Pc Help Needed Please

[Lexxy_703]

i've said to myself "nah, don't bother - with someone like that, it'll just go in one ear & out the other anyway"...but i feel the need to say something.

Tyger - you may be the fountain of all knowledge where IT is concerned, but please, have a little respect for other people & don't talk down to them like they're cretins. i know it's difficult sometimes to express ourselves in cyber space but really, if somebody spoke to you face to face like you've done in the past few posts, how would you react? just because it's faceless & on here is no excuse.

i appreciate your input of knowledge on this subject but, unfortunately, my budget at the moment does not stretch to buying one of your beloved machines. i wished it did, but it doesn't. for my personal needs, AFTER MANY HOURS OF RESEARCH, it just doesn't warrant spending that much.

have a great weekend everyone.

Abbie

x

p.s. in over 8 years, i've never had to re-install Windows once (i KNOW i shouldn't have said that! i'm quickly searching for some solid Oak as i quickly say goodnight...)

[aido]

Abbie, you're doing pretty well to have had any computer running that long without a reinstall

Any ideas yet what you're going to get?

[Tyger]

hehe I have plenty of time and respect for anyone that is prepared to keep their eyes and ears open. When you have heard the same old lines trotted out again and again over the years it shortens one's patience so I state the facts concisely otherwise these threads can become drawn out and tedious.

Your hours of research will have shown you therefore that you would be better off getting a second-hand or refurbished Mac mini direct from apple (with a years guaruntee) for near to 330 quid. Even this machine would be more productive secure and capable than any new Windows PC in that price range. If you haven't yet come to this conclusion I am sorry but you have yet to complete your research.

To be frank I couldn't care less how you think I come across, I just hope that ONE day you will realise that I am giving you the best advice. If this next PC you buy isn't as Mac your next one will be as people are gradually waking up to the fact that the Mac is ahead on all aspects.

The only arguable way one could justify a PC purchase over a Mac is if on a restricted budget and to buy a build-your-own from a trusted and reliable source. For any BRANDED computer there are simply NO valid reasons to buy a PC. Sorry but that is just the way it is - this is not my opinion but provable fact. It's all publicly available info - but so much FUD is spread as fact (even by some Mac users! ;) ) that it is hard to see the wood for the trees.

Many PC users on this forum will be switching to Mac in the coming years and once they have switched they will NEVER buy another PC and they will agree with every word I say. In 2006 I think I personally "switched" about 30 people, each one of whom has had their computing life transformed. You may well think I am an opinionated arrogant maniac right now, but I don't care - I am used to it and will be proved right in the end. :)

Aido: Yes - let's save some people from mediocrety!

PS Just to be clear - I earn no commission from apple and am no longer involved in any business related to apple products although I am an AAPL shareholder. My reward comes simply in seeing the excitement and transformation of people who DO switch and watching them start talking like I do! I regularly turn PC and Windows fanatics and Mac-hating zealots into Mac freaks. In a simliar way I offered to Lexy I have even BOUGHT Macs for people to try for a month - so far ALL of them have paid me back for it and thanked me. That isn't coincidence. All it takes is an open mind and some understanding that just because you don't know about something doesn't mean that it can't be many times better and advanced than what you DO know.

Whatever.

I'll shut up now.

:)

[aido]

I managed to get Barrie on here onto the dark side, he's doing ok with that I think :)

It would be nice to think that everyone would buy a Mac after their current computer but Vista is here now and a lot of people will think that it is the bees knees, I haven't tried it since it originally went into beta as Longhorn a few years ago but will be trying it as soon as work get me a laptop!

It's just going to be interesting seeing what 10.5 offers, I'm just hoping they've kept a few of their tricks up their sleeves as so far it doesn't seem to offer the jump that we're seeing from XP to Vista - but at least it's still a generation in front!

It would be nice to see the market share jump up for Macs, currently it's still pretty much on a par with Linux, so it's got a long way to go yet, either way I'll still be running one of everything just to make sure I know what's going on!

