Considering desktop- couple of ickle questions

condra

Hi.

Im considering going back to a desktop from my laptop setup in the coming months and have a couple of general questions which I would really appreciate any help with. Sorry if any have been discussed 1000 times before!

Im currently using a Dell Inspiron 5160, 3.2 p4, 1280mb ram, 15" screen, 80gig hd, and it performs very well.
But I dont need portability considering it never leaves my boxroom "studio". I do mostly music stuff and some general multimedia.

Firstly am I mad to consider going from laptop back to desktop? Have I lost my marbles?!
I hate having to be so close to the screen, burning my eyes out. I prefer the screen to be 2 feet away like in a desktop situation, and would eventually like to have a dual 17" monitor setup.

2]
Are Komplett the best for value custom desktops? Who would compare favourably?
Ive no intentions of attemting to build one myself considering I would definatly feck it up.
I was considering going audio specific like Carillon but at the end of the day, they are still basically high spec PCs with quiet fans and acoustic treatment.

3]
Do prices fall dramatically after Christmas?, ie should I wait those few weeks?

4]
I love the cube style PCs like this one:
http://www.music-pc.com/index.cgi?package_id=PCMUSIC27&prebuild_id=MUSICUBE&action=display
but what do you sacrifice when getting such a PC? The specs seem to add up to very nice machines, but are the motherboards ropey or something?

5]
How much should I expect to get for my laptop [as described above]?
I was thinking somewhere around 850-900? I was also considering a swap of some sort if I find the right machine.



Cheers to anyone for advising here, Im in a bit of a muddle about the whole thing.

tom_ass19

Ya Komplett are pretty good in price try this link from boards

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=285313

I will take u up on that offer for your laptop, could u hold onto it until around xmas time, need to save up money as I am a college student and im broke,lol...

condra

Thanks for the link. A lot of those sites are down, particulary the irish ones!

Looks like Elara and Komplett are the best bet Irish sites, Dell of course do some pretty good value solutions. I cant believe the price some shops are asking for for their PCs!
computershop.ie are lookin for a grand for a 2.4 celeron system with a 40 gig hd and 256 ram! Are they insane?

Regarding the laptop- I cant make any promises but depending on how my finances pan out over the coming weeks, it could be a while before I make the switch. If I advertise it, Ill PM you to let you know. Im still considering a direct swap scenario, but I have much research to do yet.

sceptre

womoma wrote:

Firstly am I mad to consider going from laptop back to desktop? Have I lost my marbles?!

If it really never leaves your room you've nothing to lose and a little more to gain (though considering your current setup and usage you're probably not concerned about expandability for a while). Given that your main crib about your current setup is the screen, would it not be as easy to consider just getting a docking station, keyboard, mouse and monitor though? Or heck, just the monitor, keyboard and mouse?

As for waiting till after Christmas and considering Dell as a possibility, due to financial year end being end-January their prices are generally lowest then. I've no idea about when elara etc have low price points

condra

I wouldnt be into the docking scenario to be honest.

I thought PCs were really dropping in price but after checking up on a few sites it seems you can still pay a huge amount of money for the latest technoligy.

What I will most likely do is sell the laptop and put an extra couple of hundred quid on top to get the best desktop solution I can find/afford.

It seems Komplett offer the best "bang for my buck".

Theres a site, inta audio, which sells nice customs in UK, [ http://www.inta-audio.co.uk/ ] but Im weary of ordering from overseas for some reason.

I might sit tight for a few more weeks.

MunkyHed

Dude,
I'm building a machine at the moment for a friend. All the parts are being bought from Komplett. They are pretty much the best value..
I would strongly recommend building your own PC.
A little light reading on how to do it can be found all over the net.
www.techrepublic.com for example
You'll save yerself a nice wad of cash. Those HTPC kits look nice on komplett if yer into the whole cube thing..

Khannie

Dude....your monkey's going backwards.

condra

You'll save yerself a nice wad of cash.

well thats what I wonder- how much would I save? I mean, if its like 100 quid Id probably just let them make it!

I think it would only be worth all the hassle [for me, someone who doesnt know much about making PCs] if I was gonna save at least 200 quid.

There are so many processors available these days whats that all about?!!

Monkeyhed why is your monkey going backwards?:p

condra

did a few quick sums on komplett to find the difference between buying parts separatly and ordering a whole system off them, and it seems the difference is minimal [about 40 quid according to my calculations?], so for someone like me, Id rather let them build it for me.

MunkyHed

Fair enough Womoma, but the systems they'd build wouldn't be exactly what you'd want maybe. much better sense of ownership and accomplishment if you build yourself and it's really not a hard thing to do.

