IT bods… need advice for a family member

motherboard died in mums computer, its 5 years old and wasn’t exactly a specialist machine when they bought it. was used for running the internet, iTunes and some photo editing software. think they were looking at around 2.4ghz, 500bg storage, 4ish bg ddr2 RAM on the machine that’s died.

they’ve got keyboard, monitor, printer, etc etc so are looking at replacing the tower unit… money’s not great at the moment so i was hoping that people on here might know of any good sources for a basic machine? step-dad was looking at the Mesh website i think so they’re obviously willing to consider ordering one instead of just wandering into PC world and getting ripped off.

cheers guys for any advice or links!

sort of thing on this page would probably do them fine;

http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Desktops/Dell,/brand,/132/subcat.html

I have one that I got from a similare source that’s been goign fine for 4 years.

[edit] moving the hard disk across as secxond drive woudl be pretty easy so get an 80Gb one and use the old drive as a second one for data,

Something like this would be a reasonable bet – http://www.ebuyer.com/395478-aspire-xc600-desktop-dt-sljek-028

Stick with a big name brand from ebuyer or amazon and you should be OK.

second drive for data’s a very good idea! got that set up on my PC but didn’t even think about it on the phone to them last night. that could help drive the price down a fair bit 🙂

Ordered one secondhand off eBay for my daughter. Wasn’t cutting edge but fine for her use.
Or look at ebuyer for their Zoostorm PCs.
You may need an adaptor for the monitor if the PC has a DVI monitor output and new keyboard and mouse as everything appears to be USB these days.
And if the printer is serial … You will need a new one of these too!

what kind of budget?

£380, plus add another £20 for some more RAM
http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/product_detail/13671/Acer-Veriton-L6610G-Micro-Desktop-PC-Core-i5-2-5GHz-2GB-500GB-Windows-7-Pro/

or
just a box that works from £50 to £150
http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/587/Dell-PCs/

see if you can just replace the motherboard off ebay for like £10-15?

http://www.dell.co.uk/outlet/ Some great refurbs with warranty.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?sort=price+ascending&price=0+TO+300&cat=191&page=1 – Cheapest at £150 … but no operating system installed.

http://www.morgancomputers.co.uk/c/507/Towers-and-desktops/ – Some around £75 there. Granted not top spec, but might suffice.

Novatech do two levels of “bundles”. Buy a motherboard bundle and put it in your existing case, or buy a bare bones bundle and put your existing drives in it – depending on what you want to keep and your level of confidence re: diving into a computer up to the elbows.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/motherboardbundles/%5B/url%5D
http://www.novatech.co.uk/barebonebundles/%5B/url%5D

EDIT: I always seem to buy my computers from this lot, no matter where else I look. The bundles are tested, so you know they’ll boot and they are great way of getting a new computer without buying a new computer.

thanks guys, i’ll send the links on over 🙂

Also try e.g. Dell refurbished.

I use ebuyer & novatech.