[Lexxy_703]

Hiy Aido - no, still haven't made my tiny little feeble mind up yet...sometime soon tho :winky:

Tyger - a couple of quick questions then,

on the current listings for re-furb etc models, this is the only 1 within my budget -

Refurb Mac mini 1.66GHz Intel Core Duo /512MB /60GB /Combo /GMA950 /AirPort /Bluetooth - apple Certified

Save 16% off the original price

Original price: £398.99

Your price: £339.00

(£288.51 ex VAT)

so, how does this compare to the sort of spec that i've been looking at on a PC? -

AMD Athlon 64 Socket 940 AM2 3500, On Board Graphics Nvidia 6100 128MB , 160GB Sata 2 Hard Drive , 1024 DDR 2 667 MHz , Xp Home With SP2 & Disc , 18 X DVD Dual Layer Writer , 54Mpbs Wireless Card, 6 USB 2.0.

with the MAC, i presume i'd have to pay for XP if i'm wanting to carry on with word, excel documents that i mainly use now? and, please bare in mind this is only for my simple needs of spreadsheets, word processing, CDRW & web browsing. (i have got a separate CDRW that i use now, so assume this would hook up to a MAC?).

thanks for your time.

p.s. as you clearly stated "To be frank I couldn't care less how you think I come across...", so i won't even bother passing any further comment on that.

[aido]

To be fair Abbie you don't actually really need XP at all, you can get a version of Office for OSX which does the job fine, I prefer it to Office 2003, if you fancied giving it a try I can always hook you up with an eval copy that you could trial.

The biggest differences you're looking at are memory and the size and speed of the hard disk between the two machines there.

When apple refer to a combo drive it means that it can write CD's but only read DVD's - they call a DVD Writer a Superdrive.

OSX does like it's extra memory so it may be worth throwing another £20-30 on RAM upgrade to 1GB if not more, memory is really cheap nowadays!

What sort of space do you have on your existing computer?

Have you got any idea what the external CDRW is that you use currently? Not all of them work with the Mac correctly, or at least when I last looked the apple software and Roxio Toast didn't support the ioMega drive I was checking out!

That's probably not an issue as the one you were looking at can write to CD's anyway :)

Oh and just thought, not sure how far away you are from Little Eaton but there is a place there called Spectrum Components that does pretty cheap PC's, may be worth getting a price from them for a PC, and if you get chance pop into PC World in Derby where you can try a Mac out to see if you actually like it :)

[Tyger]

hehe *sigh*

OK I said if you have any q's PM me but whatever, for the sake of saving yet another poor soul from the IT pits of doom I will press on.

a) You have fallen into a classic trap associated with PC ownership - basing a machine's performance on harware specs. (and it still seems you haven't factored in the virus checker price) More on this later.

B) Your research has gone so deep and yet you have no concept of what a Mac is capable of despite me posting links that would have answered most of your questions. If you are not going to take on board the info I give you what's the point? In my first post did I not post this link http://www.apple.com/getamac ? If you had looked you would have seen THIS page http://www.apple.com/getamac/office.html which clearly shows Microsoft Office runs natively on the Mac and has done for years. Aido's evaluation copy sounds like a good idea...

FACT: An example - Excel was WRITTEN on the Mac and ported to the PC! Where these urban myths come from about the lack of Mac software is beyond me.

OK - The Hardware Trap.

About the only way to differentiate between PCs is to compare hardware specs. Companies go to great lenghts to paste big red numbers all over theire little beige boxes in order to make them seem faster. Just like football stats PC users will happily quote their figures all day. This can be TOTALLY misleading and not in any way show the real world performance of the box. This is due to MANY factors such as harddrive spindle speed, shared RAM/gfx memory, frontside bus speeds, quality of motherboard components etc etc BUT one thing that is more important than all this is what OS you are running. (don't forget to knock off about 15-20% of your PCs performance from having to run all the spyware, virus, popup and firewall software in the background, you can knock this off your HD space too)

You are comparing Apple's with pears *cough*

OS X is written from the ground up to be hosted on multicore processors. Much of it is multithreaded and runs beautifully on Core Duo processors (which are dual core) as do many Mac apps including the iLife suite (which I am sure you have researched) is all written to take advantage of this multithreading and multiprocessors. The high end Macs have TWO dual-core processors! XP cannot take advantage of this in the same way and although is supposed to be a multitasking OS looks like a joke running next to OS X. In real terms despite the big red numbers on the box the Mac mini would be a much more useable and productive machine due to the OS and the software rather than anything else. THAT is critical. YES it could do with more RAM as Aido pointed out and YES the hard drive isn't huge and could do with a boost (but like Aido dsaid again how much space HAVE you used on your current PC?) - both these are cheap upgrades - or maybe you could keep your eyes out for a refurb with higher specs - the machines available change frequently.

