Time to buy a new desktop PC, I think. Advice please.

[jillruss]

Its years since I got my current PC - its on Windows Vista, so that will give you an idea how old it is!

I know lots of sites no longer 'support' Vista so I've been thinking about this for a while - and putting it off because I'm really not into all this techno stuff! The final straw came this weekend with an email from Apple itunes saying, as from May, I'll no longer be able to download music using Vista onto my ipod! That's shocked me into action - can't do without adding music to my ipod.

Been looking on the Which site and its quite helpful. However, all the pictures of the different models appear to consist of just the tower. When I bought my current one, it automatically came with monitor, mouse, keyboard. Is this not the case anymore? Will I have to buy those as 'accessories'? I know there are also all-in-ones available but they're more expensive.

I wonder, would my current monitor etc be okay to use with just a new tower - or will things have moved on?

If anyone has recently bought a new Desktop (I really don't want a laptop) I'd be interested in their opinions. I'm not a game player and I don't watch films - just the occasional catch up or youtube video. I mostly use it for Family History, storing FH data and emails, plus downloading music of course.

I shall also have to find a local firm to transfer everything over for me from the old one - I wouldn't know where to begin.

Any help or pointers would be gratefully accepted.

[familydar]

I was in a similar position a few weeks back.  I ended up with a Lenovo and of course win10.  I'm continuing to use my old 2005 vintage keyboard and trackball - I've not even bothered to unpack the wireless ones that came with the new machine.  And my old monitor, you buy them separately these days and there seemed little point in replacing something that does the job just fine.

Jane :-)

[jillruss]

Funnily enough, Jane, I was just reading a review of a Lenovo PC when I opened your email. Serendipity! Its not a model name I've come across before.

This is for the Lenovo Ideacentre 510S & it gets a 77% review and 'best buy' badge as well. And its not too expensive + it seems to indicate its a 'capable model for most users'. I had to smile to myself when I read that its boot up time wouldn't win any races and takes about 38 seconds. With my current PC, I have to switch it on and then go and do somethng else for about 5 minutes whilst it goes through its booting up routine - very slow!

Thanks for your post - given me something to put on the 'possible' list!

Jill

[familydar]

Something else - if you have someone in mind for transferring your data over, speak to them about a new machine.  I called in at my local independent to buy a hard drive caddy so I could do my own transfer, to discover that they build bespoke computers and could have supplied me with one to a marginally higher spec than the one I ended up with and a 2 year warranty for very little extra money.  But they needed a week for the build and I needed a replacement fast, so it wasn't to be. If I'd approached them at the outset things could have been different.  And they would have transferred my data as part of the deal.

Jane :-)

[Mart 'n' Al]

Jillruss, slightly off Topic, but from what you said about not knowing how to transfer data from your old machine to a new machine makes me worried that you don't know enough about backing up your data. Unless you are absolutely sure that if your current computer cease to exist, right now, and you have a backup of the data you should do some research on the internet to find the basics. I hate hearing about people losing data.

As a very wise old man told me 30 years ago, there are two kinds of disc drive. Those that have failed and those that are yet to fail.

Martin

[philipsearching]

Jillruss, slightly off Topic, but from what you said about not knowing how to transfer data from your old machine to a new machine makes me worried that you don't know enough about backing up your data. Unless you are absolutely sure that if your current computer cease to exist, right now, and you have a backup of the data you should do some research on the internet to find the basics. I hate hearing about people losing data.

As a very wise old man told me 30 years ago, there are two kinds of disc drive. Those that have failed and those that are yet to fail.

Martin

I agree!

An external hard drive (reliable make such as Western Digital, Seagate or other) will cost around £50 to £60 - just plug it into a USB port in your old computer and copy the files to it.  Then when you have the new computer running, copy the files over to it.  Keep the external drive as a backup and copy your new work to it every month.

Make sure your new computer has a large memory - newer versions of software (Windows, MSOffice or whatever) are much larger than the older versions.  A high processor speed is useful if you do a lot of downloading or gaming, but is not essential.

The old monitor, keyboard and mouse should work fine with a new computer, so there is no need to replace them.  If you have an old-style monitor with a pin connection you would probably need to buy a USB adaptor - but it's cheaper than spending upwards of £60 on a new monitor.

Hope this helps
Philip

[jillruss]

Guilty, as charged!

I back up my docs and my FH prog on memory sticks but other than that, I'm afraid my head doesn't go there

I bought an external drive a couple of years ago with the express intention of doing just what you suggest. I plugged it in to one of my USBs and waited for it to prompt me what to do but nothing happened. If you don't know what you're doing, you get worried that you'll knacker something up by mistake.

Its all very well, Philip, you saying just plug it into a USB and copy your files. I know - to you - that will sound totally straightforward. To me, it leads to questions like 'how?' and 'how will it know which files?' and 'does it include operating files or shouldn't I even go there?'.

See what I mean, if you know what you're doing its SO easy.

The whole subject makes me want to scream at times. I hate not being in control!

[jillruss]

Jane,

Wouldn't a bespoke PC have cost an awful lot more? I presume they'd ask you questions about what you do and don't want to use it for and take it from there?

I have a local firm in mind. It has great online reviews so I might pop in soon and see how patient they are with non techies!!

[familydar]

If you've identified a computer that you think suits your needs just let them know the make and model and they'll price like for like.  My ideal was a slimline case and lots of usbs, I could have had this by going the built to order route but as I couldn't wait a week I had to compromise and got all the usbs I needed but in a full size case.

Something else in favour of the bespoke route is they won't preinstall it with all sorts of bloatware that you neither want nor need, just an official version of windows plus your choice of antivirus if you don't want to use the m$ product that comes as part of win10.  And you should get win10 installation disks so you don't have to create a set of recovery disks as your first task.  If you want old software installed and you have the disks to loan them they should be able to do that for you too, although they may charge extra.