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PC spec advice?

10:16 / 12.09.04

Ok, so I'm looking at buying a second-hand PC but I have no idea what the specs mean. I only need it for using Word and the internet, and maybe playing the odd game. At the moment I share Ariadne's machine, which is fairly new and fast, and we have broadband. I don't download much so I really only need the speed for opening multiple pages or streaming things. And I plan to network my machine to Ariadne's for net usage, but I don't know if that will make any difference to speed, etc.

So, someone at work is selling this:

--------------------
Pentium 3 Processor (733 MHz)
256 MB RAM
56K Modem
3D Graphics Card
CD-ROM
Tower Box Style
Lexmark USB printer (nearly new!)
Logitech keyboard and wheelie mouse.
Suitable for Running Windows XP, Microsoft Office, and the Internet.

All for £175
------------------------

I already have an old monitor so that's fine. But what about these specs? It is obviously fine for MS Office (which is already installed on it), so it's really only the net that I'm concerned about. How good are these specs for net usage? Will the fact that the main PC has higher specs mean that my net usage will be better than it would be if I was connecting separately? I don't know what determines the speed of the internet.

And if I needed any upgrade of memory, how much wold it cost?

Please help luddite Loomis!

10:31 / 12.09.04

Your specs are fine...you'll probably have to add a network card, but those go for about a fiver these days. Upgrading the memory depends on how much you want to add, and whether you can just buy another pair of chips or whether you need to replace the two (or one) chip that's already in the machine. Ballpark figure could be as low as £30 for a single 256Mb stick (you could get cheaper on E-bay).

ONLY NICE THINGS

11:24 / 12.09.04

It should be fine for net usage - if you are networking it to Ariadne's compy, you'll need, as mentioned, a network card (wired or wireless). Standard 10/100 network cards will transfer data far faster than it can come in through the Internet connection, so that shouldnt be a problem. If you want to run multiple programs, a RAM boost might not be a bad idea at all.

I wouldn't recommend trying to play anything too sophisticated on a P3 733, tho'... it might be worth trying to establish what the 3D graphics card is, but unless it's a late addition it will probably be pretty old...

15:23 / 12.09.04

Brilliant - thanks for that. That's really good news. I'm going to have a look at it tomorrow so assuming it all works and the flashing lights are in the right places, I'll probably buy it. At least I know where he is if I need to hunt him down for palming me a lemon.

Cloned Christ on a HoverDonkey

16:55 / 12.09.04

You could probably get a slightly better system for the same price (or a similar system for a slightly better price) off ebay.

Look HERE; there are loads of systems listed. Just be careful about P&P costs and/or whether VAT is to be added.

If you really want this guy's system, try haggling him down a little, as his is obviously second hand a may also be a few years old.

Just a thought...

18:18 / 12.09.04

I've thought about ebay, and maybe if this one hadn't come up then I might have gone for it, but to be honest I like the idea of seeing something before I buy it and knowing that I can track the guy down if it all goes wrong. I'm happy buying CDs on ebay but not sure if I want to fork out £150 and hope that the thing turns up okay. I wouldn't entirely rule it out though, but this PC doesn't seem too expensive, and I'll happily pay a bit extra for the peace of mind. With a bit of luck I can talk him down a bit anyway.

18:24 / 12.09.04

Hurm. I think it sounds like a reasonable deal. I've been happily using a 750 system for years, and I'm only just finding good reasons to upgrade. One thing to pull a bit of an "ooooh, dunno mate...." face about at the last moment during haggling would be the size of the hard drive. This sounds like it was a pretty good PC in its day (about 2000ish), so would prolly also have the standard max HD drive of the period (about 10Gb). THis is hopeless for most stuff (especially when you get an broadband connection) these days (if you want to dual boot Linux like any sane person), so see if you can knock him down a touch on that?

20:42 / 12.09.04

Yeah, hard drive space is significant here, although you're unlikely to be installing many massive programs (because they just won't run). I don't know if you have MP3s to store but I wouldn't expect to be able to hold many. I doubt you'd be able to knock him down any, it wouldn't really be worth it, but new hard drives are pretty cheap.

For general netting and office stuff that should be fine. I'm slightly concerned about 256 meg for XP, but it should still work. It sounds, actually, like the Linux box that I used to have in the UK about four years ago, and if you're having performance or space issues you might consider going down that route.

06:51 / 13.09.04

I ran XP Pro on my old machine with 256Mb and a Celeron 800 processor for yonks. Never had a problem...in fact, it was suspiciously stable.

13:13 / 14.09.04

Success!

It all seemed to work and didn't make any loud noises. The hard drive is only 10G, so I got the lot for £150, and he threw in a monitor too. Plus he's going to deliver it!

Thanks for the advice everyone.