Best Family Desktop for the price.

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EliteCow

EliteCow

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The needs would be relatively simple; email, internet access and a packaged Microsoft Office would be nice. Having the ability to increase capabilities would be good.

I would like to know your guys opinions on the best family computer for this price. Pre-built would be best. Any brand is fine as well.

I have not stated a price but just tell me what you think is the best for the price.

THANKS!
 
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I'm still learning myself, as I said; I'm no expert so take everything I say with a pinch of salt, fascinated by it and eager to pick up everything I can. Each interaction on this forum I end up learning something else as I go look into a question that is asked.

The CPU has integrated graphics. That i3 processor has Intel HD Graphics 4400. It's nowhere near powerful enough for gaming, but I'm fairly certain it's suitable for what you want from a system.

I bought my last laptop from...
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Seeking Solace

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I'm not an expert, but I think you might be looking for something along these lines...
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.37 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£31.36 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£45.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£34.14 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.72 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.96 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £368.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-14 13:55 BST+0100)

This system is in a decent case, with a big enough power supply to run a graphics card if you/family member ever found the need for one (gaming etc)
The motherboard uses Intel's current mainstream socket which makes for decent upgrade potential and the i3 should suit your listed needs.
I usually stay away from prebuilt systems because they cheap out on power supply which isn't good when considering a gaming PC, but you could arguably overlook that for a system that would be used less intensively.
 
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EliteCow

EliteCow

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@Seeking Solace
I have never been one to build my own PC's I do change video cards and memory every two years or so.
Would this list include everything I need to build it all when it arrives and have it up and running a week after?
Of course I would need to buy a monitor but aside from that this list is the whole computer right? (cords and all?)
 
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Seeking Solace

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That list is the tower itself, yes, which will have all the cables you need to put it all together. You've got the Motherboard/Processor being the core of your system, the RAM and the Hard drive, the disk drive and the power supply to power everything and the case to keep it all safe. With Windows 7 OS. The only thing you are missing is the software, it won't have Microsoft Office. It doesn't include a keyboard and mouse, if you are needing peripherals.
There are LOADS of step-by-step videos, walking you through putting a tower together.

As I said, with prebuilts, they do tend to cheap out on parts, like the Power Supply, which isn't a reliable area to cheap out on especially for a gaming system. Though for a cheap family PC I'd say it's possibly a more viable option. I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions for you on that front.

If you put it together yourself, you know exactly what's gone into your system and you have an idea of where you can upgrade in the future. For example, you can upgrade the processor to an i5, add in a second stick of RAM and get a 750ti, maybe a 760, and you are ready to play games quite well. At current prices that would be around an extra £300-350 upgrade.

If you think your system needs a graphics card, that will put the price up and you might want to consider an AMD option(possibly an APU considering AMDs rumoured/leaked roadmap), but I wouldn't have thought your listed needs would require a graphics card.
 
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EliteCow

EliteCow

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@Seeking Solace

Thank you for your super helpful knowledge.
I was unaware a desktop could run without a graphics card? Is there one built onto the motherboard than?

Also.
Any suggestions for a good family laptop for the price?
Thank you!
 
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Seeking Solace

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I'm still learning myself, as I said; I'm no expert so take everything I say with a pinch of salt, fascinated by it and eager to pick up everything I can. Each interaction on this forum I end up learning something else as I go look into a question that is asked.

The CPU has integrated graphics. That i3 processor has Intel HD Graphics 4400. It's nowhere near powerful enough for gaming, but I'm fairly certain it's suitable for what you want from a system.

I bought my last laptop from ebuyer which I was very happy with:
Maybe something along these lines...
http://www.ebuyer.com/582927-toshiba-satellite-pro-c50-a-1e1-laptop-pscg7e-02g041en
The thing with laptops is they are hard, if not impossible, to upgrade.


 
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