My pooter went t*ts up last Sunday so I'm after a new one.
Someone recommended a Mesh.
Any good? Good after sales service?
Availabillity of spares?
Or any other recommendations.
This is far from my pet subject so any help will be much appreciated.
Cheers chaps
Paul G
Any work I have done on Mesh PCs have left me less than impressed, I also not a fan of Packard-Hell (oops Packard-Bell) , Tiny and Time. if you want decent quality look at Fusitsu-Siemens, Dell, or HP-Compaq.
Don't think you can really go wrong with a DELL.
Pat...
Build yourself one. You will save money. Learn most of what you need to be able to fix it if it goes wrong. Its really easy to do these days, you just
put it all together, stick in the windows disk and you are away (pretty much).
I have built several and they are all still going strong (I hope!). i am about to go home and build 2 more, one for dad and one for my sister. Enough
bits to build dad a top spec machine for around £500. 
But if you want to spend more cash then:
We have a mesh at home, and it has been a good pc. The customer services are quite good too. Its also built with quality parts (but its now 3 or 4 yrs
old!).
Dell are good, but are extortionately priced.
[Edited on 24/6/05 by flak monkey]
I'd suggest building one also... but Dell do a similar thing on't website for probably less 
Given the choice I'd continue building - but if you haven't the time or knowledge then DELL.
Dell - had 4 now, service is pretty good, can't beat them on price, and last time they sent me an extra high-res 17" flat screen and
wireless keyboard and mouse - gets my vote
Dont get sucked into buying something you dont need!! If all you want to do is a bit of home admin, surf the net etc then a complete base unit should
cost you no more than £200.
If on the other hand you are a games nut then be prepared for a big hole in your wallet!! If you are still stuck on what to buy then PM me and i can
help.
Mac
I've just replaced the hard drive, memory and motherboard in my wifes' computer and reused the case, drives, processor and fans. It cost £113 and works well. I used a fully integrated motherboard as it's only for surfing and some scanning etc. and it does the job admirably.
Bought a Medion with AMD Athlon processor from Staples about 2 years ago and its never given me a moments trouble.So good i daren,t replace it cos i,m not likely to get such a good one again.Internet speeds are pretty good on broadband and my son says it is a good games machine.Try Ebuyer.com. they are always sending me offers for pc,s at £300-500.
Im using a Shuttle SS56G v2
These are excellent, you buy the barebones system and the processor, memory (you could use your existing harddrive, they have built in graphics and
soundcards)...But unlike most there is actually a detailed build manual, so no need for guess work.
The Shuttles are amazingly compact and can fit on the desktop without the risk of being kicked 
And you can build one for around about £300 if you use the harddrive and dvd drive from your old pc and this will include a new pentium 4 processor.
Oh also it helps to save money if you use your old monitor as well.
My two penny-worth
PS if you don't have XP you could upgrade by getting the oem version less than £80!! Only if you buy something internal though like memory.
[Edited on 24/6/05 by Tim 45]
Dell are very good and good money.
I bought an Emachines from pcworld. Have had no troubles with it and the aftersales is good. I have recommended them to a few ppl who have bought
them and have been as pleased as i have been. Cheap too.
A bloke i work with has just bought one. P4 3.0 250gig hard drive 512 ram dvd/rw, 8 in 1 card reader 17 inch flat screen 400 quid.
Avoid Mesh, Tiny, Time, Packard-Bell etc. If you want a decent PC for sensible money buy a Dell (Just get the one they advertise that month as they
are normally a good deal with fast delivery) or go to PC world and get a Compaq/HP machine. Typically buy one machine up from the lowest spec and
don't get talked into extened warrantys, surge protecting power strips, or anything the like.
Don't bother building one yourself unless the build is part of the fun for you.
Surge protectors are a good idea. Ive had a pc blow through a power surge. Cost a dam site more than a tenner for a protected 4 plug.
Just dont buy one from a pc shop. Half the price elsewhere. Think one of mine came from bq.
hi,
how about you meat up with amember in youer area and get them to take you to a couple of shops to show you what is what.
if you are in manchester I dont mined showing you a couple of good places for bits if you whant to build and I can show you how to build one it is
very easy once you have seen it done. alternatly if you decude that you just whant to buy a system having some one who know what thay are talking
about with you will save you alots of hasle.
some of the lyes I hear salsmen in pc world touting are rediculas
blake
Just bought a dell well pleased. Unbox and plug in. Full MS office for £17
quote:
Originally posted by aweekes1
Avoid Mesh, Tiny, Time, Packard-Bell etc. If you want a decent PC for sensible money buy a Dell (Just get the one they advertise that month as they are normally a good deal with fast delivery) or go to PC world and get a Compaq/HP machine. Typically buy one machine up from the lowest spec and don't get talked into extened warrantys, surge protecting power strips, or anything the like.
