Recommend a PC

Lau2976

Hey,

Looking for a desktop for some writing and basic stuff like excel, word, etc. It may potentially need to run SPSS or Stata at some point. I know nothing about computers so any help is really appreciated. Looking for under €600 for everything including the monitor if possible.

I was looking at these ones:

https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5525164/c_1/1|category_root|Office,+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|50000560|Computers+and+monitors|50000565/c_3/4|cat_50000565|Desktop+computers+and+all-in-ones|50000592.htm

https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8646019/c_1/1|category_root|Office,+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|50000560|Computers+and+monitors|50000565/c_3/4|cat_50000565|Desktop+computers+and+all-in-ones|50000592.htm

Sorry if this isn’t the right forum!

Inquitus

Lau2976 wrote: »

Hey,

Looking for a desktop for some writing and basic stuff like excel, word, etc. It may potentially need to run SPSS or Stata at some point. I know nothing about computers so any help is really appreciated. Looking for under €600 for everything including the monitor if possible.

I was looking at these ones:

https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5525164/c_1/1|category_root|Office,+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|50000560|Computers+and+monitors|50000565/c_3/4|cat_50000565|Desktop+computers+and+all-in-ones|50000592.htm

https://m.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/8646019/c_1/1|category_root|Office,+PCs+and+phones|14418968/c_2/3|50000560|Computers+and+monitors|50000565/c_3/4|cat_50000565|Desktop+computers+and+all-in-ones|50000592.htm

Sorry if this isn’t the right forum!

They are very bad bang for buck, but would serve your needs no issue.

Lau2976

Inquitus wrote: »

They are very bad bang for buck, but would serve your needs no issue.

Thanks for the help

Any recommendations for one that might be more worth the money? And would you say one of those is better over the other or both pretty comparable?

kerrypod

Lau2976 wrote: »

Thanks for the help

Any recommendations for one that might be more worth the money? And would you say one of those is better over the other or both pretty comparable?

Hard to say for that money that you'll get anything decent in desktop form if you want to include a monitor. A monitor alone could be €150 plus throw in a Microsoft Office Licence and youre left with very little change! I'd probably just buy a laptop with MS Office bundled in. Make sure you get a laptop with a SSD as opposed to HDD. Trust me! AMD processors tend to be cheaper than Intel but perform well. And I would aim to get at least 8gb RAM.

kerrypod

kerrypod wrote: »

Hard to say for that money that you'll get anything decent in desktop form if you want to include a monitor. A monitor alone could be €150 plus throw in a Microsoft Office Licence and youre left with very little change! I'd probably just buy a laptop with MS Office bundled in. Make sure you get a laptop with a SSD as opposed to HDD. Trust me! AMD processors tend to be cheaper than Intel but perform well. And I would aim to get at least 8gb RAM.

https://www.currys.ie/ieen/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/lenovo-ideacentre-3-desktop-pc-amd-ryzen-3-256-gb-ssd-grey-10207920-pdt.html
This one actually doesnt sound too shabby!

Aodhan5000

I got some microsoft account yolk off of adverts for like 20 quid a while back. Could download word, excel etc and it was grand out. You don't need to spend 150 on a monitor for word and the like. A 1080p IPS monitor will do. What size you want is up to you buy 21/24 inch is probably the most common. Will probably set you back about 80 quid and spend the other 20 on mouse and keyboard. Leaves 500 for the PC itself. Do you want to build yourself or go prebuilt? Something like this would do for a monitor: https://www.amazon.co.uk/HP-21-5-Monitor-Pixel-Refresh/dp/B072Z8PPWZ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=1080p+monitor&qid=1595545830&sr=8-5
Works out at about 90 quid (have not checked delivery information) but if you do a bit more hunting yourself you might find a better bargain

I'm not very familiar with SPSS or Stata but after a brief google they don't seem to be the hardest applications so you shouldn't need anything more than a 4 core Athlon APU. If you want prebuilt CCL is probably the best crew to go with. If you want to have a go building (a great learning experience) we can spec something out for you

Aodhan5000

Prebuilt:
https://www.cclonline.com/pc/home-pcs/alpha/alpha-3000g/040003000001/

£308.99 without windows (just use trial edition of windows 10 and if you want to get rid of the watermark in the bottom right corner then buy a key off Adverts for tenner). All you need to get trial version is an 8gb USB and access to the internet on another PC.

DIY:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/VpBJK4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£78.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£57.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£38.18 @ More Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Green 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£52.79 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£40.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£15.99 @ AWD-IT)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter (£11.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £351.37

DIY version comes out 40 quid more expensive so would reccommend CCL PC if you don't plan on upgrading much in the future/next few years. If it's 5 years before you'd upgrade then it'd be a new platform anyway. CCL is probably the better option but I just said I'd inlclude this for a few reasons:
1. If you want the experience
2. This system would have faster RAM and SSD but I'm not sure if this would be worth it for you as I doubt it'd speed up your programs much
3. The motherboard and PSU offer good options for upgrades down the line.
IMPORTANT: If you do for some reason go with DIYing it buy the MOBO from CCL as it will come with BIOS suited for 3200G

Overall, the CCL rig is your better option I'd say. That and a monitor around the price of the one I linked totals to about €430 so 20 quid for keyboard and mouse (I trust you to find them ) and you've your setup for about 450 quid

kerrypod

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

Prebuilt:
https://www.cclonline.com/pc/home-pcs/alpha/alpha-3000g/040003000001/

£308.99 without windows (just use trial edition of windows 10 and if you want to get rid of the watermark in the bottom right corner then buy a key off Adverts for tenner). All you need to get trial version is an 8gb USB and access to the internet on another PC.

DIY:
PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/VpBJK4

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£78.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£57.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£38.18 @ More Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Green 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£52.79 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£40.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£15.99 @ AWD-IT)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND PCIe x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter (£11.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £351.37

DIY version comes out 40 quid more expensive so would reccommend CCL PC if you don't plan on upgrading much in the future/next few years. If it's 5 years before you'd upgrade then it'd be a new platform anyway. CCL is probably the better option but I just said I'd inlclude this for a few reasons:
1. If you want the experience
2. This system would have faster RAM and SSD but I'm not sure if this would be worth it for you as I doubt it'd speed up your programs much
3. The motherboard and PSU offer good options for upgrades down the line.
IMPORTANT: If you do for some reason go with DIYing it buy the MOBO from CCL as it will come with BIOS suited for 3200G

Overall, the CCL rig is your better option I'd say. That and a monitor around the price of the one I linked totals to about €430 so 20 quid for keyboard and mouse (I trust you to find them ) and you've your setup for about 450 quid

This actually looks like a grand little build. My try it myself! ðŸ™႒

Aodhan5000

@kerrypod The prebuilt or DIY?

kerrypod

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

@kerrypod The prebuilt or DIY?

DIY all the way!

Aodhan5000

Would you be using it for the same sort of purposes (just want to know as if you needed more power I could have a go at speccing it out for ya) but if it's for the same tasks then enjoy the build

kerrypod

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

Would you be using it for the same sort of purposes (just want to know as if you needed more power I could have a go at speccing it out for ya) but if it's for the same tasks then enjoy the build

Not really for what I need it to do, just build them as a hobby. Lumion and 300mb+ revit architectural models so probably would need a €3k+ desktop to be able to handle it all with ease.

Lau2976

Thanks for all the great advice

Not sure I’d have the confidence to try build anything but it’s not needed right away so I might get the prebuilt one.

Thanks again