ChatterBank1 min ago
Imagine Or Pc
10 Answers
Hi guys,I am buying a new computer and need it to last a long time so need your help which one to buy. Thanks
Answers
1 to 10 of 10
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by inafix. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Your question is impossible to answer without knowing what it is that you want to do with your computer.
If, say, it's just a bit of web browsing, emailing and things like word processing, I can tell you where to buy a reconditioned PC (as good as new) for under £70 that will do everything you want for many years.
However if you want to play the latest video games, or do things like high-end video processing, you'll need to spend vastly more than that (possibly well into four figures) to get the absolute best that's available.
So you need to let us know your requirements.
If, say, it's just a bit of web browsing, emailing and things like word processing, I can tell you where to buy a reconditioned PC (as good as new) for under £70 that will do everything you want for many years.
However if you want to play the latest video games, or do things like high-end video processing, you'll need to spend vastly more than that (possibly well into four figures) to get the absolute best that's available.
So you need to let us know your requirements.
Does you mean a desktop PC or a laptop?
Be aware however that technology moves on all the time so what might be suitable now might not be in 2 years or 3 years etc.
For example a few years ago we may have told people to "future proof" and buy a Windows PC but then the tablets and smartphones came out and totally changed what you needed a computer for (many people now use a tablet or smartphone to do what they did on a PC a few years ago).
However even a PC more than 10 years old running Windows XP would still be able to do most basic computer things (though nothing advanced of course).
If all you want it for is to do basic web browsing and email then just buy a PC for £300 or whatever and then buy another one in 2 or 3 years to keep up to date with technology.
If you want a Windows computer then go for one with Windows 10.
Older version of Windows will go out of support (Windows XP and Windows Vista already are) and Windows 7 goes out of support in 2020.
But as rough guide to future proof I would say:
Try to go for a decent Intel CPU such as an i5 or an i7 if you can afford it.
At least 8Gb of memory
An SSD (solid state drive) instead of a hard disk (or a PC that has a hard disk AND an SSD).
Windows 10 software.
But as has been said above, if we don't know exactly what you want to use it for it is hard to give an exact answer.
It is is a bit like someone asking what car they should buy. I might say a Ferrari and they say "but I only want it to pop down the supermarket once a week".
So we need more detail.
Be aware however that technology moves on all the time so what might be suitable now might not be in 2 years or 3 years etc.
For example a few years ago we may have told people to "future proof" and buy a Windows PC but then the tablets and smartphones came out and totally changed what you needed a computer for (many people now use a tablet or smartphone to do what they did on a PC a few years ago).
However even a PC more than 10 years old running Windows XP would still be able to do most basic computer things (though nothing advanced of course).
If all you want it for is to do basic web browsing and email then just buy a PC for £300 or whatever and then buy another one in 2 or 3 years to keep up to date with technology.
If you want a Windows computer then go for one with Windows 10.
Older version of Windows will go out of support (Windows XP and Windows Vista already are) and Windows 7 goes out of support in 2020.
But as rough guide to future proof I would say:
Try to go for a decent Intel CPU such as an i5 or an i7 if you can afford it.
At least 8Gb of memory
An SSD (solid state drive) instead of a hard disk (or a PC that has a hard disk AND an SSD).
Windows 10 software.
But as has been said above, if we don't know exactly what you want to use it for it is hard to give an exact answer.
It is is a bit like someone asking what car they should buy. I might say a Ferrari and they say "but I only want it to pop down the supermarket once a week".
So we need more detail.
With those basic requirements you don't need to spend very much. I'd go for something like this
http://
together with a decent monitor, possibly such as this
http://
Remember that Microsoft has said that Windows 10 will be the final version of Windows, but not yet indicated what's going to follow it, so 'future-proofing' is a bit difficult at the moment!
http://
together with a decent monitor, possibly such as this
http://
Remember that Microsoft has said that Windows 10 will be the final version of Windows, but not yet indicated what's going to follow it, so 'future-proofing' is a bit difficult at the moment!
Apple Macs are great BUT . . .
(a) they're ruddy expensive ;
(b) there's far less software (especially the free stuff) available for them ;
(c) you need to check that your peripherals, such as printers, will work with them ; and
(d) while they're undoubtedly better at some complex tasks, such as high-end video-processing, than PCs, they're no better at doing routine things (such as word processing or web browsing).
Further, there can be no real guarantees that, in the rapidly-changing world of technology, Apple won't introduce changes at some date in the future which could make older machines redundant.
If I really wanted to 'future-proof' a computer, I'd probably opt for one running a version of Linux (such as Ubuntu) but you still need to be a bit of a techie to really get to grips with Linux. (I reckon that I'm reasonably technically-minded but I'm still only feeling my way around with Linux and I've yet to start using it for day-to-day computing).
(a) they're ruddy expensive ;
(b) there's far less software (especially the free stuff) available for them ;
(c) you need to check that your peripherals, such as printers, will work with them ; and
(d) while they're undoubtedly better at some complex tasks, such as high-end video-processing, than PCs, they're no better at doing routine things (such as word processing or web browsing).
Further, there can be no real guarantees that, in the rapidly-changing world of technology, Apple won't introduce changes at some date in the future which could make older machines redundant.
If I really wanted to 'future-proof' a computer, I'd probably opt for one running a version of Linux (such as Ubuntu) but you still need to be a bit of a techie to really get to grips with Linux. (I reckon that I'm reasonably technically-minded but I'm still only feeling my way around with Linux and I've yet to start using it for day-to-day computing).
>>>Remember that Microsoft has said that Windows 10 will be the final version of Windows
While Buenchico is correct to say this I have just realised that it is possible to misunderstand what that exactly means.
While Microsoft have said Windows 10 will be the last release of Windows what they in fact mean is that they are not going to keep releasing new versions every couple of years (so Windows 11, Windows 12 etc).
What they have indicated is that they will keep adding new function and fixes to Windows 10, but NOT call it a new version or release.
So I think you are totally safe with Windows for quite a few years.
With the hundreds of millions of computers running Windows all over the world I cant see Microsoft making any major changes in the future of Windows for a while.
However what they ARE doing is making Windows 10 also able to run on tablets as well as laptops and desktop PCs.
They have made 2 or 3 major updates to Windows 10 over the last couple of years (each of them a complete replacement of the product) and each time they do this they are changing the product so it can seamlessly work on PCs as well as tablets.
So going for Windows is a pretty safe "future proof" decision.
While Buenchico is correct to say this I have just realised that it is possible to misunderstand what that exactly means.
While Microsoft have said Windows 10 will be the last release of Windows what they in fact mean is that they are not going to keep releasing new versions every couple of years (so Windows 11, Windows 12 etc).
What they have indicated is that they will keep adding new function and fixes to Windows 10, but NOT call it a new version or release.
So I think you are totally safe with Windows for quite a few years.
With the hundreds of millions of computers running Windows all over the world I cant see Microsoft making any major changes in the future of Windows for a while.
However what they ARE doing is making Windows 10 also able to run on tablets as well as laptops and desktop PCs.
They have made 2 or 3 major updates to Windows 10 over the last couple of years (each of them a complete replacement of the product) and each time they do this they are changing the product so it can seamlessly work on PCs as well as tablets.
So going for Windows is a pretty safe "future proof" decision.
1 to 10 of 10
Latest Posts
Crosswords2 mins ago
ChatterBank3 mins ago
ChatterBank8 mins ago
ChatterBank22 mins ago