Aiport is 54Mbps wireless networking built in as is Blutooth so you can sync all your phone info with your Mac. You have a CDRW built into the Mac mini above - you can sell your external drive and help pay for your RAM upgrade :)

Generally PCs of this price will only contain an OEM version of XP so check carefully they are not BSing you. Personally I wouldn't give XP home to my worst enemy.

Just one thing. This is a hi-tech piece of equipment we are talking about. You do not get an amazing computer for the money you are prepared to spend. You will get one that will do the job. If you could stretch your budget some more you could get a machine that would last you much longer and perform alot better. You get what you pay for. apple generally don't make budget machines they make premium quality computers.

Shame you are so far away Lexxy as I would be perfectly happy to demo an old Mac to you and watch your jaw hit the floor. PC World sell Macs these days and despite their sales staff you may well be able to get an idea of the speed of them there.

http://www.apple.com/uk/buy/ that may help too. You need a demo from someone who knows what they are doing else how can you possibly know what you're missing?

Good luck.

Aido went and blew it on his last line. Mate you really are not doing Lexxy any favours. She thinks I am an *****, I don't give a damn cos if she simply does the searching she will come to know how much I am helping her. Despite your good intentions Aido, you are not giving (all!) the best advice. ;-P

[Parthiban]

Hi Abbie,

I still sit somewhere in between on the apple - PC debate so hopefully I can be a little impartial :)

I agree that a lot of the "problems" associated with apple ownership no longer exist.

However, I've had my PC for just over a year, and it is running Windows XP MCE and has NEVER CRASHED

One of my friends with a Macbook decided it would be fun to test both machines by making both open loads of programs at the same time - guess which one crashed!

At the end of the day Mac's are very good since they got Intel processors, and I love how slick the OS is, as well as the couture chic of their design, but if you need the extra hard drive space, RAM and DVD writer, the Mac's going to get quite a bit more expensive.

If you decide to go with the PC, one thing I would recommend is to avoid the AMD processors as they aren't as good as the Intels, and while a core duo processor might be out of your price range, try to get a Pentium D as that's what I have in mine and its never let me down or got me frustrated with how long its taking.

Good luck with your purchase :D

[Lexxy_703]

What sort of space do you have on your existing computer?

Have you got any idea what the external CDRW is that you use currently? Not all of them work with the Mac correctly, or at least when I last looked the Apple software and Roxio Toast didn't support the ioMega drive I was checking out!

this is what i originally posted "The PC normally states 45-60% resources free while I’m doing my usual stuff & the Drives show, C = 2.99gb capacity with 1.08gb free & D = 2.99gb capacity with 942mb free. " does this tell you? sorry, i don't really know enough to answer . on the the original specs it says HDD 6.4GB.

my cdrw is a freecom classic, just connected via USB, & i use nero. & ignore me when i mention XP, i keep forgetting my docs now are office based & XP is the flippin OS. i have information overload in my poor addled brain!

Tyger - thanks again for your informative reply. i did check out those links when you originally posted them but, to be perfectly honest, it was the 1st time i'd ever read anything about mac, so it didn't really mean a vast amount to me. my ignorance, i know.

now i'm a little more aware of mac, reading the info again does answer a lot of questions. thank you.

yes, i have fallen into the classic trap, as you call it, of looking at hardware for some performance guide. but as a low end user of PC's only, pretty much self taught on windows & not really having anything like a decent knowledge OR the real interest in computers - i don't really see what else i could do. this is the reason i asked for guidance on here as nearly 'everybody' must know more than i do.

you keep saying about the cost of 'virus checker'?? - i use AVG free edition with a mcafee firewall. NOTHING else. no spam filter or anything else that i'm aware of...

sorry i'm back again on the general forum but, from experience, i've always found it more beneficial than PM's as others can contribute to comments made.

Parthiban - your comments re: 'avoid AMD cpu'. i'm seriously confused as i checked on here to compare the intel d820 & the AMD Athlon 64 3500 - in nearly all the applications i would use, the AMD came out better than the intel?!?! i can afford a couple of the dual core models i found but thought i was going in the right direction based on what i'd read on that site....

i really do feel like i don't know my bottom from my elbow at the moment... :duh:

[Tyger]

I think perhaps a pencil and the back of a fag packet would be alot cheaper and easier.

No viruses

Small investment

Short learning-curve

Both items replaceable for little or no expense

Storage space may be an issue.

Bingo.

