Hi all, Wonder if you can help, im looking for some advice for a friend. They've got a p500 downstairs which they are thinking of putting upstairs in one of their daughters rooms. They have a spare monitor keyboard and mouse, so wont need new ones. They are looking for a cheap system to put downstairs. It is just really for browsing, office, and 2d kids games. They have AOL broadband, and would like the machine upstairs to be able to connect to it and share that and the printer. To recap, im looking for recommendations on: Cheap system for non-game work (no monitor, keyboard, mouse needed) Wireless stuff to share broadband and printer Colour printer Many thanks Paul
Have a browse yourself based upon their budget. Log onto ebuyer and pick bits then ask someone for advice on what you've chosen. This isn't aimed at you in particular but at some of the posters of similar threads. Its really not hard to spend 20 minutes speccing a system then asking for advice on what you've chosen. Rather than getting someone else to spend 20 minutes of their time speccing one for you. At least this way you've put (some) thought into what you're doing.
Have a go Spend a little time googling if you need to, or pop back and ask. That way you end up learning things from the experience. People are going to recommend different things anyway, so its an idea to know a little about whats on offer
geez lighten up! ur not called mr grumpy for nothin huh anyway have a look at these bundles they are guaranteed to work all you will need extra is a case and a hard drive which are cheap if you dont need a massive amount of storage oh and btw i have that case and i can vouch its great (2x120mm fans for cooling )
Although Highland3r is a grumpy git, he's just pointing out (in the nicest way possible) that people can do a bit more for themselves than just specify a budget and say 'spec me a computer'. No harm in doing a bit of research and getting to be knowledgeable about the tech.
Exactly - it's a learning process, and I am of the opinion that you should try yourself. Obviously, you can't be expected to get it all right - otherwise, why ask the question - but the experience of selecting for yourself will never hurt. If you choose something that isn't compatible, we can tell you, and then you'll remember that for the future and gain more knowledge of the technology.
Hows this? Product Price Ebuyer Extra Value KG-9980 ATX Middle Tower Case in Silver/Blue with front USB2.0/Audio/1394 and 350w PSU 12.76 AMD Sempron 3000+ (SDA3000AI02BA) 1.8GHz L2 cache 128KB Skt 754 47.25 Asus K8S-MX SKT754 SIS760 MATX , Vga, Sound, Lan, Usb2, Fsb800, Sata133r 32.32 Ebuyer 512mb DDR PC3200 400MHz 184pin Extra Value Ram 23.93 Western Digital WD800JD Caviar SE 80GB 7200RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache - OEM 32.99 D-Link DSL-904 Wireless ADSL Modem Router With USB Adapter Bundle DSL-G604T & DWL-G122 Single Box Solution 50.78 Epson Stylus Dx3800 5760x1440dpi - 15ppm Usb2 Uk 46.44 Pioneer DVR-110D 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Black) - OEM 26.37 Cart Total: 272.84 Shipping Band: 7.24 Shipping Surcharge: 2.4 SubTotal: 282.48 VAT: 49.47 Total: 331.95
Looks good, except for the following: Upgradability - You'll find it very hard in a few years if you plan to upgrade that. Socket 754 is no longer supported, and new processors will not be produced for it. If upgrading it is a non-issue, then ignore this point. RAM - Ebuyer generic RAM is complete rubbish - it's hit or miss whether it'll work or not. Spend the extra few quid on a quality brand-name value set, such as OCZ, Crucial, Corsair, or Kingston. Power supply - the one that comes with that case is going to be no better than **** on a stick (they have exploded in the past), so replace it with a brand-name unit such as an Antec, Tagan, Enermax, or OCZ PSU. You should only need about 350 watts. Aside from those issues, you've got yourself quite a nice system with a solid set of components (wise pick on the Asus board). It's certainly a lot better chosen than my first system (ah, memories) and it should meet their needs pretty well
What about this: Product Price AMD Sempron 3000+ (SDA3000AI02BA) 1.8GHz L2 cache 128KB Skt 754 47.25 Asus K8S-MX SKT754 SIS760 MATX , Vga, Sound, Lan, Usb2, Fsb800, Sata133r 32.32 Western Digital WD800JD Caviar SE 80GB 7200RPM SATA/150 8MB Cache - OEM 32.99 D-Link DSL-904 Wireless ADSL Modem Router With USB Adapter Bundle DSL-G604T & DWL-G122 Single Box Solution 50.78 Epson Stylus Dx3800 5760x1440dpi - 15ppm Usb2 Uk 46.44 Pioneer DVR-110D 16x DVD±RW Dual Layer Internal IDE (Black) - OEM 26.37 OCZ Value 1GB DDR400 PC3200 CL 3-4-4-8 (LIFETIME WARRANTY) (OCZ4001024V3) 67.66 Antec SLK1650/mt 350w Smart ATX Black Case 38.45 Cart Total: 342.26 Shipping: 7.24 Shipping Surcharge: 3.6 SubTotal: 353.1 VAT: 61.83 Total: 414.93
That looks much better. Both the memory and power supply are from quality brands, and the 1GB of RAM should give a bit more general smoothness in Windows as well as allow the onboard graphics to take a chunk without a significant performance hit.
Just a quick question, what broadband do they have as cable requires a different router to adsl. Apart from that, the spec looks excellent for a net browser/office comp, the decent amount of ram will mean things wont go all laggy when you have multiple ie pages and office documents open.
AOL don't do cable. There are two options, either have ICS where the upstairs computer connects directly to the downstairs computer for the internet, but I wouldn't reccomend it. Just get a cheap belkin or linksys ADSL router which will allow the internet across the net. Allows for expandability too.
i thought this D-Link DSL-904 Wireless ADSL Modem Router With USB Adapter Bundle DSL-G604T & DWL-G122 Single Box Solution 50.78 Would do that job? I thought as its an ADSL modem it will connect to the ADSL, then I can use the ethernet ports for the machine I have specc'd and the included USB adaptor for the p500 machine upstairs? I also thought this would mean that the machine downstairs wouldnt have to be on for the upstairs machine to connect to the net?
Maybe I should have said, by Belkin or Netgear, nothing else, and especially not Linksys or D-Link, they have a lot of problems! You are right about "the job"!
oh right ok, BTW is there any way I can network that printer wirelessly, so the upstairs machine can connect to it without the machine downstairs being on?
You can do it via the network, however the downstairs computer has to be on. Otherwise you can get a print server which will connect a printer to the network.
Good wireless ADSL gateway: £37.82 (Costed us £75 earlier this year!) http://www.xtsit.com/browse/product_details.php?id=10620&sr=2 Good wired ADSL gateway: £29.92 http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...m9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=50540&_LOC=UK
