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Ok, I've currently got an Athlon XP 2100 machine with 512 RAM and a PCI graphics card. It takes a while ot boot up, but once it's going, it's not too bad with general windows stuff - office, internet etc. However, running Photoshop CS 2 is ridiculous. It takes an age to simple load 1 raw file.
Dell have got an offer on at the moment, £210 delivered for a Dual-Core 2GHz with 2GB RAM. How much of a difference will I notice, going over to this machine? I want to try and keep WinXP has I've heard that CS2 has issues on Vista, and I'm not going to upgrade to CS2.
It's either that or I get a laptop, purely for photo work, and keep the current PC for internet office etc. My budget is up to £300.
Any advice much appreciated.
Dell have got an offer on at the moment, £210 delivered for a Dual-Core 2GHz with 2GB RAM. How much of a difference will I notice, going over to this machine? I want to try and keep WinXP has I've heard that CS2 has issues on Vista, and I'm not going to upgrade to CS2.
It's either that or I get a laptop, purely for photo work, and keep the current PC for internet office etc. My budget is up to £300.
Any advice much appreciated.
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Ok, I've currently got an Athlon XP 2100 machine with 512 RAM and a PCI graphics card. It takes a while ot boot up, but once it's going, it's not too bad with general windows stuff - office, internet etc. However, running Photoshop CS 2 is ridiculous. It takes an age to simple load 1 raw file.
Dell have got an offer on at the moment, £210 delivered for a Dual-Core 2GHz with 2GB RAM. How much of a difference will I notice, going over to this machine? I want to try and keep WinXP has I've heard that CS2 has issues on Vista, and I'm not going to upgrade to CS2.
It's either that or I get a laptop, purely for photo work, and keep the current PC for internet office etc. My budget is up to £300.
Any advice much appreciated.
Dell have got an offer on at the moment, £210 delivered for a Dual-Core 2GHz with 2GB RAM. How much of a difference will I notice, going over to this machine? I want to try and keep WinXP has I've heard that CS2 has issues on Vista, and I'm not going to upgrade to CS2.
It's either that or I get a laptop, purely for photo work, and keep the current PC for internet office etc. My budget is up to £300.
Any advice much appreciated.
Dell tend to build machines quickly, which leads to something going wrong more often than not. That said, their repair service and the quality of the repairs is actually good.
Laptops are handy for being portable, but it depends on if you're looking at the short term or long term. A laptop won't be as upgradable as a PC and you'll get less power for your money.
What about rebuilding the machine you have? Even adding more RAM will give you far better performance, especially with things like Photoshop. But if you feel up to changing your motherboard, processor and RAM then you'll have a new machine for a fraction of the cost.
If that's not an option, though, a desktop will set you back far less than a laptop for the same spec. Even a basic Dual Core with 2GB of RAM will be plenty and you can get these for £200-£300 anywhere now, even £300 with a monitor in some places. I'd suggest Ebuyer or Scan (I always do!). Even Comet had a decent spec machine for £215 the other day and Currys online had some good spec HP desktops that were reconditioned for £160.
So, questions:
1) Do you need to be portable?
2) Are you happy taking computers to bits?
Once you've answered those then you'll know what option is best.
Laptops are handy for being portable, but it depends on if you're looking at the short term or long term. A laptop won't be as upgradable as a PC and you'll get less power for your money.
What about rebuilding the machine you have? Even adding more RAM will give you far better performance, especially with things like Photoshop. But if you feel up to changing your motherboard, processor and RAM then you'll have a new machine for a fraction of the cost.
If that's not an option, though, a desktop will set you back far less than a laptop for the same spec. Even a basic Dual Core with 2GB of RAM will be plenty and you can get these for £200-£300 anywhere now, even £300 with a monitor in some places. I'd suggest Ebuyer or Scan (I always do!). Even Comet had a decent spec machine for £215 the other day and Currys online had some good spec HP desktops that were reconditioned for £160.
