Windows 7 New computer, £500 - £1'500

[wildilwh09]

Hello guys, yet again I'm posting for help on computers.


As some of you would know I have a rubbish laptop. But I'm looking to buy a new computer/desktop.


I have looked around and I can see there's plenty but I don't have a clue where to start. If any one could help me or give me some names on some good computers that would fit my need "or my entire family" I would be happy.


I'm really just helping out my mum and as I went to cost-co today she discussed about buying a new computer and was looking at ones up to £1'500. I'm sure that will make it easier for you.


I'm not custom building a computer "I'm only 13."
A computer capable of easily handling games such as just cause 2 would be nice
A lot of memory, at least 750GB
Windows 7, and i3 or i7 processor.
A computer that is easy to handle, looks good and will be generally fast. I want a computer that everyone can handle, if it lags for 10seconds when my dads on it, I will be looking at advice for how to replace screens.
Preferably built in hardrive, so a screen and nothing else if i've used the wrong word
A wireless mouse and keyboard. And as we listen to a lot of music, a one with fantastic sound quality.


Sorry for being picky, would be hopeful if anyone could help.


My mam is looking to keep this computer for 6+ years


Thanks again and see you soon...

 

[Highwayman]

If your looking at 6+ years then you pretty much need to go for high end desktop not a laptop, so it can be still be upgraded with newer parts at a later date. A decent £1500 desktop will usually play most games for 3-4 years before looking shabby unlike laptops/notebooks, plus you get about 3x more horsepower for the same money as equivalent priced laptops. for £1500 you should get at very least a high end Quadcore (Intel i7 Sandybridge) /SixCore (AMD) CPU with 6gb DDR3 ram, 1TB hard drive space (maybe even a 128/256gb SSD as well) nvidia 580GTX or Ati 6970 GPU. Building a system yourself will normally save about 30-40% of the overall cost.

CPUs (The brain that runs the whole show, with stock values, note that overclocking enthusiasts can seriously boost the cpus into far higher catagories, even some of the sites I provided have quad/six core CPUs clocked to 4.5ghz or faster which is massively faster than the default speeds, the same applies to old tech in the mid and entry level sections.)

High end CPU: i7 Sandybridge Quadcore or Intel Gulftown sixcore (albiet older tech its a monster cpu) or AMD HexaCore CPU at least 3ghz
Midrange CPU: older i7 variants on non-sandybridge as well as most i5, i3, Core2quad 1333mhz, AMD Phenom mkII quadcore
Entry level: Intel Core2 quad 1066mhz or Phenom mkI tricore/quadcore

GPUs (Video processor that makes the games run well, note options such as Crossfire and SLi allow multiple GPUs combined to output even faster beating many single GPU models in higher catagories but may cost as much and incurs more running costs and more heat to worry about than a single GPU option from higher catagory)

High end: Nvidia 580/590 or AMD/ATi 6970/6990 at least 1gb DDR5 ram onboard
Midrange: Nvidia 295/570/560/480/470 or AMD/ATi 6870/6950/5870 at least 1gb DDR5 ram onboard
Entry Level: Nvidia 260/275/280/460 or AMD/ATi 5850/5830/5770/4870/4890 at least 512mb DDR3 ram onboard

RAM: well most new systems are DDR3 dual channel, 1333mhz would be the regular speed these days (although enthusiasts tend to go for much faster flavours like 2000mhz+), and typically 4gb or 6gb is about optimum right now for gamers when paired with Windows x64bit.


For a pre-built i'd probably avoid companies like HP, DELL, etc as they often use pretty crappy parts and charge well over the odds. Have a look at good hardware retailers that do the system building options as well, good system builder sites to consider would be:-

http://3xs.scan.co.uk
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=43
http://www.aria.co.uk/Systems/