I need a bit of help buying a new PC

[MikeG]

My 9 or 10 year old Dell Dimension 5000 running windows XP crashes 3 or 4 times a day. It needs to go. and I need some help, because I have no idea at all about these things.

I run Autocad and Photoshop, with the latter being secondary. I don't do gaming, or stream videos. Apparently I need 64 bits, but don't have a clue what this means. I very occasionally need to run CDs, mainly to retrieve old archived stuff. I do need 5 or 6 USB ports, and I guess it needs to run Windows 10. I don't really want to spend more than about £400.

Here are the Autocad system requirements:

Operating System
Microsoft® Windows® 10 (requires AutoCAD 2016 SP1)
Microsoft Windows 8/8.1
Microsoft Windows 7
CPU Type Minimum Intel® Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ 64 processor
Memory For 32-bit AutoCAD 2016:
2 GB (3 GB recommended)
For 64-bit AutoCAD 2016:
4 GB (8 GB recommended)
Display Resolution 1024x768 (1600x1050 or higher recommended) with True Color
Display Card Windows display adapter capable of 1024x768 with True Color capabilities. DirectX® 9 or DirectX 11 compliant card recommended.

What do I need, and where do I look?

Thanks in advance

 

[midlife]

Are you just after a new "box" and keeping your existing monitor, keyboard etc?

Shaun

 

[MikeG]

Yep. The monitor is only 3 or 4 years old. I mean, if there was a fantastic deal on box & monitor combined, then maybe, but it really is just the box I am after.

 

[midlife]

Number one Son is doing computing at uni and builds his own and buys stuff from ebuyer quite a bit. They have some ex display desktops on offer around the 400 quid mark.

http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-PC?outlet=1

Shaun

 

[MikeG]

Thanks for that.

Could someone comment on this for me please?

Before anyone tells me that the hard drive memory is too small, I've managed with 34 MB for 9 or 10 years.

 

[broadway]

Thanks for that.

Could someone comment on this for me please?

Before anyone tells me that the hard drive memory is too small, I've managed with 34 MB for 9 or 10 years.

34MB, are you sure?

 

[MikeG]

Yeah, that should have been GB.

 

[midlife]

That Ankerman PC has a solid state drive only. Start up will be quick but you will soon run out on memory imho The laptop I have bought last week has a 1Tb hard drive which I think is a reasonable starter.

Shau

 

[slowmotion]

Thanks for that.

Could someone comment on this for me please?

Before anyone tells me that the hard drive memory is too small, I've managed with 34 MB for 9 or 10 years.

That looks a bit of a bargain to me. My laptop has 8GB of RAM and a 256 SSD and it's an absolute joy to use. I installed Windows 10 on the SSD and it boots up in a matter of a few seconds. I've got a 2TB external hard drive ( about £65 when I bought it ) for photos and stuff but that's way more space than I need , given that I don't store movies or music. Thanks for the link. I'm tempted.
Edit: Apologies...I cross-posted with @midlife.

 

[Leedsbusdriver]

An i3 processor is an absolute minimum I reckon nowadays if you are running Windows. Though I would look for an i5 or above.

 

[ufkacbln]

34MB, are you sure?

I remember computers with less!

 

[MikeG]

The higher the number the better, then?

 

[classic33]

The higher the number the better, then?

Yes & No.

 

[MikeG]

Yes & No.

Well, that's narrowed it down for me.

 

[slowmotion]

I wouldn't worry about the number of USB ports. You can pick up a self-powered 7 port hub on eBay for about £12-14 all up.