Bye bye old laptop and hello new desktop !!!

crazybeckster

New member
Hi Everyone,

I have finally run out of patience with my laptop and am looking to replace it with a new desktop. I thought I knew what I wanted but the more I consider my options, the more confused I am getting so I could do with a little help. My current laptop has an Intel Celeron 430 M 1.73Ghz processor, with 1GB of RAM and a shared graphics setup. It is mainly used for work and browsing the internet and whilst it generally manages both of these tasks, it could be a little quicker. I also use it for playing games and due to the fact that the shared graphics is about as much use as a lettuce leaf wrapped in tin foil, I usually have to select the lowest graphics settings and playing anything tends to be a very unpleasant experience

So what do I want from my new system ? My laptop is generally on for 10 – 14 hours a day and sometimes can be left on for days at a time so I need something that is going to be reliable. I tend to do a lot of work on it and manage 3 websites so I spend a lot of time waiting for updates to upload and preparing product images before they are uploaded. Paintshop Pro runs like a horse with 3 legs so I don’t want to be spending forever staring at a blank screen, or if I do then I would like to be getting on with something else at the same time. In terms of the games I play, I haven’t really moved on from playing Neverwinter Nights, Medieval Total War, Railroad Tycoon, Galactic Civilisations 2, Starcraft and Civilization 3. The highest recommend spec on any of these games is a Pentium 3 800Mhz with 256Mb of RAM and a 128MB graphics card.

Now the work side of things seems pretty straight forward as I suspect any system I get is going to be an improvement on what I have at the moment. I just can’t work out what to do in relation to running the games I like. Having had such a bad experience with the shared graphics on my laptop I feel that I need a dedicated graphics card but I am not running top of the range games. Now I wouldn’t go as far as to say that I have a bottomless pit of money to spend but I don’t want to spend money on a system that I am not going to get the full benefit from or doesn't do what I want.

So, based on what I want to do with the computer and for the games I want to play, would a basic dual core processor with shared graphics suffice ? Or do I need a dedicated graphics card ?

If I don't, is it worth investing in a better processor ?

If I go down the avenue of shared graphics again, is AMD better than Intel ?

Would 4gb of memory be enough ? Will I get any benefit in going to 8gb ?

Here is the system I was looking at ...

Case
STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU)
AMD A4-3300 APU (2.5GHz, 2 Cores) & AMD Radeon™ HD 6410D Graphics
Motherboard
ASUS® F1A55-M LE: FM1 A-SERIES, SATA 3.0GB/s, USB 2.0
Memory (RAM)
4GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 2GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series Graphics
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SATA-II 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply
350W Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI CARD (£16)
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
19" Widescreen TFT 1366 x 768 2MS, D-Sub, DVI, 18.5" Panel (£79)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 10 to 12 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £357.00 including VAT and delivery.

Configure Here: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/amd-llano-home-office/

Any thoughts and advice would be most welcome.

Thanks
Becky x
 

mantadog

Superhero Level Poster
Well the above is going to cream your laptop for speed. I would just make a couple of changes myself.

For £4 more i would get the 2.7GHz version of that processor, and think about the 500GB barracuda drive as it will speed up everything you do on the PC from loading the operating system to launching applications.

The onboard graphics will be fine for the games you mention, probably at max settings i would geuss as the AMD graphics are pretty good. If it was my build i would be tempted to get the 450w PSU, that way you can add in a mid range dedicated card later if needed.
 
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