Hi Guys,

A friend, who is not particularly computersavy, wants to buy a new computer with Vista.
She's bought her XP at www.auton.nl and uses their service to fix any problems that arise,
so now she wants to buy her new pc there and was planning on this one:

Might be just me, but the mention of a floppy drive and 1GB memory got me a bit worried ...

She wants to buy at this company, so advice on what she should order is appreciated.
They will do custommade pc's, she just doesn't know what to look for.

She uses the pc for her work (telenetworking - maintaining a website, office etc.), msn,
her hobby is photography (so she has loads of huge jpg's, camera also supports the making of videos,
she uses several photoeditors, one of them is PaintShop Pro) and things like that.
No gaming (as far as I know LOL).

Thanks for your input!
Sarah.

Like a slug with a hangover.

This is a nice model - for a museum. What is the price range she is looking at (CPU only)?

Ya, CPU means the PC box without monitor, printer, etc. For €500 to E600 it should be possible to find something. I would start with Dell. I found them to be pretty competitive in Europe (unlike in the US) and they have a good service. I was looking at this Dutch Dell website and saw that they currently offer good rebates for on-line orders. I suggest you browse it a little (your Dutch is better than mine) and try to narrow it down. Then we can go from there. I think the second from the left (Totaal €429) is a good start and as far as I saw there is very little that needs to be added as an extra. It seems to have a 2.8GHz duo core processor and 4GBs of RAM standard - and that is a pretty good base to start from.
PS: the operating system is always included - in this case Vista Home Premium. Check whether they offer a free Windows7 upgrade. I am not sure I read this right.

Thanks Whs - but she wants to buy at this particular company, so now she's send out a request for an offer and will send that to me, to have a look at it. She knows these people and suspects they just didn't update their website. I hope that is the case and they have something nice to offer.
I was thinking it should have at least a 2.8GHz duo core processor and 4GBs of RAM;)

@Rick - she won't be doing any troubleshooting herself, that's why she wants to buy at this company.
And since I have made the Boot CD PE and Boot CD disc already I'll use mine if I get to be the one that helps her;)

I'll post again when the offer comes in.

Thanks for the input!

Sarah.

Ok, update on current events:)

She got an email that indeed their website was outdated and she's been invited for a chat about her wishes over a cup of coffee.
I've tried to give her everything I could think of that she needs to think of, but I don't have a clue as to what is a good graphics card.
In the link whs posted I found this: 512MB ATI® Radeon™ HD 4350 graphics card
Is that good? What should I be looking for?
She'll be doing a lot of photoediting, video editing etc. so the graphics card is important.

takeatoke, I don't know. I think asking the poor lady to build her own PC might be pushing it. And she lives in the Netherlands where parts are not as cheap as in the US. I know that from my own experience here in Germany. Some parts cost twice as much (and more) as in the US.

Sarah, That video card is OK - but there are a lot of others that are just as good. As a first thing, you want to look for the video memory - and 512MBs is decent. The cards with more memory (e.g. 1GB) are more upscale and may be an overkill. They are usually for gamers.
If it is at all possible, have your friend talk to those people and ask them for a proposal. If you then post that here (including the price), we could evaluate and fine tune it. - Just trying to help.

Ok, without going into all the details she's getting a decent pc for a fair amount of money.

Only things that I wasn't too pleased with was the 160GB HDD (really too small for what she is willing to pay and compared to what this machine can handle) and he refused to put in an USB card reader, because they break easily - so she'd have to use an external one.
(Remember she's willing to pay extra, just so she can have the service this company offers, so shouldn't replacing that if it actually might break not be included? ...)
My dvdburner is ready to collapse within a year of use - would that be a reason not to put one in too?
Oh and I had a HDD crash on me too when my power was cut - let's build a pc without that too. <LOL>
Sorry, but I thought that was plain ********. (Pardon my French;D)

Cheers,
Sarah.

Hang on. A USB card reader is an external device. That would not come installed in a new computer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.....ssing_unit