There are so many options when it comes to PC's that we find the best way to supply them is to order. Use the form below to configure your ideal computer. The standard configuration is sufficient for a basic home or office PC, however you may wish to add a few options or increase the spec in certain areas.
All systems include, as standard, sufficient memory and hard disk capacity to perform day-to-day office tasks. They also include:
In order to use your PC you need to add an operating system, and (if you don't already have one) a monitor.
All prices exclude VAT unless otherwise stated, but do include delivery.
The processor, or CPU (Central Processing Unit), is effectively the PC's "brain". The faster the CPU, the faster the PC will process data and therefore the quicker you will get results. For standard office and home Internet use a processor with a speed of around 2000 (2GHz) to 2500 (2.5GHz) is sufficient. However if you are playing games you will need to be looking at a processor with a lot higher speed, 3000 (3GHz) plus.
(click for more >>)
It is important to understand that almost everything the processor does requires data coming from somewhere, and somewhere for the results to go. That "somewhere" is memory, backed up by the much slower hard disk. Very often the overall speed of the system is determined more by these bottlenecks than by the processor, so its just as important to increase memory as it is CPU speed.
There are two main manufactures of processors, Intel and AMD. Intel is the best known as they advertise heavily. The "Celeron" is Intel's entry level processor whilst the "Pentium 4" is their flagship. AMD's entry level is the "Sempron", and their flagship is the "Athlon 64". As a guide, the higher speed Semprons are on a parr with the P4, and the Athlon 64 systems are the fastest of the lot.
The full benefit of the Althon 64 will not be realised until 64-bit versions of major software are widespread. However, they do offer excellent performance even now, and are probably the most "future-proof" processors available at this time. (hide)
Intel Celeron 2.0Ghz.............................. (£187.50) Intel Celeron 2.8Ghz.............................. (£206.25) Intel Pentium 4 2.80Ghz........................... (£275.00) Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz (800FSB)................... (£275.00) Intel Pentium 4 3.2Ghz (800FSB)................... (£306.25) AMD Sempron 2300.................................. (£181.25) AMD Sempron 2400.................................. (£183.75) AMD Sempron 2600.................................. (£187.50) AMD Sempron 2800.................................. (£206.25) Athlon 64 3000+................................... (£256.25) Athlon 64 3200+................................... (£262.50) Athlon 64 3400+................................... (£275.00)
Case sizes and styles can vary considerably. A "Full ATX" case is a "tower" (vertical) design with four CD-ROM bays and a couple of floppy bays. The "Micro ATX" case is slightly shorter tower, with two CD-ROM bays. A "Desktop" case is a horizintal design intended for sitting on your desk - ie the type that you can stand your monitor on top of.
Full ATX.......................................... (£0.00) Micro ATX......................................... (£6.25) Desktop........................................... (£6.25) Full ATX Black.................................... (£6.25)
Memory is fairly easy to explain - it is simply the capacity of your PC's short term memory. This memory is blanked when you re-boot the PC, so it is only used for working data and not long-term storage. Your PC will usually be able to use spare disk capacity if it runs short on memory, but memory is far faster than disk drives so your PC will run much more slowly if this happens. For most people this is far more significant than CPU speed. You can think of this as similar to the way that we humans have to write things down once our heads get full of information as we can't hold everything in short term memory at once.
For general office tasks, 256MB is sufficient, but this increases if you wish to do several things at once (for example have several documents open at once). If your budget allows, we recommend 512MB of memory for most systems, and 1GB or more for faster systems (eg for playing games or working with power hungry graphics applications or video).
256Mb DDR......................................... (£0.00) 512Mb DDR......................................... (£16.25) 1024Mb DDR........................................ (£56.25) 2048Mb DDR........................................ (£306.25)
Your PC will use its hard drive as permanent data storage - you can think of the hard drive as a filing cabinet and the size of the hard drive determines how many drawers the cabinet has. All the programs you run (including the Windows operating system), and any data which you "save" for future use, are stored on your hard disk. It is possible to add extra hard drives to a PC, giving you more storage space. A 40GB hard drive will suit the standard home Internet user, however if you are going to be playing with music and video you need to be looking at something a bit larger. Most people do need need to add a second hard drive at this point.
Primary Hard Drive:
40GB 7200RPM...................................... (£0.00) 80GB 7200RPM...................................... (£3.75) 120GB 7200RPM..................................... (£17.50) 200GB 7200RPM..................................... (£37.50) 250GB 7200RPM..................................... (£58.75)
Secondary Hard Drive:
None.............................................. (£0.00) 40GB 7200RPM...................................... (£36.25) 80GB 7200RPM...................................... (£40.00) 120GB 7200RPM..................................... (£53.75) 200GB 7200RPM..................................... (£73.75) 250GB 7200RPM..................................... (£95.00)
CD and DVD drives, which work by shining lasers at the surface of the plastic CD/DVD disks, are classed as "optical drives". For most people at least one drive is recommended as this is how you will install software onto the PC, although it may not be necessary in a networked office.
A CD-ROM drive can only read CDs, whilst a DVD-ROM drive can both CDs and DVDs. CD-RW drives can read and write CDs. So can CD-RW/DVD combo drives, but these can also read DVDs. Finally, there are DVD+/-RW drives which can read and write both CDs and DVDs.
None.............................................. (£0.00) CDROM............................................. (£11.25) DVD............................................... (£16.25) CDRW.............................................. (£16.25) CDRW/DVD Combo.................................... (£22.50) DVD +/- RW........................................ (£30.00)
Graphics cards include a small processor dedicated to generating the screen display. For basic use onboard graphics is sufficient; these use some of your system memory and provide more than enough functionality for office taks. Heavier users of graphics, such as games players, will need to add a faster graphics card to the system with built-in memory. With these, you simply get what you pay for - the more you spend the faster the graphics processing will be.
