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"Celeron 1700 System - what do you think ?"

PC World have a new store opening neat me on Saturday and this system:

Intel Celeron 1.7GHz Processor
128Mb DDR RAM
40Gb Hard Drive
DVD-ROM & CD-ReWriter
Intel 845 GL Graphics
15 inch Monitor (13.7 viewable screen)
56K Modem + Network Ready
Works 6.0 & Money 2002
Windows XP Home Edition
1 Year Free On-Site Warranty

Is only £380 inc vat this weekend, do you think it's good value ?, I eould want to upgrade the monitor which is no trouble.

Any idea how a Celeron 1700 compares to an Athlon XP ?
would it match an XP1500 for processing power for example ?
I have a spare GEForce 4 MX420 card so graphics wouldn't be a problem.

That's it, no more questions.

Thats sounds like a good deal. I'm pretty sure that an XP1600+ is more powerful than a P4 2.0Ghz..no idea where I saw that though and I have no doubt that they were trying to sell a XP1600+ system.
a 13.7" monitor would be fine, I use a 14" and i'm not bothered at all, it does everything it should do and I don't intend on sitting on the other side of the room so why would I need a bigger monitor? ... 13,7" would be fine + you can always upgrade.

Mr H wrote:
> Any idea how a Celeron 1700 compares to an Athlon XP ?
> would it match an XP1500 for processing power for example ?

Not even close.

> I have a spare GEForce 4 MX420 card so graphics wouldn't be a
> problem.

Well, it depends on whether you class owning an MX420 a problem or not really :)

Ring them up and try and get some offers!

I got some hefty upgrades for very little £££ when I rang them for my PC...

You're paying for the reliability though, something you won't get from PC World!

I had a look at some Dell systems, not bad if your happy with something bog standard but £49+vat for delivery and £39+vat to upgrade from (SDRAM 166mhz) 128mb to 256mb put me off completely !

phi11ip wrote:

>
> Oh yes I have, the Samsung DVD drive is crap!
>
> They stopped making them after they drives started buggering up about
> 2 years after you got them!
>
> Not Dells fault though and Samsung are crap!
>

Hopefully that doesn't go for their hard drives too - I've got one in my computer right now. Very quiet, though, especially when compared with my previous Maxtor one (which conked out after a year, damn it).

If you want a pre-built package and you want good quality and customer care, go to Dell...

I'd fully reccomend them due to the fact that everything they have set up on my PC works fine!

I havn't had any problems either...

Oh yes I have, the Samsung DVD drive is crap!

They stopped making them after they drives started buggering up about 2 years after you got them!

Not Dells fault though and Samsung are crap!

But the PC hasan't gone wrong once and it still works fine after 3 years!

They want £399 in the new store opening down the road from me, hmph..

thanks for your comments, it seemed like a bargain at the time but they won't let you chop and change monitor/software etc. So I will avoid and get a new PC built to my spec by someone after Xmas.

Any ideas how Celeron 1700 processor performs ?

The monitor will be terrible, and if you're upgrading it through PC World (£100 extra special deal or whatever) then it will probably still be terrible. If there is one thing worth breaking a budget for then it's a quality branded monitor. Even if PC World are offering a 17 or 19" model it will probably have a poor refresh rate and everything will flicker and give you a headache. And the monitor is the only part of your PC that doesn't lose 90% of its value as soon as you walk out the shop.

On the other hand, if you're planning to use your own monitor then you're paying for stuff you don't need. And the same goes for the bundled software: there are better free alternatives to MS Works, and probably for Money too. The only killer app Microsoft had left for me was Word because I need to footnote stuff, but OpenOffice's word processor now does everything Word can do, only free. I'd even put the warranty in this category because I wouldn't trust PC World to tie my shoelaces, let alone open up my computer.

Basically anything PC World don't name specifically is going to be the crappest generic model available. I think you would be better off building your own PC - which is educational, fun and not too difficult - or getting an independent shop to build you a system that fits your needs.

PC World have a new store opening neat me on Saturday and this system:

Intel Celeron 1.7GHz Processor
128Mb DDR RAM
40Gb Hard Drive
DVD-ROM & CD-ReWriter
Intel 845 GL Graphics
15 inch Monitor (13.7 viewable screen)
56K Modem + Network Ready
Works 6.0 & Money 2002
Windows XP Home Edition
1 Year Free On-Site Warranty

Is only £380 inc vat this weekend, do you think it's good value ?, I eould want to upgrade the monitor which is no trouble.

Any idea how a Celeron 1700 compares to an Athlon XP ?
would it match an XP1500 for processing power for example ?
I have a spare GEForce 4 MX420 card so graphics wouldn't be a problem.

That's it, no more questions.