confused and need advice

[hayl223]

Hi all, i'm not that much of an expert when it comes to computer technology. I'm thinking of buying a new computer and would like to know what I should be looking for. I will be using the computer mostly for internet use. I would like to know what the difference is between all the names eg, intel pentium, centrino, celleron. I've seen some computers for around the £300 mark and some as much as £1000. I don't want to be spending to much money when theres no need for it.
Many thanks.

 

[Dishdog]

Any gaming going to be done on this computer? if so what games?

 

[CJ1]

A celleron is usually the cheapest option. Also look into AMD as their Athlon XP range is cheap as chips at the mo. If you could build a PC yourself, this would cut the costs of buying a PC considerably. For Internet use, you just need a very basic PC. I would suggest tailoring the PC to match the recommended specs of the operating system you intend to use. Windows XP Home should suit you nicely.

 

[mammikoura]

It depends on the computer. He said he doesn't want to spend much so a prebuilt system should be good. At low performance pc's the price difference in prebuilt and self-built isn't that big.
But if u want to do some gaming then u should build ur own, since u want quite good parts and then it will become cheaper, and u get quality parts instead of those cheap ones they put in the prebuilt computers.

 

[Dishdog]

I don't recrommend building a PC in this case. if you just want it for internet use get a nice deal from a company that comes with some software(like windows XP, word....)

 

[hayl223]

Thanks for all the replies. I will not be using it for games, it will literally be internet use. At present I have quite a fast connection and some people have said that the computer I get doesn't have to be that fast if the connection is fast.
Cheers.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Yes that is right. You don't need a super duper fast computer just to have high speed internet. Just make sure the motherboard supports 10/100/1000 Mbps speeds and you're all set. For those kind of PCs, go online to Dell or your local CompUSA, Best Buy, or any other computer retail stores and look for a basic system using Sempron or Celeron processors. The cost for those systems should not exceed $1,000.

 

[hayl223]

Where do I get the info about the motherboard. Te one i'm ooking at has the following specs.
Processor

Intel® Celeron® D Processor 325 (2.4GHz, 533FSB, 256k cache)

Operating system

Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition

Network Card

Integrated 10/100 NIC

Monitor

15" Analogue Flat Panel Monitor (15.0" v.i.s.)

Harddrive

80GB Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

Optical Drive
16x DVD+/-RW#

Graphic Card

Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics

Sound Card

Integrated Audio

Would this be sufficient for my use.
Cheers.

 

[TRDCorolla1]

Yes, that will do just fine. It's already got a NIC card in there for broadband internet. Celeron D is a pretty good processor too.

 

[mammikoura]

yeah, I'd go prebuilt.
Basicly the only thing u need is like a 1 GHz processor, 512mb ram and any vid card will do fine, even integrated.

Though u might want to look for a little bit faster processors since u probably can't find 1 GHz anywhere anymore. An celeron or sempron will do perfectly.
512 RAM will be enough, but I would think about getting 1GB. But if u find a good deal, but it only has 512mb u will be fine, I currently have 512 myself and it's enough, though sometimes I notice that my pc is slow because most of the ram is being used.
As I said the vid card doesn't matter at all if u don't play any games. The only difference is that integrated cards usually use that same ram as memory because there is no ram built in them, this resulting in a slight decrease of available ram for the system. But if u have 1GB of ram it should be more than enough even with the integrated card.