[booforty]

Okay guys, I need your advice.

I'm not a computer expert but I'm going to upgrade my PC at home which is now 4 years old and struggles to run most things.

I need a computer that I can run Microsoft office on, have enough power to play the latest PC games, video and picture editing capability, plus I would like a computer that can cope with music editing so that I can play my guitar through it and lay down some tracks.

I'm more knowledgeable about PC's than Mac's and believe I could get a reasonably powerful system for £1k.

I'm less knowledgeable about Mac's, so I visited the Apple Store on Regent Street and was very impressed. One of the friendly staff gave me a tour and showed me the iMac and the various software packages included. It was impressive.

I would welcome everyone's views and experiences of both PC's and iMac's and which one they recommend I should go for.

Thanks!

[NFS]

Originally Posted by beauforty

Okay guys, I need your advice.

I'm not a computer expert but I'm going to upgrade my PC at home which is now 4 years old and struggles to run most things.

I need a computer that I can run Microsoft office on, have enough power to play the latest PC games, video and picture editing capability, plus I would like a computer that can cope with music editing so that I can play my guitar through it and lay down some tracks.

I'm more knowledgeable about PC's than Mac's and believe I could get a reasonably powerful system for £1k.

I'm less knowledgeable about Mac's, so I visited the Apple Store on Regent Street and was very impressed. One of the friendly staff gave me a tour and showed me the iMac and the various software packages included. It was impressive.

I would welcome everyone's views and experiences of both PC's and iMac's and which one they recommend I should go for.

Thanks!

I would definitely build your own PC. It's actually a very easy thing to do.

I'm sure the Mac guys will be along in a minute, but for your money the best gaming machine will be a PC.

You should budget something like this:

1. Intel Quad Core Processor (e.g Q6600) - circa £180 (intel are better than AMD right now)

2. Motherboard - Asus SLI model - circa £170

3. Powersupply - Dabs value 650 watts - circa £40

4. Case - choose one with an appearance you like - £50 (or use your old one)

5. Memory - 2 gig of the fastest RAM will do for most things - £80

6. Drives - use your old ones or buy a couple of new 500 gig samsungs - £120

7. Graphics Card - 8800 GTS or GT - BFG overclocked version is good - budget £180

8. Monitor - Samsung make the best - get a 226bw 22 inch widescreen (unless you already have one) - £225

£1045 all in - but less if you already have decent drives and monitor. You won't buy a pre-built system with that capability for the money.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by needforspeed

I would definitely build your own PC. It's actually a very easy thing to do.

I'm sure the Mac guys will be along in a minute, but for your money the best gaming machine will be a PC.

You should budget something like this:

1. Intel Quad Core Processor (e.g Q6600) - circa £180 (intel are better than AMD right now)

2. Motherboard - Asus SLI model - circa £170

3. Powersupply - Dabs value 650 watts - circa £40

4. Case - choose one with an appearance you like - £50 (or use your old one)

5. Memory - 2 gig of the fastest RAM will do for most things - £80

6. Drives - use your old ones or buy a couple of new 500 gig samsungs - £120

7. Graphics Card - 8800 GTS or GT - BFG overclocked version is good - budget £180

8. Monitor - Samsung make the best - get a 226bw 22 inch widescreen (unless you already have one) - £225

£1045 all in - but less if you already have decent drives and monitor. You won't buy a pre-built system with that capability for the money.

Ouch thats going to sound like a small helicopter taking off. You'd want a decent quiet power supply and graphics card IMO.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by beauforty

Okay guys, I need your advice.

I'm not a computer expert but I'm going to upgrade my PC at home which is now 4 years old and struggles to run most things.

Your problem is you have asked for two different things...

I need a computer that I can run Microsoft office on

Either Mac or PC will work for that.

have enough power to play the latest PC games

With the best will in the world Macs do not have good enough graphics cards to run the latest and greatest PC games even if you boot them into XP. They are nice fast processing machines let down horribly by obsolete graphics cards.

video and picture editing capability, plus I would like a computer that can cope with music editing so that I can play my guitar through it and lay down some tracks.

You are far better of with a Mac for this sort of stuff.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by DaveC

Ouch thats going to sound like a small helicopter taking off. You'd want a decent quiet power supply and graphics card IMO.

It's really not that bad

My old PC was an Advent T12, which had a 'thermally advantaged' type cooling system, where the CPU fan connected directly to a vent on the chassis. When you ran anything that taxed the CPU - like games - the fan spooled up to jet engine speeds - really loud

I now have this case:

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/revie...Plus/index.asp

Which has 2 huge fans - 180mm in the side panel and 140mm in the front. Because they are so bug, they move a lot of air without making much noise.

It just hums very softly all the time. The graphics card (BFG 8800GTS OC) has a small fan and LARGE heatsink so it's not really audible.

Neither are the CPU or power supply fans.

[DaveC]

I think everyone has a different tolerance to PC noise. Myself I'm a fanatic, can't stand hearing the buggers.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by DaveC

I think everyone has a different tolerance to PC noise. Myself I'm a fanatic, can't stand hearing the buggers.

Acoustics are hugely subjective. Some people are much more sensitive to noise than others.

The world health organisation guidelines for sleep recommend continuous background noise of 30 dB(A) or less,

The fans on my PC run at 30.8dB(A) and 33.3dB(A) respectively.

In comparison most domestic fridge freezers generate around 40dB(A)

As a rule of thumb an increase of 5dB(A) is perceived by most people as a doubling in volume.

So my fridge is more than twice as 'loud' as my PC.

