Could someone in the know give me a brief what to look for spec for a general purpose desktop PC for the old man (who’s slightly technophobic) Only uses it for web, word processing, a few photos and videos (not editing) so nothing too powerful required but a good solid spec that won’t find itself unable to run Windows after a few updates get rolled out.

Who’s currently winning processor wise? AMD or intel – Any particular model to go for?

Minimum sensible amount of RAM?

OS? He’s currently using XP and isn’t great at adapting to new ‘user experiences’ but I’m guessing he’s just going to have to get used to Windows 8?

Subject to advice given I’d probably go for something like this Asus:
Asus at ebuyer
Asus CM6730 Desktop PC
– Intel Core i5-3330 3.0GHz
– 8GB RAM + 1TB HDD
– DVD Writer
– Keyboard and Mouse
– Windows 8 64bit

Thanks for any input…

Chris.

a good solid spec that won’t find itself unable to run Windows after a few updates get rolled ou

Windows doesn’t get more resource intensive, really. I’ve got a 2003 vintage AMD 2200 which runs Vista nicely, and that was the most resource hungry version. Later versions are easier on hardware.

Go for an i3, save some money.

..indeed, for what you’re looking for then that machine will be more than enough, as molgrips says go for an i3 and 4Gb of ram will be fine.
To reduce the headache of Windows 8 try installing Stardocks Start8 and MagicMix to get a more trad ‘Windows’ feel.

Do they do desktops based on the AMD E450 type chipsets? They would also be fine and may be cheaper still.

1TB is a hell of a lot of storage too for someone who isn’t downloading movies or taking tens of thousands of RAW images.

You could also consider one of those touch-screen all-in-one PCs that you can get. More expensive but touch with W8 is good.

That’s a bit of a beast of a PC to be honest. An i5 and I’m pretty sure that has an extremely capable video capability.

There’s a zoopla PC on the Ebuyer site which is a hundred quid less…

Thanks for the input. I’ve always gone a bit up from the cheapest in the past and stuck with mainstream brands – in my mind I’m getting something a bit more reliable and ‘futureproof’ (for what that’s worth) for little extra outlay… Point taken though on the i5 Asus. There’s an i3 version with 6Gb RAM for £309?

I don’t think too much storage is a problem. Not much cost saving for a 500Gb drive and if he’s got tons of space I can leave an off-site backup of my files in case Lancashire make a pre-emptive strike on the Mother-county 😀

The i5 is all the chip you’ll ever need. I’d personall go for that over the i3 as its just a bit more capable – particularly if you’re doing video editing.

Looks a solid enough spec to me for what you’re wanting and will last a good few years.

Cheers

Danny B

There’s an i3 version with 6Gb RAM for £309?

Sounds better.

Personally I’d rather spend more money on a super-quiet drive than a super big one. And there’s maybe an argument that smaller drives would be more reliable…?

particularly if you’re doing video editing.

Which he isn’t.

+1 probably excessive spec- that’s a fair bit faster than my home PC which gets used for a lot more than you describe. TBH it’s quite hard to buy a PC that won’t cover your job list these days!

@Molgrips – 1Tb’s not exactly the bleeding edge these days though is it? They’ve been around for long enough to be reliable surely?

It seems to get any cheaper than £309 (for the i3 Asus, or there’s a slightly streamlined looking Acer with onboard wireless for the same price) I’d have to get a less well known brand and drop down to a Celeron processor (going for AMD doesn’t seem to save much) as well as less RAM and storage. How does a Celeron G550 for example compare to the i3 processor? Is that worthwhile compromise for a £50-100 saving?

Celeron will be fine, I’d bet money that you won’t even notice.

Light use on a budget is exactly why Celerons exist.

I’d avoid the Celeron given a choice, personally.

In five years time when you want to run Windows X, the Pantium is going to be your bottleneck.

never buy a PC named after a vegetable.

Celeron = celery, and about as much use

the i5-3330 is about 2.5 times faster than the Celeron G550 according to CPU Benchmark

Go for the i5 if you can and avoid the celeron.

The thing is that hardly anything you do in the uses described above is limited by the cpu. Amount of RAM and HD performance are far more significant.

If you get an i5 you won’t be able to word process 2.5 times quicker than a celeron. And word won’t take 2.5 less time to load – or if it does you won’t notice.