Dauhters new computer

jaapbond

Good evening everybody,

My daughter has asked for a new computer she will pay for half with hard earned cash over the summer.
She has found the following in Argos and quite keen :
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5311581/c_1/1%7Ccategory_root%7COffice%252C%2BPCs%2Band%2Bphones%7C14418968/Trail/searchtext%3EPC.htm
As I would know very little about computers I was wondering if any of you could tell me if this is a good deal or if there are better to be had and if so where.
She is in her early teens but hopes it will last her a while so it must be capable of doing whatever it is teens do on computers.
Thank you for any help.

coylemj

Unless she needs lots of hard drive capacity, do not buy a machine with a SATA hard drive, the spin speed will usually be 5,400 RPM which means that performance will be terrible. You want the machine to 'last her a while' so buy a machine with a solid state drive (SSD). You will have to take less capacity for the same money but it's well worth it.

Digital Solitude

Spinning drives are fine just not optimal, if at all possible get and SSD though.

That machine as a whole is pretty poor value

delly

When I saw the argos link I thought whatever pc it is would be rubbish, but in fairness that is a decent price considering the screen is included.

I don't agree that a sata drive equals poor performance. Sure an ssd would be better, but without knowing the main usage and budget, I think that sata would be fine.

OP, just as an fyi, a sata drive has a higher capacity but as it spins around, it takes longer to access information. An ssd or solid state drive has no moving parts, so is quicker, but has lower space and are more expensive.

Germancarfan

the processor in that is very very bad to be honest.
Will have a dig round and see if i can find better for similar money

jaapbond

Thank you for the replies, would Argos be a good place for computers at all ?
Any chance anybody could give me an idea where to look or maybe even suggestions for particular computers.
Are there any good deals to be had ?

Germancarfan

http://www.dell.com/ie/p/inspiron-3252-small-desktop/pd?oc=cd25211&model_id=inspiron-3252-small-desktop

Better all roud unit. Smaller hard drive though.
You havent described the main useage ? Does she like gaming ?

allthedoyles

Celeron processors are just not up to scratch . a bad engine

jaapbond

At the moment she likes playing minecraft and she mentioned sims but I checked out the requirements for the latest version of that is an I5 processor.
I checked but saw that prices are fairly high for one of them. I think it is not a deal breaker.
I would like her to get a good deal for all of her hard craft over the summer.
I think we can push the budget to round about 500 euro.
Thank you so much for your help.

bricky06

Yeah the processor on that machine is really not the best, if you found something in your budget with an Intel i3 or possibly even i5 processor then it would perform a lot better.

There seems to be some confusion on the thread about what SATA is - it's an interface that can apply to either a hard disk or an SSD.

OP I would suggest that you don't need to worry about looking for an SSD. As has been mentioned above, they are more expensive with significantly less storage capacity.

thierry14

This would be better imo

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0185R5DUQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

She could play games with it too

Graphics card is grand for the likes of sims and most games at medium settings.

TerrorFirmer

thierry14 wrote: »

This would be better imo

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0185R5DUQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&th=1

She could play games with it too

Graphics card is grand for the likes of sims and most games at medium settings.

100% agree, Windows would have to be installed on it though but overall way, way faster than that Argos machine which is useless for Minecraft and The Sims.

do not buy a machine with a SATA hard drive, the spin speed will usually be 5,400 RPM which means that performance will be terrible.

A regular 3.5" Sata drive is perfectly fine for most people and desktop drives are usually 7200rpm now 5400rpm which is more of a standard for laptops.

Either way she doesn't need an SSD. For games like Minecraft and The Sims, an i3 processor is really ideal, even with integrated graphics it will be fine, but the Celeron in the OP will not really suffice.