[CrimsonRedE93]

NFS is right on PC's stick with Intel, I have the quad core and it good

Try looking at this company i use a lot, get the system NFS suggested already sorted out ready to go !

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...e.html?PC-1115 or this one with a 22" LCD for under £1000

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/s...e.html?PC-1114

[booforty]

NFS, don't start on fridges again!!

Great feedback guys. Keep it coming. The more feedback the better.

These guys look pretty good for building PC's? What do you think? http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

[NFS]

Originally Posted by beauforty

NFS, don't start on fridges again!!

Great feedback guys. Keep it coming. The more feedback the better.

These guys look pretty good for building PC's? What do you think? http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/

They aren't bad value actually. I just plugged in the following spec, which it reckons is around £760

Intel Q6600 4x2.6 Ghz Quad Core
Asus Striker Extreme Mobo
Windows XP Home
512mb Geforce 8800GT
Onboard Sound
500gig hard drive
700 watt quiet power supply


That will run just about anything you throw at it and play most games with mid to high graphics settings.

Having said that, I'd still build my own. You should be able to re-use your DVD drives, hard disk and maybe even the case and power supply from your current PC. I even managed to re-install my OEM version of windows XP onto the new machine.

It's cheaper, easy and quite good fun. The hardest part is ensuring that your motherboard and chosen CPU are compatible. Beyond that everything just plugs in.

[Bumps]

I'd go for the iMac Beauforty. Have a Dell PC at home (about the same age as yours but still - sort of - OK but only because I spent £1.5K on it back in 2003 so the spec is still relevant), but it plays silly buggers every so often as PCs seem wont to do, regardless of how careful you are with software additions, ant-virus, cache cleaning, firewall etc.

I also have a MacBook, which, for most of the things you mention doing, is streets ahead of the PC IMHO. Certainly for any sort of media editing, Apple have their own built-in, in-house designed programmes which are good. The only fly in the ointment is that they are reputedly not good for games, but I have an XBox 360 for that, so I don't game on the PC or the Mac. Oh and MS Office for Mac is silly expensive, but a little bird told me that they don't do any checks on your student status should you accidentally pick up the vastly-discounted MS Office for students edition..... Can't vouch for that of course but I'm going to investigate in the not too distant.

TBH I don't have a clue about what a lot of the other guys are on about as regards PC components; I really am just a user chooser, not an expert. Aside from a dodgy screen on the Mac (replaced same day) my experience has been superb, and when the Dell eventually goes, then it will be replaced with an iMac.

[scotw]

Well I am a Mac fan and have a Macbook so I'd say "Mac" until you mention games. Well, then things are a bit different! So, if Games are important, then its a PC for you.

I have built several over the years and am just about to replace the last one, I've decided to go with a store-bought one as I cannot be bothered with the hassle anymore (plus I resent the cost of Vista).

So, if you have cash to burn, Alienware are good, if not Dell (who own them) have a nice system in the XPS 420, for about £650 you can get a good quad core spec (no monitor) about as cheap as you can build, but without the testing and hassle (just upgrade the RAM to the 800MHz stuff).

If you are totally flash you could go with the XPS 720, but I'm not convinced its worth the extra.

[booforty]

I am tempted by a PC and PCspecialist seem very good value for a high spec machine

[- Paul -]

Games = PC = end of story

[Bumps]

OR

Games = (Mac + [PS3 or 360]) = end of story

For me games are just 'better' on consoles, but can't explain why!

[mjh93sa]

What you really want is one of these:

http://www.rockdirect.com/webmailer/mailer_xsl8/

[scotw]

Originally Posted by mjh93sa

What you really want is one of these:

http://www.rockdirect.com/webmailer/mailer_xsl8/

or one of these

[Fatbloke]

PC's are absolutely the dogs bollocks. It's just that Windows is crap.

Don't be compromised by the need to ultimately put with a piece of shit just because you have a need for gaming.

As far as games go, consoles are better, more accessable, the graphics always works as the designer intended without being restricted by not having the absolute latest whizz bang graphics technology card installed and three trillion gigs of RAM available.

I would happily saw off my right arm to switch to macs but unfortunately they don't run Autocad very well.

Buy a mac, it will be miles better for the music production (steinberg) and graphics manipulation, (most of the publishers having been using macs for years).

Use it on a wireless network at home with your pc and share Microsoft Office files seamlessly.

It won't decide to pack in in about 18 months time with a full to bursting registry file that takes about three days to boot up.

Oh, and they look nice on your desk!!

Buy a console, PS3 or Xbox360, you will never be disapointed with a game's performance again. They really are that good.

Have fun with whatever you decide to buy and don't listen to me, i'm just bitter and twisted through years of repeatedly rebuilding pc's.

[booforty]

Some really superb advice guys. I really appreciate it. Some good words being said about the iMac but its a big jump from the PC...

[Bumps]

Originally Posted by beauforty

Some good words being said about the iMac but its a big jump from the PC...

Tis true but you won't regret it if you do

[mjh93sa]

Originally Posted by Fatbloke

PC's are absolutely the dogs bollocks. It's just that Windows is crap.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there.

Originally Posted by Fatbloke

I would happily saw off my right arm to switch to macs but unfortunately they don't run Autocad very well.

Neither does a PC a times. (I'm an Inventor user myself)

[- Paul -]

Originally Posted by Bumps

OR

Games = (Mac + [PS3 or 360]) = end of story

For me games are just 'better' on consoles, but can't explain why!

Or

PC & Mac & 360 & PS3

Maybe even have a Wii too