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Question

What budget PC should i get

Apr 18, 2019 9:45AM PDT

My laptop recently stopped working and its not worth paying for repairs but I need a new computer and don't have a lot of money. Maybe £150-£200 at most. Im looking for a desktop. I already have a monitor and mouse to use. Ive been looking at refurbished business PCs but I was wondering what my best option would be. I dont need it to be great for gaming, it just needs to be able to handle recording and music editing.

These are the minimum/recommended specs for the software I need to use:

Windows 10 (64-bit only)
Intel Core Duo or AMD® Athlon™ X2 processor (Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon X4 or better recommended) Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD® Athlon™ X2 processor
(Intel Core i3 or AMD Athlon X4 or better recommended)
4 GB RAM (8 GB or more recommended)
Internet connection (needed for installation and activation)
40 GB hard-drive space

Thanks in advance!

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Where I am
Apr 18, 2019 10:38AM PDT

I'd use Groupon for refurbs. My brother and I lucked into a batch of 129USD i3, 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD HP 14 inch ProBooks with W10 and filled the empty desks with those. We only needed a web browser for training so these were perfect and cheap. We did that over a year and all are still running well. Yes a few folk blew up the OS but it's W10 so reloading was easy.

As to your CPU choice when you find the PCs you can google like this:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core2-Duo-E8400-vs-AMD-Athlon-II-X2-250-2013-DRi/2720vsm1064

Sometimes it won't be a big difference, sometimes it will be. I usually don't care about RAM and HDD since we can upgrade those later.

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Thank you
Apr 21, 2019 6:05AM PDT

Thank you so much. Sorry I only just got to read your reply but that helped me a lot thank you

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Answer
Refurb
Apr 21, 2019 6:23PM PDT
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Answer
Build?
Apr 24, 2019 4:38PM PDT
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Answer
Refurb is the way to go
Apr 27, 2019 2:39AM PDT

In your bufget range, you'll certainly get a lot more bang for your quid from a refurb. I'm not up to date with the UK market but when I left, Bigpockets was worth a try, if they still exist. There must be UK dealers offering refurbished ex-lease machines, probably around 4 years old and having been maintained to business standards.

Personally, I like Lenovo PCs as a good solid ex-business work horse but you may find a good deal in a Dell machine. By way of example, though of no use to you, the shipping would kill the deal, this is an example I picked at random from a dealer here in Australia, just to illustrate the kind of machine that is available

https://www.megabuy.com.au/dell-optiplex-9020-sff-desktop-pc-i5-4590s-300ghz-quad-core-8gb-ram-500gb-hdd-win10-pro-12-p953763.html?ref=NL_GEN2019321&mc_cid=e5000d4ce5&mc_eid=ffad8da30a

As you see, a specification that far exceeds your target and at today's exchange rate, $370 Australian is as near as dammit £200 Sterling.

Disclaimer: While I have no business relationship with this dealer, I do buy equipment and software from them (just in case any Aussies are reading!)

Good luck with your research.