My new PC

[shariqq]

My last PC is over 3 years old, so I need to retire it. I'm going to get a new one, and the internet has been helpful to advise me on what I should get, as a minimum. Anyone here can give me more tips?

Desktop, not Laptop
The way I see it, Desktops are:
- less expensive
- easier to upgrade
- generally have superior video and audio (I have a Creative 5.1 surround sound speaker system that I'll hook it up to)
- I'm not looking for portability. This is for my home.

Primary Applications
- Internet browsing
- MS Office (Outlook, Word & Excel)
- KFF related applications
- VLC Player and Quicktime for movies & trailers (max 720p)
- Windows Media player (or WinAmp) for MP3s

Need the machine to be good enough to multi-task without losing speed, as I'll be running KFF related applications and playing MP3s while browsing or working on docs.

Configuration
- Processor: 2.66Ghz dual core Intel processor or more.
- Operating system: Windows 7 Home
- Disk space: Minimum 250 GB. I have a 1TB external drive anyway.
- Memory (RAM): 4 or 8GB, depending on price.
- Graphics adapter - No idea. 1GB NVIDIA GeForce? Too costly?
- Miscellaneous stuff: CD/DVD R/W, wifi, blue-tooth options, 19" monitor or so, Sound card.

Budget
Max AED 3,000.00, including the screen.

So, any suggestions or tweaks to the above? Anything I should consider or should not bother about?

And no, animatedude, don't try to sell the idea of a Mac to me. I can live without the unnecessary mess it will create in my life.

[animatedude]

AED 3000 including the screen? what planet are you from? and please don't be like those judgmental PC losers,what unnecessary mess are you talking about? you don't even mention you are a gamer in your description.

set back relax and get an iMac 21.5'' i3 for an amazing price of $1199.you don't even need an arabic keyboard therefore go to amazon.com right now and order one to your Shop & Ship account and save more than 1000 AED.actually, i'll get the same iMac soon at work.prices of Macs are really high over here but in the UAE they are even higher.

btw, the pic above gives me headache! funny enough the first iMac from 1998 looks much better!

[shariqq]

I am from planet Earth. Hello.

I did mention in my first post to not try to sell me a Mac. I don't want it. I'm happy with PCs. I'm not going to train my wife, my mum, my cousins and nephew to work on an Apple to feed your ego. Also, $1165.00 + the shipping cost on Shop&Ship is *above* AED 3k.

AED 3K will get me a good enough machine with a screen. A quick search on the carrefour website got me to this: http://www.ic4uae.com/Product.aspx?productid=12157

Since Gitex Technology Week is 12 days away, I can get better machines than the one on that link at lower prices then.

And really, looks don't matter to me. I'm perfectly fine if it suits my needs, functions well and doesn't give me trouble.

[ayaa1977]

I am with you Shariq, PCs are quite fine. I also hate laptops in general, and for the life of me I can't see why would one buy a laptop if he or she would only use it at home.

 I also need to buy one, but I am too lazy to do that, because I am used to my computer and it is too much hassle for me to backup everything. You think your computer is old because it is +3 years old? Try 6.5 years old, lol. I bought mine right after I got married, early 2004 (Pentium 4, 2.8GHz, 1.0 GB Ram, 75GB HD), and it is really slow. I wish I can quit the darn think and buy myself a new one.

[animatedude]

lol you don't have to "train" yourself using it...in fact,no one taught me,i just purchased one and used it.you don't have to "train" yourself to use it...if you know how to use windows,you will know how to use Mac even better because everything is much easier to check.

[madali]

You're such a child!!

[animatedude]

You're such a child!!

i'll take this as a compliment,thanks

[ozzylogic]

I thought I posted my reply here already, shoot. Anyway, you could get a decent branded PC for that price, but a much better configuration if you go shopping for parts yourself (with me!).

With your present configuration, here are the prices as of last month, all new:

Processor: 2.9 Ghz core i7 LGA1156 920-----Dhs 1100. You can go for an i5 processor, slightly slower, but more energy efficient, and of course cheaper.

Motherboard: Gigabyte P55-usb3 ---590 dhs. Should you choose to go for an i5 processor, the motherboard will be different, and slightly cheaper.

Ram: 4 GB Kingston HyperX DDR3 1333 Mhz-- 230x2 (2 Gb x 2) - AED 275 to AED 300

Casing : Gigabye sumo casing----550 dhs, or a regular, GOOD casing for AED 150 AED 200

VGA: ATI HD 5770- AED 625 to AED 650. I have this card, supports 2 DVI outputs, 1 HDMI, 1 display port. Very energy efficient, but very powerful when pushed while gaming, 1080p, etc.

PSU: 600 watts PSU (Gigabyte would do): around AED 300 to AED 350

DVD RW- LG- AED 80

HDD- 1TB Seagate -  AED 245 to AED 260

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium - not sure about the price.

Monitor: Go for something that has HDMI, AED 800 to AED 1000, 24", or, just connect it to your Plasma

Total cost w/o the monitor: around AED 3500. This is slightly high end, so I'll need to check prices for something more entry level.

[ozzylogic]

Use this for an estimate:

http://www.souq.com/browse/hardware-components-1-1187-EN/

Most prices here are higher than the market price.

[shariqq]

Thank you ozzy.

Yes, the configuration you mention is probably more than what I need, and costlier too. I'll probably take the i5, with a motherboard to match, a good cheap casing and definitely a smaller drive. I don't need a 1TB, especially with the external drive I have.

Also, I'm not planing to hook-up the system to the Plasma. The PC will be a stand-alone machine in a different room, so that the wife or I can use it independently while the other make use of the plasma. So a monitor is a must.

Question: Assembled PCs are generally cheaper that branded ones, but branded ones are generally more stable (tried and tested combinations of components). For someone who's tech-savvy is now out-dated, should I prefer the branded system to avoid issues? Or should I go assembled, and then call the person who built it for me whenever I have an issue?

[shariqq]

First day of shopper has done it for me

Here's what I got:

Configuration
- Processor: Intel Core i5 2.4Ghz.
- Memory (RAM): 4GB DDR3.
- Disk space: 1TB.
- Graphics adapter - 1GB NVIDIA GeForce
- Operating system: MS Windows 7 Home Premium.
- Wireless keyboard & mouse.
- DVD R/W, Headphones, webcam, etc.
- Antivirus

...and the deal-maker: an LG 22" Full-HD LED screen!



All for a cool AED 3350.00.

It was for AED 2999.00 for the same config with an Acer 20" LCD Screen and AED 500+ for the LED above, but we got chatting and we settled at a price we were both happy with.

[fizz]

Sounds like a sweet deal, but that monitor is a killer! Good job finding it and have fun with it.

[ayaa1977]

Congratulation, it looks like a kick-ass setting.

[ozzylogic]

Yeah, the monitor is excellent, nice rig Shreq!

[animatedude]

congrats...no Blu-Ray?