Onboard........................................... (£0.00) Gforce MX4000 64Mb DDR............................ (£12.50) Gforce MX4000 128Mb DDR........................... (£15.00) Gforce FX5200 128Mb DDR........................... (£12.50) Gforce FX5500 256Mb DDR........................... (£21.25) Gforce FX5700 256Mb DDR........................... (£55.00) Radeon 7000 64mb DDR.............................. (£12.50) Radeon 9200 128mb DDR............................. (£27.50) Radeon 9600 256mb DDR............................. (£60.00)
You need to have an operating system on a PC in order to use it. In the same way that you can buy games consoles from a variety of manufacturers, and they only work with their own games, the same is true of PC operating systems. The most well known operating system for desktop PCs is Microsoft Windows, which is reasonably easy to use and which most computer users are now familar with. Since this is the most popular choice, there is more software available for Windows than alternative operating systems.
A fast growing alternative is Linux, which is available for free (and which we will install for a nominal charge) and has a vast array of free software to go with it, including software for all major tasks you might undertake with Windows.
For the time being, if you are familar with Windows PCs and don't want to learn something new, stick with Windows. If you're completely new to using a PC then either will suit you well, and if you're a Windows user who wants to learn something new then Linux makes an excellent alternative.
If you are interested in a Linux PC, then you can get support form the many Linux User Groups around the UK (users local to us can meet us at the Peterborough LUG).
For a limited time, if you buy a Linux PC from us and later decide you want Windows instead, then we will perform the upgrade for the cost of the Windows software, as below, plus shipping.
None.............................................. (£0.00) XP Home........................................... (£61.25) XP Professional................................... (£98.75) Windows 2000 Pro.................................. (£106.25) Linux (Mepis)..................................... (£5.00)
CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors are the traditional TV style monitors, they tend to be large and bulky and use a fair amount of electricity. TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screens are the flat panel screens, they take up a lot less desk space and use less power, however they have a limited life of around 5 to 8 years before the screen degrades and needs replacing. Recent research by a major PC magazine suggests that electricity savings from using a TFT compared with a CRT will pay for the TFT over the period of around 3-5yrs depending on usage.
None.............................................. (£0.00) 17" CRT........................................... (£61.25) 15" TFT........................................... (£123.75) 17" TFT Beige (M.Media)........................... (£156.25) 15" TFT Black/Silver (M.Media).................... (£123.75) 17" TFT Black/Silver (M.Media).................... (£150.00)
A modem is required if you want to connect the PC to a phone line, either for dialing up to the Internet or using your PC as a fax machine.
Modem:
None.............................................. (£0.00) V92 Riser Card.................................... (£3.75) PCI V92 Modem..................................... (£6.88)
A network port is needed to connect your PC to a home or office network and in some cases connect to an ADSL/Broadband router. Most networks run at either 10Mbs or 100Mbs, although some new networks now run at 1000Mbs (1Gbs), in which case an upgrade to a 10/100/1000Mbs card would be advisable.
We also have wireless networking options, using the older 802.11b (11Mbs) standard or the newer 802.11g (54Mbs) standard. (11g cards are backwards compatible with the 11b standard.)
Network:
Onboard 10/100.................................... (£0.00) Wireless 802.11g.................................. (£13.13) 10/100/1000 PCI LAN............................... (£15.00)
You can either choose wired keyboard and mouse or wireless keyboard and mouse, there are advantage and dis-advantages with both. An optical mouse doesn't have a ball in the base, it has a laser and therefore does not require a mouse mat.
Keyboard & Mouse:
Windows Keyboard & Scroll Mouse................... (£0.00) Windows Keyboard & Optical Mouse.................. (£3.75) <spare option>.................................... (£0.00) <spare option>.................................... (£0.00) Wireless Keyboard & Optical Mouse................. (£15.00)
Microsoft Office Basic has Word, Excel and Outlook included. SBE (Small Business Edition) has Word, Excel, Outlook and Publisher. Pro (Professional) has Word, Excel, Outlook, Publisher, PowerPoint and Access. Open Office is a free alternative to Microsoft Office Pro which will open and save Office format files (although it is free, we charge a nominal fee to install the software, which you can otherwise download from www.openoffice.org).
Office Packages:
None.............................................. (£0.00) Open Office....................................... (£5.00) Microsoft Office 2003 BASIC....................... (£143.75) Microsoft Office 2003 SBE......................... (£175.00) Microsoft Office 2003 PRO......................... (£225.00)
It is a must that you have some form of anti-virus software on a PC, we would recomend AVG, more information can be found here.
Anti-Virus:
None.............................................. (£0.00) AVG Antivirus..................................... (£18.73) AVG Antivirus & Firewall.......................... (£26.38)
PC components are built to high standards and it is rare for failiures however they do happen and if you want the extra piece of mind you can upgrade your waranty. The standard is 3 years "RTB" (Return To Base), which covers you for any hardware problems during three year period but does require you to return the PC to us so that we can fix the problem. An on-site waranty means we will arrange for te repair to your PC to take place at your home or office.
Standard 3yr RTB.................................. (£0.00) 1yr Onsite........................................ (£18.75) 3yr Onsite........................................ (£93.75)
By selecting the Generate Quote button your PC spec will be processed and a total price generated, you will then have the option to modify it as many times as you want.
