can anyone help

shelly d

My son's 17th birthday in a few weeks and want to get him a new pc have around 500 could strech a little bit more, i'm pretty clueless so any help would be appreciated.

Monotype

I presume that you'll need windows - does the budget include screen, keyboard, mouse, speakers?

shelly d

He has his old dell connected to his tv so I don't think I need that. I would need windows though

hartnett_mark

Hi, I also look for some PC up to €500 i rather don't play games, just surf on internet and watch some movies(also in fullHd), do you think i could save money nad buy something cheaper and that would allow me to do those things comfy?

Daniel S

shelly d wrote: »

My son's 17th birthday in a few weeks and want to get him a new pc have around 500 could strech a little bit more, i'm pretty clueless so any help would be appreciated.

Can he build a pc? Would he like to?

I'm also 17 and I'll be selling my desktop pc for a laptop for college. If he's going to college you might want to look at those instead.

shelly d

He will be going to college but there has been no mention of a laptop only his pc. I don't think he would build it himself though but I might be wrong.

Daniel S

shelly d wrote: »

He will be going to college but there has been no mention of a laptop only his pc.

On a side note, I spend so much time on this, it is affecting my grades...

Will the PC, realistically, be used for games? Movies? Microsoft Word? Youtube? General Internet browsing?

If he wants to play games, you'll probably need €500 just for the computer by itself. If it's just for internet, you could probably get a monitor + keyboard + mouse etc with it for €500.

Monotype

Good advice and questions by mtb_kng.
So it's the computer itself + windows? What about keyboard, mouse and speakers?

hartnett_mark wrote: »

Hi, I also look for some PC up to €500 i rather don't play games, just surf on internet and watch some movies(also in fullHd), do you think i could save money nad buy something cheaper and that would allow me to do those things comfy?

That should be easily enough done. Do you want a monitor? + Speakers, keyboard, mouse?

mtb_kng wrote: »

On a side note, I spend so much time on this, it is affecting my grades...

You're not the only one.

shelly d

He plays a few games and watches sky online

Daniel S

shelly d wrote: »

He plays a few games and watches sky online

If you could tell us the games that would be really helpful.

shelly d

walking with guns games but not sure of the names I do remember something about warcraft or witch craft a while ago but I will have to look at home

Daniel S

shelly d wrote: »

walking with guns games but not sure of the names I do remember something about warcraft or witch craft a while ago but I will have to look at home

Warcraft?!?!?!?!??

I really wouldn't get him a computer if his leaving cert is coming up next year and he plays that game. Games where you carry guns are called FPS (First Person Shooters), they're not that addictive, but World of Warcraft can be so addictive its dangerous.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YersIyzsOpc

That may be fake though. :rolleyes:

Still, I'd say you could get a computer that would be able to play those games for under 500.

There's a german site that everyone seems to recommend, hardwareversand I think it's called. They could build a computer for you.

hartnett_mark

I did a little research and found out that laptops are realy cheap, i think i will pick one of those:

Toshiba Satellite C660-1E2 for €385

Monotype

World of warcraft has very low requirements, but the first person shooters could be more demanding.
You might need a graphics cards ~€100 (e.g., 6790). That should be just about doable if €500 is for the computer alone.



@ hartnett_mark

Here's what I would recommend, assuming that you don't need a monitor or extras, but do need windows.



+ delivery €30 = ~€485.
Note that this site will only take bank transfers and the items are in pieces. You can get them to assemble it for you for €20, build it yourself (not as hard as you would think and it's interesting) or you can get someone here to build it for you (there's a thread of volunteers who will build it for you).

Features: USB3, SATA 6Gbps (good for SSDs and upgrades), decent graphics for HD videos, good quad core processor. Some of the things can be scaled back if you want to save money.

http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=42047
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30074
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43210
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29181
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28068
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44944
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28152
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=26625

hartnett_mark wrote: »

I did a little research and found out that laptops are realy cheap, i think i will pick one of those:

Toshiba Satellite C660-1E2 for €385

Well, it wouldn't be near the same power, but it would probably do everything you wanted.

Monotype

@ shelly d



http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29694
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=45287
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=30074
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=28151
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43210
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=43140
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44944
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=29181
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=37138

+ delivery €30. You can get hardwareversand to put it together for €20, build it yourself/get your son to build it or ask someone from the list of volunteers if there's someone living close to you.

Hardwareversand only take bank transfers, but have quite a good track record around here.

This computer should be able to run nearly all games at HD resolution, which is probably better than Dell would offer you. :pac:


Adjustments can be made and if anyone else has recommended improvements, please go ahead.

shelly d

That seems reasonable but I may need to add 100 on for a graphics card, I think I'll get them to build I'm not that brave. What's the difference between this and one from pc world and for returns if need? thanks a million for your help you were strongly recommended by a friend at work and have been great.

Daniel S

shelly d wrote: »

That seems reasonable but I may need to add 100 on for a graphics card, I think I'll get them to build I'm not that brave. What's the difference between this and one from pc world and for returns if need? thanks a million for your help you were strongly recommended by a friend at work and have been great.

The difference is, these are good parts, you won't have to return them. PC World's computers aren't as good, you may have to. Also, the warranty on these parts are much better usually.

Monotype

The graphics card is included in that - second item, 6790.

Add this to the cart for assembly.
http://www4.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=746

mtb_kng wrote: »

The difference is, these are good parts, you won't have to return them. PC World's computers aren't as good, you may have to. Also, the warranty on these parts are much better usually.

I wouldn't be that confident, but yes, each individual component has its own warranty, usually about 3 years for most items. There's a lot of threads on this forum asking about hardwareversand, but I have never heard of any major problems concerning returns. Sometimes they take a day or two to get back to emails, presumably their English speakers have a bigger workload!
PC World would probably charge a lot more for that PC. Actually, looking on their Irish and UK website, I can't find anything suitable at all.


Don't order straight away as other people might have input.

shelly d

If his dad was to put in 100 euro's would it help?

Monotype

Sure, I could bump up the motherboard for better features and put in a better graphics card.

If it's connected to a TV, does that mean you don't need speakers?
Modern graphics cards can carry sound, so if the tv is a newer one that takes HDMI cables...



... you could use the tv speakers.

What about a keyboard and mouse? You should get a keyboard from somewhere else because these would have german layout, but there's a good selection of mice.