So, questions:
1) Do you need to be portable?
2) Are you happy taking computers to bits?
Once you've answered those then you'll know what option is best.
Oh, and they all come with Vista these days, but you could quite easily format the drive and install XP instead if you have an OEM disc with you current PC (as opposed to a recovery disc that most come with these days). You would lose any additional software and may have to download drivers seperately though.
pb wrote:
> Oh, and they all come with Vista these days, but you could quite
> easily format the drive and install XP instead if you have an OEM
> disc with you current PC (as opposed to a recovery disc that most
> come with these days).
You cant always do this, lots of vendors dont bother creating XP drivers for their Vista laptops anymore.
> Oh, and they all come with Vista these days, but you could quite
> easily format the drive and install XP instead if you have an OEM
> disc with you current PC (as opposed to a recovery disc that most
> come with these days).
You cant always do this, lots of vendors dont bother creating XP drivers for their Vista laptops anymore.
YH wrote:
> Ok, I've currently got an Athlon XP 2100 machine with 512 RAM and
> a PCI graphics card.
What graphics card is it? If it isn't very good then maybe just upgrading it will be a better option (doesn't your computer have an AGP slot anyway?).
> Ok, I've currently got an Athlon XP 2100 machine with 512 RAM and
> a PCI graphics card.
What graphics card is it? If it isn't very good then maybe just upgrading it will be a better option (doesn't your computer have an AGP slot anyway?).
Garin wrote:
> pb wrote:
> Oh, and they all come with Vista these days, but you could
> quite
> easily format the drive and install XP instead if you have an
> OEM
> disc with you current PC (as opposed to a recovery disc that
> most
> come with these days).
>
> You cant always do this, lots of vendors dont bother creating XP
> drivers for their Vista laptops anymore.
Really? That's pretty bad for anyone who doesn't like Vista or needs to use XP for compatibility.
> pb wrote:
> Oh, and they all come with Vista these days, but you could
> quite
> easily format the drive and install XP instead if you have an
> OEM
> disc with you current PC (as opposed to a recovery disc that
> most
> come with these days).
>
> You cant always do this, lots of vendors dont bother creating XP
> drivers for their Vista laptops anymore.
Really? That's pretty bad for anyone who doesn't like Vista or needs to use XP for compatibility.
I don't think it's got an AGP slot. It's about 5 years old, and wasn't a top spec when I got it. It's a Time machine, so I don't have XP on a disc, just a fully Time backup disc thing. I've already upgraded RAM, from 256 to 512.
The portability of a laptop might be handy, it would mean when either me or the other half are using it, we don't have to be tucked away in the spare room. I don't at the moment, nor will can I ever see the need to take it out of the house.
The portability of a laptop might be handy, it would mean when either me or the other half are using it, we don't have to be tucked away in the spare room. I don't at the moment, nor will can I ever see the need to take it out of the house.
YH wrote:
> The portability of a laptop might be handy, it would mean when
> either me or the other half are using it, we don't have to
> be tucked away in the spare room.
To avoid the performance issues you're having now, you'll need a laptop with a dedicated graphic card. I have heard of people picking up laptops with 256MB independent graphics for £300, although I think it'll take some bargain hunting. Pb mentioned recon-units for desktops, but also have a look at laptops (although it’s usually a case of slim-pickings).
> The portability of a laptop might be handy, it would mean when
> either me or the other half are using it, we don't have to
> be tucked away in the spare room.
To avoid the performance issues you're having now, you'll need a laptop with a dedicated graphic card. I have heard of people picking up laptops with 256MB independent graphics for £300, although I think it'll take some bargain hunting. Pb mentioned recon-units for desktops, but also have a look at laptops (although it’s usually a case of slim-pickings).
Yes, if you can stand getting it from Currys, then they have reconditioned laptops as well.
Ok, cheers for the info.
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