Looking to get my base unit back and running (mobo/cpu bundle over new pc) & upgrade our laptops (before upgrading to W10), looking for recommendation for general hardware that worth looking at (price vs performance). Got a couple of hundred I can throw at the pc, but am happy to be convinced to spend more if it’s worth while

I’m not looking for something to play the latest games, just kit that worth while spending money on, that have a solid performance so it’ll last for another 4-5 years.
Tend to prefer intel cpu’s…

and for the laptops.. SSD drives.. what worth spending cash on, 250gb or bigger? Both currently have 500Gb drives, and mine almost full (should transfer most of it to my NAS really), though my partners isn’t, so 250Gb would be fine for her..

I’d look at the latest Intel Skylake i3 CPU’s. The i3-6100 is available for around £95 and can be used on a decent motherboard with the latest DDR4 RAM. This would give you an upgrade path to a substatially more powerful (and expensive) core i7 CPU if you ever felt the need.

You will probably want a different motherboard to fit your case but this will give you an idea;

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/hqB2sY

Sounds good, probably a better choice over the out going Haswell i3 deals I’ve seen, though the whore in me likes the look of the i5 6500 😀 but realistically I doubt I’d need the power.