:)

[Parthiban]

Parthiban - your comments re: 'avoid AMD cpu'. i'm seriously confused as i checked on here to compare the intel d820 & the AMD Athlon 64 3500 - in nearly all the applications i would use, the AMD came out better than the intel?!?! i can afford a couple of the dual core models i found but thought i was going in the right direction based on what i'd read on that site....

Hmmm, thanks for that link, made quite interesting reading.

I'm not sure which one I've got but it might actually be the PentiumD 820, and I was surprised by some of those results. Although I was pleased to see that in the tasks that I do a lot of which are most intensive (photo and video editing), the Intel was much much quicker than the AMD. The differences in the other tests were no were near as large (although the Intel does appear to be behind).

I'm starting to see how you're feeling right now, although thankfully I already have my PC and have no problems with it so nothing to worry about - if the AMD is quicker for the tasks you will use it for, then go with that :)

[Lexxy_703]

I think perhaps a pencil and the back of a fag packet would be alot cheaper and easier.

No viruses

Small investment

Short learning-curve

Both items replaceable for little or no expense

Storage space may be an issue.

Bingo.

:)

very bloody funny :o :tsktsk: so, because i have a budget, am not a fully trained computer whizz & i'm only using the basics (as far as you're concerned) that's all i warrant then is it? i see arrogance isn't your only quality...

thanks for your input everyone else, don't really think there's a lot else to add to this thread now. ;)

[Tyger]

Ummm HELLO!?????

That was meant as a genuine jest to lighten the thread - it in NO way was meant as a dig at you - if anything it was a ***** take out of my own posts showing that I really don't take all this very seriously. But hey, whatever.

Pretty sad you are so defensive don't you think?

People like you are NEVER happy. You should be embarrassed at your post.

Go and buy your Dell and self-perpetuate the situation.

/gives up

[aido]

PMSL

Tyger, I'm sure you're a technical architect as it took you three times longer to say what I said earlier :P

From the sounds of it Abbie a Mac Mini would suit you down to the ground, you don't currently use a lot of storage and it would handle your needs perfectly :)

The AMD and Intel war has been going on for years, in fact to be honest AMD were leading the way I think when Intel dropped the bombshell that was Core Duo. AMD actually have made some good stuff over the years, I remember getting my first Athlon way back when and it was ahead of the Pentium stuff available then!

The major difference is power consumption, for years Intel and AMD were obsessed with processor clock speed, then AMD won that war, even though their processors were rated at a slower speed than the Intel ones, they were more efficient and performed comparably to a higher rated Intel chip. Then Intel dropped Core Duo out of nowhere, two cores on one chip, basically two entire processors on one tiny item, previously they had something called HyperThreading, which was a bit of a joke, it looked to the OS as though it had two processors, so it would treat it like that, but in reality it was just one pretending to be two, in certain circumstances it offered advantages but in others it just caused contention! Core Duo was much better on power consumption and therefore heat dissipation than anything Intel had done for a while.

Losing the MHz race in a way was the best thing to ever happen for them as it sent them back to the drawing board!

AMD have something similar to Core Duo coming out soon (if it's not already, I don't keep up on desktop stuff anymore), which should be comparable. AMD stuff is usually offered at a lower price than the Intel stuff, but I have to admit that the most stable machines I've ever used were Intel one's, but then again that's because I'm a geek and always used to find that you could overclock the AMD CPU's further so I'd do that to get better speeds out of it :)

In all honesty though, in my opinion it's games that caused the MHz race, and why PC's are so powerful now, I can only really think of video editing that is the other thing that causes so much work for a home computer, where the faster the processor is and the more memory you have the better!

For day to day stuff like using the MS Office suite, browsing the internet and burning CD's, any PC from the last few years could do that without breaking a sweat. Websites containing Macromedia / Adobe Flash components do run better with higher performance but in many ways programmers now are getting lazy, in the years gone by they'd have to create really lightweight powerful code that ran on slow processors at a good pace, nowadays they just up the minimum specification!

There is a version of Symantec AV for OSX but most of, if not all of the defs are for files containing Windows based viruses that won't affect you. I don't know how long that will be the case though as there will be a virus along at some point for OSX, it's just a matter of when!

If your machine is connected directly to the internet then you will still need to enable a firewall on OSX, it's dangerous connecting any computer running any OS to the internet without some form of firewall software running!

The only difference being that because OSX hasn't been turned over like Windows was yet you don't really have to worry about what's going out of the machine as you don't get the spyware like you do on Windows. Once again you don't get it yet!

