So my desktop PC is approaching 5 yrs old

[Flying Fox]

And I'm looking to get an improved model.

Suggestions? Most likely uses for this one would be browsing, emails, gameplaying (not so graphics-intensive)

The family would be using this one, so I think it'd be best to stick with Microsoft. Should I look for an upgrade now or wait until Windows 7 comes out in a stable release?

I'm running XP Professional at the moment on it, by the way.

 

[Massive Spanner]

There's a thread on the forum already that answers your Microsoft questions pretty much

https://www.redcafe.net/f27/new-pc-worth-waiting-windows-7-a-259032/

I presume you want a pre-built PC and not to build one yourself?
And giving the price range would help.

 

[Kaos]

A few hundred squid worth of components for you to build yourself is more than enough for what you're after.

 

[WeasteDevil]

I have a 4 year old PC, and it's still more than capable.

 

[DouLou]

If you are thinking of buying a computer as opposed to building one then I suggest checking out this site.

http://www.arbico.co.uk/Featured-Deals-p-1-c-327.html

I've used them for PCs before and had no problems, prices are a lot better value for money than dell, pc world etc..

 

[jveezy]

I strongly recommend building one. You can put a good decent one together for about 400 quid and you'll be able to reuse your mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Probably your CD/DVD drive as well and you'll at least be able to use your old hard drive as extra storage if not as a primary drive. You might even be able to reuse the case. All that will drastically decrease the cost. You won't even have to worry about forking over cash for a new built-in OS just before 7 comes out if you build your own instead of buy.

Find a friend that's really good with this kind of stuff and have him walk you through all of this. It's completely worth the trouble because you'll be able to do this on your own in the future and save a lot of money by just upgrading parts instead of full systems. Not only that, your system will be much much much more reliable than a pre-built one if you choose good quality parts for each component. You'll be able to get it to last at least another five years without upgrading parts if the system works well and the usage is as light as it looks like you're planning it to be. Even much longer with upgrades.

Most importantly more reliable parts means less frantic calls from your family trying to enlist your help to fix their computer. You'll get a lot less random errors that don't make sense so you'll be able to better troubleshoot the problems you do have.

Doing this yourself is also incredibly gratifying and is a tremendous learning experience. I didn't know much about building computers when I built my first one, and nowadays they make putting one together almost self explanatory. You don't even need that many tools. Probably a small screwdriver is all. You could get pretty far by just guessing (which is what I did to build my first one) but it's always nice to have someone that knows what they're doing there to help you. You could even turn it into a family thing. Some time to spend with your father or something.

Sorry if I'm sounding pedantic or trying to push you into doing something you don't want to do, but I would encourage everyone to try this, because it's not as difficult as you would think, and the rewards that come with the cost savings, time savings from less future maintenance, and experience certainly justify the time you spend.

 

[nimic]

Building a PC is the way to go. I'm still using the case from my very first computer.

 

[DouLou]

I strongly recommend building one. You can put a good decent one together for about 400 quid and you'll be able to reuse your mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Probably your CD/DVD drive as well and you'll at least be able to use your old hard drive as extra storage if not as a primary drive. You might even be able to reuse the case. All that will drastically decrease the cost. You won't even have to worry about forking over cash for a new built-in OS just before 7 comes out if you build your own instead of buy.

Find a friend that's really good with this kind of stuff and have him walk you through all of this. It's completely worth the trouble because you'll be able to do this on your own in the future and save a lot of money by just upgrading parts instead of full systems. Not only that, your system will be much much much more reliable than a pre-built one if you choose good quality parts for each component. You'll be able to get it to last at least another five years without upgrading parts if the system works well and the usage is as light as it looks like you're planning it to be. Even much longer with upgrades.

Most importantly more reliable parts means less frantic calls from your family trying to enlist your help to fix their computer. You'll get a lot less random errors that don't make sense so you'll be able to better troubleshoot the problems you do have.

Doing this yourself is also incredibly gratifying and is a tremendous learning experience. I didn't know much about building computers when I built my first one, and nowadays they make putting one together almost self explanatory. You don't even need that many tools. Probably a small screwdriver is all. You could get pretty far by just guessing (which is what I did to build my first one) but it's always nice to have someone that knows what they're doing there to help you. You could even turn it into a family thing. Some time to spend with your father or something.

Sorry if I'm sounding pedantic or trying to push you into doing something you don't want to do, but I would encourage everyone to try this, because it's not as difficult as you would think, and the rewards that come with the cost savings, time savings from less future maintenance, and experience certainly justify the time you spend.

When I received by new PC I took apart my old one just to see what it's like inside. Surprisingly simple really.. I'm definitely gonna build my next one. Plus sites like buildyourownpc provide all the info you need and have great forums.

 

[jveezy]

When I received by new PC I took apart my old one just to see what it's like inside. Surprisingly simple really.. I'm definitely gonna build my next one. Plus sites like buildyourownpc provide all the info you need and have great forums.

Yeah the demystification is definitely a good part of the experience. No longer is it a magic box. Just a collection of magic pieces, the internals of which you don't really have to worry about. Just find good parts with good ratings and reasonable prices and you're set. Once you do it one time, it becomes easy to recognize the parts and what they generally do and where they go.

The only thing really crazy is the motherboard, but that comes all in one piece. You only have to worry about keeping it compatible with your other parts, which is a lot easier nowadays than before since everything is so standardized.

I recently upgraded my motherboard and CPU for only $300. Got two more cores plus a 0.2 GHz upgrade and it's like buying a whole new computer. This is certainly overkill, considering the most resource-taxing program on my computer is Football Manager, but I've always liked to be ahead of the curve and I just happened to get a great deal on the parts. I'm still running on 32 bits as well since I'm on XP Home but once I upgrade to Windows 7 64-bit, I'm expecting the speed boost to be just like buying a new computer, again.