How to determine specs ...

blunomore

blunomore

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Good people, as you wil recall from my previous forays here, I am a typical end-user of computers, so I need some assistance, please.

I need a desktop and am unsure of what the exact specs should be. How does one go about determining what the requirements would be in terms of the PC?

Thanks
 
Hey blu w/b! How much do you have and what do you need to do with it? Do you have a monitor etc?
 
/falls off chair. WB Blu! :)

As cerebus says, budget and usage. Typicallly it helps to know what software you will run on it, guidline is the minimum spec for Windows 7 of which version is largely determined by the desktop being on a company domain or not.
 
I have approx R 10 000 to spend, and this should include the OS and the MS Office software. Do not have a monitor - will have to buy everything.

It will be used in a small (one man) business.

Any ideas?

Thanks guys!
 
blunomore said:
I have approx R 10 000 to spend, and this should include the OS and the MS Office software. Do not have a monitor - will have to buy everything.

It will be used in a small (one man) business.

Any ideas?

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

WB Blu.
What type of work do you want to do on the computer...? Just normal office work or are there specific applications that you will be running on the system...?
 
Zenbaas said:
WB Blu.
What type of work do you want to do on the computer...? Just normal office work or are there specific applications that you will be running on the system...?
Click to expand...

Normal office work, mainly using the MS Office applications as well as e-mail and internet. Nothing out of the ordinary :)

We do work with large documents though, so I would need a sizable memory.
 
If its only for a normal office machine and not a gaming machine then you don't need anything too high spec'd.

I'd go for a dual core 2.5 with min 2gb ram. You can always get another 2gb is you really have huge documents to open.

You can go for less specs but I wouldnt bother - your not going to be saving much. Everything else is pretty much standard, dvd writer, k/b, mouse, 300gb drive, graphics card doesn't need to be too fancy.
 
Well really the iMac is a good bet - I used one in my previous job. But ok if we're going PC....

So 10k has to include everything? let's see how's about this:

Win 7 Premium: r1,400 (yes it's a rip-off)
MS Office 2007 student: r900 (ditto)
Samsung 2333SW: r1900
Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 (2.66Ghz, 4MB L2 Cache) @ R1724
Asus P5KPL-AM SE G31 @ R471
Radeon hd4670 @ R800
4gb ddr2800: r600 or so
Seagate Barracuda 1.5tb @ R1200
Cooler Master Elite 310 RC-310-BWN1 @ R446
Vantec ioN2+A van-550A 550watt @ R722
DVD-RW - r250

=11000 roughly

Areas to save money on:
Graphics card if you don't plan on doing graphical work - 4350 perhaps?
monitor say 22" should be fine - W2234S @ r1500
Hard drive - 1tb@900
Odin 470w - r375

that should round your build down to r10k :)
 
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My advice, and most people will disagree :D is to get a tier 1 machine, e.g. HP, Dell. You can get an HP machine, E8400 processor, 2GB RAM, 320 gb HDD for around R6000. You can add a Samsung 23 inch monitor and Office 2007 and still be in budget.

The benefits are an industry proven lower chance of failure (1-5 years), and a full 3 year warranty. Although the specs are lower than a clone, the reliability is higher - which is what you need for business....
 
+1 to that :)

You're a business not an enthusiast - you wouldn't know what to do if something broke. Get a business solution.
 
blu, spend R3000-R4000 on a PC and go shopping with the rest - you really don't need to spend 10k for a PC with your requirements.
 
I have never tried this and probably wont ever try this (I'm more of a component by component type of guy...it
makes the PC feel like more of a bargain) but if you want a complete PC without the setup hassle then you could try

Evetech

and you could start here

you can add what you want pretty easily and remember to check the actual specs rather than look at the picture...
there are a couple of pics with an elite case but the specs show a cm690(a very much better case)

EDIT: All this business man stuff... then just go here
 
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So many opinions! Now I am well and truely lost.

1. Obviously the machine is more important than the monitor, right? So should I e.g. buy a better machine and spend less on the monitor?

2. But how to choose? HP, IBM, Dell ... ??? Asus?

3. Which is OS is better - Windows XP, Windows 7 or .. ?

Thanks guys
 
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Maybe something like this:

Performer PC

Intel Core2 Quad 2.6Ghz Q8400 CPU
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB SATA II-7200RPM HDD
Foxconn 1333FSB MB
Coolermaster Elite Case + PSU
DVD Writer +_ ( 22x) Dual Layer (8.5GB)
Onboard sound with speakers
256MB ATI 3450 VGA Card
19" LG Wide LCD Monitor
Gbe Lan
Keyboard & Logitech Mouse
No OS Included
Click to expand...
R5300 from http://www.pcint.co.za/pcs.php
 
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