Computer Questions (formally Your Desktop)

Alan,

CPU is no.1 in all performance, when going along with enough ram. 3gb ram is more than enough for your needs as you described them so there won't be any problem. Plus i bet it's expandable, meaning you can add more ram in the future if you wish.

Greater cpu with lesser ram > slower cpu with more ram

Therefore i'd personally go for:

DELL Inspiron N5010 - £500
Intel Core i3-350M (2.26GHz) / 3GB RAM / 320GB / 4.5 hours battery
3 x USB / HDMI, VGA / 802.11 g/n / bluetooth / Intel® HD Graphics

Reasons:
1. Dell is the superior of all the brands you listed
2. 2.26 ghz is pretty good, plus you get the i3 (i3,i5,i7 are all in the same family and much superior than the older quad's, duo's etc.)
3.320 gb is great
4. 4.5 hours of battery is very good, you really NEED good battery life with laptop these days, it's a very crucial factor at least to me 'cause otherwise if you run around sockets plugin it up all the tiime, it's not really a laptop anymore, is it ? (although you should know that this is very subjective to the usage of the pc, screen brightness, volume of audio playback, how fragmented the discs are / or not, the amount of simultaneous tasks the cpu is required to perform, wi-fi, bluetooth etc)
5. hdmi, connects with all the new generation tv's
6. intel on board graphics, although on-board, is still the best on-board (damn) graphics you can get on laptops.

I'm completely clueless about routers...

Disagree, but only on principle: I am using an onboard card, and have been for five years without any issue... BUT I do NOT play games (AND I'm starting to run into some issues with video editing which partially have to do with non-dedicated video memory). So that consideration really is one that requires insight in what kind of games the PC will be used for, and/or what video-intensive actions will be taken (e.g. a course in 3d flash animation should require some heavy duty video memory usage as well).

I'm not a huge fan of Acer or HP (although of the two I'd take the Acer, for two reasons: HP uses a very proprietary slotting system which may cause some headache when needing to replace parts, and the ACer specs are simply a bit better).

At the end of the day the Medion and the Packard Bell specification-wise both seem fine for your needs, BUT I think you specifically said you wanted multiple processors...and only the Packard Bell sports those!

That's a fine one, Alan.
However the speed seems a bit low: 150 Megabit/second is fine if you're just copying a file, or opening your mail on another PC, but -for example- streaming TV and copying 500 MB at the same time is already going to hurt!

What do you reckon your usage will be?

If you are indeed looking towards a fully integrated wired household, with each member of the family trying to download internet (so to speak) at the same time, you might want to have a look at a bit more powerful router.

If it's just you (and -say- one other person) browsing the web, opening a youtube film and reading MainTitles, this suffices.

You're right of course D., but it doesn't matter if it doesn't come close when you don't use it, was my only point!.
Like I said: I've used an onboard for YEARS without feeling any pain.

Anyway, that particular point is moot, as I would actually go for the Packard Bell, which also has a dedicated graphics card.

In that case a robust router from a reliable brand -such as that NetGear one you linked to- should be a fine choice, Alan.

Yes, but it's not multi-CPU!
Even two lower-power CPUs are better than one industrial-strength one.

Medion tends to have a great feature set, but the case is somewhat plasticy (at least from my experience) and gets loose ends after a time. But it's not like it falls apart. Just not as strong (but that was about 5 years ago).

Thanks for all your inputs - it made my decision slightly easier. In the end I've gone for:

- Packard Bell iXtreme X6622UK
- Dell Inspiron N5010

Hopefully, I pick them up tomorrow...

What I meant to say was that all your comments made this part of the decision-making a lot easier but this easing of the trauma was almost immediately replaced by a new set of issues:

- how to prepare for the move from this PC to the next (made simpler because of the backup I frequently make onto an external hard drive - I'll use this to move back pertinent files). Part of the issue is how to transfer applications - such as "OrangeCD Catalog" - form one PC to another whilst retaining and/or re-activating a license
- how to remove the second hard drive from the old PC and (hopefully) transfer it to the new PC (not essential because all these files are already backed up)
- how to physically hook up all the various bits and establish the network and then get things like getting rid of unwanted software on the new PCs, installing all the little applications that I find useful at the moment, etc.

See?

For OrangeCD you can actually simply reinstall it and use the key you received by mail.
Done it many times.

Search for it..do you keep your mails locally via outlooke express (or similar) software or web-based? In any case, if you don't erase emails, most likely you'll find it, it should be relatively easy.

Sat in front of me are two computers in their boxes waiting to be opened. I have the router and so tomorrow's big project is to upgrade!

I'm hoping it's going to be pretty straightforward.

I thought it went:

Power socket --> Computer --> *sorcery and magic* --> The Internet


Also, isn't it BT's job to install it if you don't know how?

So would I.
The router doesn't have a built in modem then?
You're quite sure? (seems odd...)


If you're sure:


Yes.



It's the same, or should be!

However:



Seems like it should be able to replace your old SpeedTouch.
Why do you think you need to retain your SpeedTouch?
A modem is a modem... it's the same settings at the end of the day!