As for popups, the browsers come with popup blocking so they cover that, Safari can be a bit bloated though on my machines.

In fact I'm surprised you're using Safari 2.0.4 Tyger, and not something like Camino or Firefox! I have to admit I've always preferred Camino on OSX, always seems to run better on the sites I frequent :)

Check it out at www.caminobrowser.org sometime if you've not tried it yet ;)

Hope all ends well Abbie anyway :winky:

[Tyger]

I actually agree with most of what Aido just said! *gasp* ;)

(I will let the virus bit pass - five and a half years and still no virus in the wild.... wouldn't there be ONE by now..? OS X CANNOT be "turned over" like Windows has been because OS X has been written properly...anyway...)

hey! how the hell do you know what browser I'm using!? You have access to the site stats or something!? :o

I actually find Firefox 2 a bit unwieldy. I used to use Omniweb, and Firefox until the recent version 2 release. I have dabbled with most browsers including Camino - although not for many months now - but now I actually prefer the tab functionality and bookmarking features in Safari. And it's fast.

Anyway I can't wait for Vista to come out. That is gonna switch more people to OS X than anything before it! Just wait and see! :)

[aido]

There is very little you can teach me about IT Aido

Think you'd be surprised :winky:

And - yes I would. :winky:

hey! how the hell do you know what browser I'm using!? You have access to the site stats or something!? :o

I actually find Firefox 2 a bit unwieldy. I used to use Omniweb, and Firefox until the recent version 2 release. I have dabbled with most browsers but now I actually prefer the tab functionality and bookmarking features in Safari.

:o

Did that surprise you then mate

It's a secret - but no I don't have access to the site logs!

I'll put the info on your desktop :P

Might be worth you looking at the latest Camino nightly release, it's really good, they've integrated all text boxes with the built in OS spellchecker and added some new functionality, seems snappier!

One thing I hate in Safari is if I ever press apple Q instead of apple W as it shuts the whole thing down! They save the browser state in the latest nightly builds of Camino so it fires back up exactly where you left it.

Half tempted to install the latest build of Leo to see how I get on with that!

[Brettster]

Stick to what you know. Ive had both Mac's and pc's and for me PC's win every time. as long as u look after it it's no less reliable than a mac. Apple's design is gorgeous in a fisher price kinda way. I was playing with one of the new quad core cheese graters the other day. Amazing machine very quiet and built to last. but I just cannot get on with OSX. And costing over 2 grand it should be amazing!!

The only reason there isnt the same amount of spyware or virus for Mac is purely because of the numbers. if the mac was in the position the PC is in now it would be just the same. the spammers make money from their horrible little programs and why spend the time and money making them for only a handful of machines to infect. there are a few spyware apps on mac already.

Any new internet technolgy such as skype or instant message programs are always better featured on the PC and there are lots and lots of free or very cheap software on PC everytime I look for something on mac you have to pay for it.

It's just my opinion but I've tried both and prefer the PC. Sorry Mac guys.

[Mr Morse]

Is it true that Steve Barnes was compliant with Mat Clawley's destruction of the Prolex shop on 24/12/2006

[aido]

Is it true that Steve Barnes was compliant with Mat Clawley's destruction of the Prolex shop on 24/12/2006

No mate, Steve actually helped us out by checking all the LOC logs when we were checking this out initially, the IP used hadn't been used on LOC before so Steve had no way of knowing who it was!

[Mr Morse]

But either Clawley or Barnes - or both of them must have lied?

Because Steve Barnes saw the IP address and recoginsed it as Clawleys

[aido]

Can't comment on what happened at Mat's house, was very surprised when that came out, but Steve tried his hardest to help mate. Dave put up on the Prolex forum that a report had been generated which listed the details of the host which performed the deletion of everything then Mat called him the next day, Steve's had no input on this one mate?!

Steve went thru the logs and nothing matched. Thing is BT Internet use a dynamic pool, so if someone is using an ADSL modem which they connect when they load their pc up and then disconnect when they're done they'll get a new address assigned. The thing is they should have a record somewhere in the PAP / CHAP logs or even on a Radius server somewhere that identifies the address against the username. ISPs have to keep all that sort of thing nowadays I believe.

There are literally loads of addresses that can be assigned out, not sure exactly how BT assign these but they'll have a huge pool of unique addresses to dial out, odds are you wouldn't get the same one twice in a year if you kept disconnecting and reconnecting!

[Mr Morse]

So what you saying Aido...

