 processor and 8GB of Ram would be more than enough for your needs.

[FactualFrank]

I don't like the way you move the cursor on a laptop either, always have struggled with it.

The bulk of what I do on this site is at home. The only other device I use, other than my PC, is my phone. It's more limited but enables me to do basic updates and set up man of match votes etc. after away games.

Going off that, I'd stick with a desktop. For laptops you're paying for portability. With a PC, for the same cost you'll get a much better bang for your buck.

[Frenchclaret]

Have an Asus laptop, which sits on my desk and is linked to a mouse and a printer. Works fine for my limited skills and usage online and has great HD Clarets Player material.
The advantage is that I can take it with me to France when I am there but also I can move it to kitchen, lounge or bedroom when I wish. I also have a mouse on wi-fi because like you I hate using the pad on laptops. It is quite light and very easy to use and has plenty of memory, Ram etc - which was researched by my techy son in law.I am now on my 3rd or 4th laptop and wouldn't go back to having a tower etc.

[Midmoorclaret]

I've had a Toshiba laptop for over 7 years now and last year installed Windows 10 and use Google Chrome browser. I do not like using the built-in cursor thing so have always used a Logitech wire free mouse which works fine, along with the the built-in keypad as I don't like touch screen. I also have an external hard drive via USB port for more storage.

[Bertiebeehead]

What are the specs of the PC? You might find backing up your files and reinstalling windows will help, gets you back to a clean slate and will speed things up.

[dsr]

I think my current computer might be trying to tell me it hasn't got too long a shelf life left. It's just taken me about 20 mins from switching on to being able to get on the message board, I get go slows periodically and all round it is not proving to be very efficient.

Buying a new one is something I've always found to be a minefield to be honest. I don't use it for too much other than general internet browsing, updating UTC etc. and general things.

I know I might get lots of different suggestions but would appreciate any that you might have as to what would be best and where to go (and I know a few of you will be more than happy to tell me where to go ).

Speaking from recent experience, make you sure have backup up all your files onto an external hard drive while you still can. I was quite relieved when I found a had a backup from 30 months ago, when my built-in hard drive packed up recently - I thought it would be more like 5 or 6 years.

[TheOriginalLongsider]

I would definitely take it to a PC repair shop first. They can run Diagnostics and find out why it is running slow. Sometimes it's just as simple as reinstalling Windows (after backing up the data). A new hard drive doesn't cost much, neither does memory upgrades

[South West Claret.]

I would definitely take it to a PC repair shop first. They can run Diagnostics and find out why it is running slow. Sometimes it's just as simple as reinstalling Windows (after backing up the data). A new hard drive doesn't cost much, neither does memory upgrades

I concur with the only qualification that they also don't sell computers.

[BFCmaj]

I got a Zoostorm desktop a couple if years ago and I'm very happy with it.

http://www.zoostorm.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ashtonlongsider]

I changed from Windows to an iMac about 18 months ago and I wouldn't go back. The only problem being Apple products come a premium.

[CnBtruntru]

I think this is all to do more with the eye of the beholder or User to be correct, I have always used a desktop whether at work or at home I then tried a an Acer laptops it was given to me by my daughter who upgraded to a better spec, I was a long time converting to the laptop but have and bought myself a Lenovo with an i7 processor and 8gb ram which is plenty for what I need it for and any of the games I play.
What I would suggest before you make you mind up is go out and try some in the shops, if the store assistants think they are going to get a sale they wouldn't mind you knocking a few words out on a word processor, I, like someone else has already mentioned use a separate wifi mouse as I do prefer it to the mouse pad that the laptops have and the fact the one on a Lenovo Z50 is cack.
If you are more used to the Windows operating system I would stick with it as the comparable version of a Apple mac or whatever they are called would cost you at least double the price and if you are already comfortable with Windows 10 or 8 why change.
Anyway Good luck and good Hunting.

[starting_11]

£400 for an Intel i3. You don't need any additional graphics.Get the one with the SSD drive, it'll load to your desktop in about 30 seconds from powering on. They all come with a further HDD for any larger storage requirements. 8 Gigs of DDR4 RAM will be more than enough to keep hundreds of chrome windows open at once.

If the CPU isnt strong enough (i'd personally go for an i5 minimum, but obviously you might not require it) the Pro range are from around £6-800.

The company is in Bradford too, near the motorway so you can pick up from there and I've bought a few things from there, been happy every time.

*If you need windows 10, you can find home retail keys online for about £12 too - don't be paying £85 for it.

https://www.cclonline.com/pc/home-pcs/nova/

[superdimitri]

For basic needs you don't need windows so getting a Mac isn't a bad idea, they are overpriced but they do just "work"

If it were me I would do what has already been suggested, get someone to look at your PC. Likely you only need an upgrade of one part (probably hard drive) for it to run well.

If its just general tasks like web browsing, email etc you would do better installing Zorin OS on another like Linux OS on it. Zorin OS itself is made to mimic windows 10 and it has all the features you would need for a computer built in, browser, email client, word processing etc but whats more important is it will run fast, much faster than windows or mac.

[Jambounchained]

Bit of a PC nerd and currently have 3

A 2015 Alienware gaming laptop
2014 MacBook Pro
2013 IMac

I'd most certainly look into getting a secondhand MacBook or iMac. Mine are a good few years old and are absolutely rapid. The software is miles better than Windows. I honestly can't fault them.

[TheOriginalLongsider]

You can get a used iMac on eBay for less than £300. Still think take it to s PC repair shop though. And contrary to popular opinion, Macs do break or start to go slow!! I have one

[Bop]

iMac Tony. Got 2 refurbished ones at good prices. Super intuitive and quick. Miles apart from the rest but understand they're not to everyone's budget, taste or beliefs. **** hot though.