Lads, the Monkey can go wherever he wants.... Just think of it as the monkey equivalent of moonwalking.... maybe bubbles showed him how to do it!

condra

it's really not a hard thing to do

it is for me! I do take youre point tho. Ill look into it. It could be quite kool to make a PC. A nice project over the course of a few weeks perhaps.

Hagar

Never mind "Why is your monkey going backwards?"
what about "Why is your monkey moving?"

Aren't animated sigs banned?

ShiverinEskimo

womoma wrote:

it is for me! I do take youre point tho. Ill look into it. It could be quite kool to make a PC. A nice project over the course of a few weeks perhaps.

No-one in your circle of friends has the skills no?

condra

No-one in your circle of friends has the skills no?

I have no friends.

kiddin.;)

Im actually considered the techie guy out of my circle of friends. I know my way around windows and the basics of hardware. But its a different story when it comes to drives and masters and slaves and jumper switches.

Ive been lookin into it tho and am getting less intimidated by the idea.

Oh yeah if anyone is interested I found some fab free video tutorials for building a PC here:
http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/articles/ITEM.CFM?THREADID=157&Lang=0

Maybe a mod could add that to the list of usefull websites, Ive checked em all out and theyve really helped me get my head around it.

K.O.Kiki

womoma wrote:

I have no friends.

kiddin.;)

Im actually considered the techie guy out of my circle of friends. I know my way around windows and the basics of hardware. But its a different story when it comes to drives and masters and slaves and jumper switches.

Ive been lookin into it tho and am getting less intimidated by the idea.

Oh yeah if anyone is interested I found some fab free video tutorials for building a PC here:
http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/articles/ITEM.CFM?THREADID=157&Lang=0

Maybe a mod could add that to the list of usefull websites, Ive checked em all out and theyve really helped me get my head around it.

Get a SATA hard-drive, then you won't have to worry about jumpers.

As for master-slave configurations for other drives (CD, old IDE) it's not as hard as you think. I was surprised when I first opened a PC and PRIMARY and SECONDARY were printed on the mobo, and MASTER and SLAVE were on the cables!
Also, get yourself a book on building PCs (mine's: Building a PC in easy steps, Stuart Yarnold), and see how piss-easy it can be!

Mac daddy

There is nothing to it really building a pc, its like a big jigsaw once you have made one you'll never go back.

I have built many pc's, upgraded them, repaired them, never had any real problem a bit of googling can't solve

pratice makes perfect.

As for jumpers and switches master and slave - ata cables have the master connector on it (normally the top connector) and it says master and slave on it.

Other connectors such as usb/firewire/fans most mobo manufacters have decent manual's with pics in it.

condra

thanks guys.

still- komplett dont seem to charge a huge amount extra to build it for you. I guess it would be handy if you wanted to build a computer over time, or already had some parts.

Bit disappointed at the range of cases from Komplett, but overall they seem like the best in terms of value and reputation.

ozt9vdujny3srf

antec sonata 2 is nice and quiet. not sure if thats in the bundles mind

condra

yeh the budles have pretty ming cases

condra

think i found the case for me:

http://www.sub.co.uk/popup.php?nobuy=true&pcode=LCUBE

:eek: nice

K.O.Kiki

womoma wrote:

think i found the case for me:

http://www.sub.co.uk/popup.php?nobuy=true&pcode=LCUBE

:eek: nice

Take a good second look -- that's a micro-ATX case. Which means it's much smaller than standard ATX, and needs a smaller mATX-motherboards.
AND, there's very few of those being made for Socket939:mad: And they have fewer expansion options. And you have to watch out for heat And...

Still, it's not a bad option; for "mostly music stuff and some general multimedia" you can prob get away with a lower-powered processor, a good soundcard & a lower-powered (and hence cooler) GPU [lower-powered in relation to a games rig!]

condra

thanks for posting kiki!:o

hmmmm.. that got me a bit worried..

that system [from red submarine] can allegedly take a 3.4ghz pentium 4.

how would it compare to something like these:

http://www.carillondirect.com/clnweb/cube.jsp?country=UK

or

http://www.music-pc.com/index.cgi?package_id=PCMUSIC27&prebuild_id=MUSICUBE&action=display

Ive read that the acopen case is very quiet, but Im still more interested in the Carillon because I can get the P4 3.4ghz, a gig of ram, 200 gig drive and dvdr for 829 sterling, which aint bad, its also designed with noise levels in mind, noise levels are -dB(A): 25, which Im thinking is pretty good....

Thanks for any more advice you might be able to offer.:)