Desktop advice

[stephenc87]

Hi everyone, just hoping for some advice.

I am planning to buy a desktop soon and a bit stuck with all the different specs.

Firstly, I keep changing my mind about whether to get a desktop or laptop. I wouldn't really be transporting it around and think I can get more for my money with a desktop?

I would want to spend less than £500.

I've been looking at going for a Vostro 220 as these seems to be cheapest with the best specs. I've compared them to the Inspiron and don't know why Inspiron are more expensive. I missed the xps mega offer a wee while ago, but not sure what is better about them, apart from the monitor?

As for tasks, would mainly be for surfing the web, looking over uni notes, playing some games but nothing major. Maybe the odd RTS.

I have no preference for OS. Seen a lot of stuff on the web about people hating Vista but I don't know that much about computers to know whether it would bother me or not. If I ended up with Business Vista as opposed to Home version, would that be a problem?

HD space isn't really a concern. Would go for 200 or something.

I don't plan to burn dvd's or really watch them on it, but I suppose a DVD-ROM drive would be useful.

That seems to be the template questions. I had another couple though.

Would I notice much of a difference between say 2.2 ghz processor and a 2.4ghz one? And any difference between Dual Core and Core 2 Duo?

Also I would be looking for a graphics card and not sure whether to take the 128mb from Dell or to buy my own one and fit it myself but not sure if this is easy/allowed under warranty?

And if I bought a monitor separately, is it easy enough to set up?

Sorry for the novel... :P

Also just want to say thanks for this great site and I when I go to buy, I will do it through here

[spannerzone]

So many questions!

Firstly you need to decide on desktop or laptop.... desktops can be upgraded to some degree and laptops can't have so much upgraded (other than memory and hard drive)

The Vostro 220 doesn't (currently) appear to come with quad core options and I wonder if it's capable of having one fitted later on (the earlier Vostro 200 cannot take a quad core CPU despite it appearing to use the same hardware as the Inspiron 530 which can have quad cores... making me think that Dell restrict the Vostro range in the BIOS.

Dual or quad core? - well some software can take advantage of the extra cores and this will speed up some games, video, photo or audio editing. Some software only 'sees' one core so the other cores aren't used. For average use I'd get dual core or if a gamer/video editor I'd get quad. You'll not notice a huge difference between a 2.2 or 2.4Ghz CPU but the faster it is the better it is for some applications.

Vostro's have less graphic card options (but you can buy your own from elsewhere and fit it later) For the odd gaming I'd get a mid range graphics card like the 3650 or higher.

Vista Business has some features that aren't on Vista Home and vice versa, video editing is missing from Vista Business for example. Compare here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...s/default.aspx

Adding a seperate video card shouldn't invalidate warranty (just be careful fitting it!) - some big graphics cards require an extra power lead and also some are physically very big and may not fit the case easily. I added an Asus 2600XT without issue and it is nice and quite.....adding a monitor is easy, just set the PC resolution to the native resolution of the monitor.

The main points I think are:

Get 2Gb ram for a good Vista experience or more, hard drive - the bigger the better within reason, onboard graphics are ok but no good for any modern game so consider some sort up upgrade.


I've had several Vostro 200's and am very pleased... the Vostro 220 is the newest version and looks good.

[stephenc87]

Thanks a lot for that help spanner

I never really looked into quad core before but have had a wee look now and am stuck between these two systems. The inspiron is reduced from £579.

Inspiron 530
Intel Quad-Core Q8200 2.33GHz Vista Home Premium 3072MB 20in E2009W Widescreen TFT 500GB 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 16x DVD +/- RW
£499 d015018

Vostro 220 MT
Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 2.66GHz Vista Business 20" Widescreen TFT E2009W (1680 x 1050) 4096MB 320GB 256MB ATI Radeon HD 3450 16x DVD Writer £447 D012212

Would the graphics card that comes with the PC be fine? I was only looking at getting my own one if I bought something that just had the Integrated Intell thing.

[spannerzone]

Personally I'd get the Inspiron as it's not much more for a quad core CPU and you never know it might prove a benefit on some programs. However not all programs can utilise even dual core let alone quad so it's possible that the faster dual core will outperform the slower quad core to a small degree... depends on the programs etc. There are also some cases of some old software not running with quad core CPU's I believe (can't remember what so google it) it isn't a big issue though.

The graphics card is far better than the onboard Intel 4500 graphics and will certainly be a boost for HD playback..but it's no gamers card so while it's not bad for everyday tasks it'll be struggling with any modern 3d game....however it's something you could change if you needed and I suspect you won't need to change it.

Vista Premium is also a bit better for the home user in my opinion.

Note that Vista 32bit operating system can only handle just over 3Gb of ram so the Vostro with 4Gb ram is no real extra bonus. The bigger hard drive of the Inspiron is also a useful thing.