which of these would you buy and why?

[Kyral]

BOTH COST £399.


HP Pavilion Slimline s5508uk

Processor AMD Athlon™ II X2 Processor 220
- 2.8 GHz
- 2 GHz HT
- 1 MB L2 Cache
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM 3GB
Graphics card NVIDIA® GeForce® 6150 SE
- up to 1407 MB total available graphics memory
Screen type None
Hard drive 500GB
Optical disk drive DVD writer SATA DVD RAM and Double Layer supporting LightScribe technology
Memory card reader 6-in-1 memory card reader
USB 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 in front)
Modem/Ethernet Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface
Video interface VGA port
Audio interface 2 front audio ports
3 rear analog audio ports
TV output VGA
Extension card slot 1 PCI-Express 1x (1 free)
1 PCI-Express 16x low profile (1 free)
Keyboard & Mouse USB optical mouse
USB keyboard

OR
PACKARD BELL ixtreme I5622UK

Processor Intel® Core™ i3-530 Processor
- 2.93 GHz
- 2.5 GT/s DMI
- 4 MB L3 Cache
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit
RAM - 3GB installed DDR3 RAM (1066 MHz)
- 8GB maximum RAM capacity
Graphics card Integrated graphics
Screen type None
Hard drive 640 GB SATA 7200rpm
Optical disk drive Dual Layer DVD Rewriter
Memory card reader Yes
USB 10 x USB 2.0 ports
FireWire No
Modem/Ethernet 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n WLAN
Bluetooth No
Video interface VGA
TV output VGA
Sound - onboard soundcard
- 7.1 channel HD audio support
Keyboard & Mouse Yes
Accessories included Keyboard, mouse, power cable, documentation

[Answerprancer]

It's very much 'swings and roundabouts' from my POV but the first one swings it for me because the processor speed is only fractionally slower but it has a separate graphics card.

[gsr600]

the first one use this code - SALES5 - at Currys for £379.05.
second one use this code - PIXUKAUG7 - at pixmania for £366.90

choice is yours!

[cazzz1975]

I would go for one that had a seperate graphics card and the memory was upgradeable

[daffy654]

Definitely the first one.

[ChuckFickens]

Neither of them have a separate graphics card, the Nvidia 6150 is an integrated card, it just means the motherboards chipset is nvidea rather than intel.

I'd go for the HP, mainly as they are a better make all round than packard bell (a budget brand) and also because it lists 2 PCIe slots in it, so you could add a better graphics card in future if you wanted.

That said, the i3 is the better processor,but for most peoples use you would not be able to tell the difference.

What are you planning on using this computer for?

[TTG]

First one. Has a very hefty graphics card...otherwise both are similar spec.

[ChuckFickens]

The 6150 is not a decent card, it's about on a par with the intel integrated cards and uses shard memory.

[cazzz1975]

you get what you pay for ...

[gingejbee]

Probably the first (my own personal prejudices against second) but wouldn't get it from Currys or any other crap Dixons Group shop including PCWorld. I'd go to John Lewis .

[cazzz1975]

it makes no difference what shop you buy it from...the spec will be the same and the price may vary fractionally

[gingejbee]

It makes a big difference if you have an after-sales problem and find that DSG is less than useless.

[cazzz1975]

I wouldnt know, I tend to sort out my own computer problems ;)

[gingejbee]

Oh, and JLP include a two-year warranty for no extra charge.

[Kyral]

The pc will be used mailnly for school work,office work, net surfing and a little bit of photo and video editing. def not for high power gaming. I want something that is going to last and take the abuse of two kids lol.