Don't bother building one yourself unless the build is part of the fun for you.
If you have a couple of weeks to screw around researching, shopping and waiting for parts, building is the way to go, IMO. I prefer using my 750 MHz
homebuilt to my 2.6 GHz Dell, in fact. It crashes less and is generally more responsive than the Dell, wierdly enough.
Start with picking a processor and reading motherboard reviews. The manual for whatever motherboard you buy will tell you everything else you need to
know about what kind of memory, case, power supply, and storage to buy. Get everything off eBay and put it together; again, the mobo manual tells how
to do it all. The assembly process is very simple; everything's modular and just plugs together.
Some interesting reading on the forums here:
http://www.motherboards.org/index.html
An alternative for getting cheap software (operating system and MS Office) is to look for barebones computers using a good motherboard. eBay's a
good place to find these, too.
Pete
Thanks for the terrific responce, keep it coming.
My old Packard Bell has seen better days, originally ran Windows Me, so that gives its age away.
My knowedge of these things is sooooo limited that I think building one is out of the question.
I do have a little bit of time though as my son is back from uni and we have his laptop set up. (I hate this keyboard)
I only need a bog standard thing, but it would be nice to have one he can use as well when he is home.
I think the Mesh was suggested because it has a 64 bit processor (why can't they make it in one?)
and yet still affordable at £427 (with no vat). I'v just typed that, but I'v no idea what it means.
Thanks a lot chaps, your all being a great help.
Paul G
Why can't everything be like metallurgy, nice and simple?
Evesham.com They have just built me a new one. Excellent free helpline. Used them for years. They'll build you what you want from £300
upwards.
Cheers
Jon
Try CCL Computers and keep me in a job
www.europc.co.uk is pretty good for dells
edd
www.aria.co.uk
brilliantr site helpfull guys fast delivery will make to your own spec or to your own buget ... much cheaper then any other site ive found for
components and especially FLAT SCREENS ;p
So, more votes for Dell than anything else.
Anyone got any veiws on the eMac ?
I'v got to make my mind up soon, The boy wants his laptop back.
Cheers
Paul G
Buy a mag like PC PRO, and read through their write ups. Mesh and Evesham have consistently come high in their write ups since I bought my first
computer 7 years ago. Time who also own Tiny, are reputed to have less than satisfactory after sales service, but not having any first hand experience
with them, I couldn't really say! They do tend to do some high spec stuff for a reasonable price. Dell and all the big boys tend to be more
expensive than the Mesh, Evesham etc's.
Good Luck.
Thanks for all your help chaps.
Much appreciated.
I'v taken the plunge, and ordered a Dell 
Cheers
Paul G
I know I'm a bit late and your order has been processed etc. but have you considered one of these?
and just how do you play solitare on that?
edd
quote:
Originally posted by the_parson
I know I'm a bit late and your order has been processed etc. but have you considered one of these?
quote:
Originally posted by 907
Couldn't find the on/off button m8
Got it by the way
quote:
Originally posted by Avoneer
Don't think you can really go wrong with a DELL.
I had an eMac and it is a fine machine but i found Mac os a real pain as it wouldn't copy my files to where i wanted..well it did but i
couldn't access them which was a pain. It would be ok if you were starting from scratch. It was also noisy.
Shame really as the mac's look SO cool and the OS looks so much nicer than Windows.
If you were only going to use the machine for internet and email then ok i would go for that but otherwise stick will a windows system. i went for
dell and we now have 3 in our house.
Whatever you buy make sure you get decent anti-virus and anti-spam software!!
Good luck
Just realised you have already bought a machine...D'oh!
quote:
Originally posted by donut
Just realised you have already bought a machine...D'oh!
Tomorrow I'v got to go and pay for it Aye, Paint Shop Pro is a poor relation of Photoshop. It's good value for money but some of its functions just aren't as intuitive.
It'll definitely be worth saving up your pocket money and getting Elements. Then you can post photos galore and start more arguments over
welding, which the forum currently seems to be lacking
quote:
Originally posted by the_parson
Then you can post photos galore and start more arguments over welding, which the forum currently seems to be lacking
