Our desktop – a compact ACER – has not worked well for a while. Kept freezing when running. Apparently it needs a new motherboard – £150 plus just for parts and going to take 2-3 weeks at least. Expensive as a compact unit, so I’m told.

Is it worth getting repaired (about 18 months old) or should I just get a new desktop unit – if so any recommendations? Don’t need monitor/keyboard etc. Used for internet, word processing, photos etc.

i had the same dilema with my dell, the insurance was paying and a new MOBO, power suply and case worked out cheeper than a dell replacement MOBO. (cost £150 inc parts and labour)

IMO it wasnt worth it, but i guess it depends how new and spec’d the PC is, cpud you buy a base unit withsimilar spec for £150, if yes then thats your answer.

personally i would buy a new one – mesh / dell seem to charge 300 – 350 for their cheapest base unit which look to be perfectly adequate for most purposes except maybe latest games or graphics intensive tasks – or get something secondhand

thats the way I’m heading – presume i could easily get data of hard drive?

go with someon ther than dell, the parts they use are cheep and don’t last (MOBO, Power and hard drive all broke/ on the blink in a 2 year old PC)

plenty of websites custom building PC’s, just pick the spec you want, and whee theres choice go for the second least expensive option (just like orderign wine in a restaurnt). That way the parts will at least be replacable, and hopefull a lot beter quality.

Matt – Id look at getting a cheapo barebones and move your HDD and anythng nice (like a graphics card) over to it.

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?store=2&cat=103

Throw in bin, get Apple Mac.

Sorry.

[helpful mode]

Novatech M/board + processor bundles.

Dual Core Intel packages from only £95.

Worth getting a new M/board and processor package, as it’s like getting a whole new PC. Will be a lot faster than your current one, probbly.

MicroATX, or one of they really tiny ones? (ITX)?

I’m looking to build a new PC soon. Basic components are surprisingly cheap, if you look about. I built a decent spec machine, including power supply and case, for about £400 a couple of years ago. Probbly about £800 for an equivalent spec ready built machine at the time.

might as well get one of these instead
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/155468

Nowt wrong with Dell. Most of the components are the same as everyone else uses, but they get massive cost savings through “buying power”.

Sure it’s not corrupted and just needs windows reinstalling?

If so how much do you want for this useless PC you have…

Cheers folks. i would love to build my own but wouldn’t know where to start!
I’ll look at the cheap Dell/Mesh stuff.

And everyone forgets about the cost of an OS yet again.

Or if your reasonably PC building savvy do a search re OEM SLIP’d BIOS’s for the motherboard of your choice. Which is effectively telling the OS that your new kit is an OEM Dell, Asus, HP or whatever build and use the same OS OEM licence key 8)

Apparently one site will do the SLIP insertion to the bios of your choice with the OEM of your choice for you……but that’s just what I’ve heard.

Or if your reasonably PC building savvy do a search re OEM SLIP’d BIOS’s for the motherboard of your choice. Which is effectively telling the OS that your new kit is an OEM Dell, Asus, HP or whatever build and use the same OS OEM licence key

Apparently one site will do the SLIP insertion to the bios of your choice with the OEM of your choice for you……but that’s just what I’ve heard.

and all this means???? 🙁

Means the Operating system e.g. windows will recognise you’ve taken out the hard drive and put it into a new build-no more updates from Microsoft.

It will recognise the motherbaord and other bits (limit used to be 3 main changes as in upgrades) as new and if more than a set number-it will think cloned drive into a new pc-piracy.

To stop piracy-it’ll stop you receiving windows updates. (Sorry I’m half asleep working at home if this comes out werid).

Whatsit is right about adding the operating cost V’s buying a a built pc with operating licence installed.

There are ways of beating this by entering codes ( SLIP insertion to the bios ) to make it think it’s the same pc so you can update ok.

Get a laptop with 3 yr warranty?

Clink it all sounds too complicated for you – no offence – just buy a mesh or similar – recommend against dell as they use non-standard parts (power supplies, graphics cards etc) which means if something blows up it cant be swapped out easily (as you found with your acer)

I would highly recommend dell. we have a load of their pcs here at work, cards in and out of them all the time, and in 8 years we have one HD and one CPU go down i think. we bought a new HD, dell replaced the CPU under warranty.
oh. apart from our software guy managed to write off a HD he ‘installed’ himself ( knocked a load of components off it! ), and our business manager broke the power connector off his laptop when he dropped it. we bought another connector off ebay, opened the thing up and replaced it.
dell bits are available from a number of retailers to repair, but it does seem a bit funny to say ‘buy a new unit cos you don’t know enough to replace bits’ on the one hand, then discount a manufacturer because you can’t replace the bits.. 🙂

another option to consider might be something like an advent 4213 or the like from pc world ( think you can buy online rather than actually have to subject yourself to pc world staff ). 4213 you can hook up your old keyboard, mouse and monitor if you want to. you can also buy a shell for your old hard disk that will allow you to connect it to any pc using a usb connector. usb disc box
you can do this whatever you decide to replace your old pc with, and this will allow you to just drag and drop files off and onto your old disc ( which will make a handy backup ).
HTH

The OS thing…….if you do the install it wil ask for for a code or give you the option to call MS. Do the latter and tell them your HDD has died, you are replacing it in the same machine hence the request for a new licence. Oh yes..and as for Rudeboy and his ridiculous idea about getting a Mac…………….I hav to agree with him 110%. Best move I ever made. I have to run some windows apps so I bought a copy of VMFusion, took a picture of my HDD ad simply copied it onto the Mac. I now run OSX and XP Pro simultaneously and yes, the Mac runs windows better than the pc ever did. Life in easier now Apple have adopted the intel processor.

The trouble is, they cost more than £150! 😯

A Mac Mini would certainly fit the bill, but you aren’t going to get one as cheap as some of the PC deals, that’s for sure. Would definitely be ideal, tbh, and praps better for the non-techy person. You’d get a raft of very useful software with it, and it’s easier to just plug in stuff like printers etc.

Mac Mini.

does not in any way seem as good value, when you compare it spec for spec with a similarly priced PC, but then there are advantages you don’t see at first, such as the ease of use, and lack of needing to install owt. And for photos; simply plug in your cam, and iPhoto sorts it all out. Very simple.