We'll never know?

[aido]

The abuse department at BT would have had the details as soon as they were given the IP address and time, Mat already admitted to it though to Dave, so that confirmed it?

I just think it's unfair on Steve as all he did was try and help out by searching the LOC logs when I asked him to, and he found nothing, just explaining why he wouldn't have seen the address on LOC before.

[Tyger]

@Aido: lol Touche!!!

Well unless you have my Remote Desktop password and know how to access my VPN or can access the site logs or am standing behind me I am not sure how you know what browser I am using unless it was a lucky guess!!! I await the info on my desktop ;)

@ Brettster

*deep breaths*

Have you any idea how many times I have heard that line? "It's about the numbers"

Sorry - but you are absolutely and utterly immeasurably incorrect. I can't even begin to tell you how wrong you are. You are so wrong that you go right round the other side of being wrong that you are almost come out right (but you are not right of course).

Here is a summary. There are about 214000 PC viruses. There are NO Mac viruses.

(PLEASE don't link me to proof of concept viruses indicated on websites of companies trying to sell Mac anti-virus software)

OS X has been out almost 6 years. Virus coders love notoriety - it is WELL known there are no OS X viruses and the 1st one ever would make global tech news. There are NO Mac OS X viruses in the wild. None. Zero. Nada.

THIS IS BECAUSE OS X HAS BEEN WRITTEN WITH SECURITY IN MIND FROM THE GROUND UP AND IS NOT THE HOTCH POTCH OF ANCIENT DEGENERATED FLAWED CODE THAT IS WINDOWS.

IS THE CRAPNESS OF WINDOWS SO INGRAINED IN THE MINDS OF PEOPLE THESE DAYS THAT THEY CAN'T GRASP THE FACT THAT IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY AND THAT AN OS CAN BE WRITTEN THAT IS IMPERVIOUS TO VIRUSES!!!?????

THAT is why there are no Mac OS X viruses. NO other reason. Research and you will see I am right. Time will also prove me right. As this has been the case for almost 6 years, nothing has changed.

The valid point you made about SOME developed software being slightly ahead on the PC can be the case sometimes. BUT again you miss the point. MACS RUN WINDOWS 100%. If you find a particular piece of software that your life will end if you don't run the latest build THEN BOOT UP WINDOWS AND RUN IT ON YOUR MAC!!

Can I not be any clearer??? Macs run OS X AND WINDOWS!! THERE IS NO SOFTWARE THAT WILL NOT RUN.

A PC is a box that runs only Windows.

A Mac is a box that can run Windows and OS X. You can run these SIMULTANEOUSLY.

(yes I am well aware of Linux et al but I am talking mainstream for simplicity)

If I had 1p for every time I am continually faced with the same old urban myths I would own this planet.

What I DON'T understand is why this happens. I really think it may be because people have been stuck for such a long time with a perception of what computers are like based on their experiences with Windows that they just can't get their heads round the fact that there is something out there that is SO much better in just about every way. It SOUNDS like BS to them I guess. *shrug*

[Lexxy_703]

Ummm HELLO!?????

That was meant as a genuine jest to lighten the thread - it in NO way was meant as a dig at you - if anything it was a ***** take out of my own posts showing that I really don't take all this very seriously. But hey, whatever.

Pretty sad you are so defensive don't you think?

People like you are NEVER happy. You should be embarrassed at your post.

Go and buy your Dell and self-perpetuate the situation.

/gives up

i just had to press the button & see what you'd said didn't i?, sort of wished i hadn't, but the sun is shining & it's a glorious winter day...

i've read & re-read your so called 'light hearted' suggestion & i still don't see it like you say. but, we're all different creatures & obviously our sense of humours are very different. after ALL of your previous posts being so information & offering suggestions, that one just seemed like a cheap shot to me - won't increase her budget, see the light & buy a MAC, fag packet will do instead... like i said a year or two ago (it feels like that long!), communication in cyber space is a peculiar thing.

i'm a tad defensive, you're a tad arrogant - perhaps areas we both have to work on eh? ;) i know that about myself, i wonder if you do? (no answer required there by the way).

"People like you are NEVER happy. You should be embarrassed at your post."

1 - wrong. absolutely. 2 - no. absolutely. :D

i won't be buying a Dell either thanks , i'll choose the ''best' components for my budget, get a firm with a good reputation & after-sales service to make it up for me & there you go, new PC. or you never know, i MIGHT just buy a flippin MacMini!