Computer geeks please help me!
 

I'm looking to buy a new desktop PC or a laptop. I would probably be willing to spend up to £600 or maybe a little more. I don't want a touchscreen and I'm not into playing games. My main use would be transferring my recordings from minidisc, watching videos, playing music and browsing the Internet. I've already waisted half a day looking at various products but I'm still not sure what to go for... Any advice?

I went into PC world today and it was a joke, they had about 6 desktops in store and that was it, the staff didn't have a clue either. I told them I was looking for a laptop with a line in so I can transfer my minidiscs and they had to google what a line in input was!

look at tablets, bluetooth keyboards, and a NAS

ps- alternatively, if you have extra parts around (e.g., monitor), look into a mac mini. not sure about the price in pounds but the entry level ones here are $600.

I don't know what a NAS is and I'm not really after a tablet.... Why a Bluetooth keyboard?

Was that a serious reply?

Also I prefer the old fashioned way of doing things, like a mouse and keyboard with a cable. Not a fan of Wifi either and I don't really want to go for a mac.

was i serious? come on dude! but okay, i understand you weren't trying to insult me there, ha ha ha.

a NAS is a network file server (network-attached-storage). that is where you put all your shit rather than in an individual computer. think an external drive but large and networked. so you can grab stuff from your computer, your tablet, your phone, whatever. 1 NAS to rule them all.

the tablet would be how you would interact with it: by streaming files in & out of the storage via wifi or cabled network, as you like. IN: you hook up your minidisc to the tablet audio port, fire up whatever recording app, store fresh file your locally for the session, then move file to NAS for permanent storage. OUT: for playback, stream out of NAS via tablet player (some have itunes servers for example). hook up tablet to headphones, stereo amp, whatever. some NASes (funny word) will let you access your files remotely so you can play them out of the house without lugging hard drives with you.

the bluetooth keyboard is because some tablets (eg ipad) dont have a keyboard, and bluetooth is a good way to type into them instead of all the slow and shitty pointy-fingers. so it's just like a laptop but with less local storage. same thing applies to mouse: a bluetooth mouse will connect to yr tablet wirelessly. (but if the tablet has usb you could attach a mess of wires directly to it).

if you don't want a mac you'll likely have to suffer windows 8. again, the surface tablet/pc sounds like what you need-- an affordable tablet that turns into a laptop. the world is moving to tablets except for the pro market (expensive).

there are some options on the android side of things but i don't know/ am not interested in that. someone here might know however.

but the macmini is actually very old fashion in that it's a fucken computer machine in a box like you want, with a keyboard and a cable and a mouse that you buy separately as you need (e.g., my macmini has an old-ass samsung monitor attached to it, and a logitech trackball). i get it that you don't want a mac, but the good thing about mac is that it's extremely simple to use. but okay, it's windows for you then.

if you want a windows laptop proper i don't know what's out there anymore, but maybe look at ASUS? lenovo used to also make good stuff but i don't know these days.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply, I really do appreciate it and definitely wasn't insulting you, I just didn't inderstand. I don't like the idea of a tablet mainly because of the touchscreen. I was really surprised that no laptops seem to have a line in socket. Some have a mic input but I assume that will be mono only and poor sound quality. What I'm really looking for is someone who can recommended a good desktop tower or a laptop (if one exists) that has a good sound input device. Or maybe I can buy an external sound card and plug into the USB or something, I'm really clueless when it comes to things like this. All I know is what I had before worked fine until my motherboard packed up....

I hate the way things are going with computers, all touchscreen and wireless. The last video game console I had was a ps2 and I used to love Nintendo products until they released the Wii. I refuse to play on one as I think games should be played with a proper control with wires and buttons whilst sitting in a chair. Not standing up dancing around shaking some object in yr hand but maybe it's just me who feels this way...

I'm starting to think I should get a custom built computer...

Look at whatever you can get from John Lewis, all their electronics comes with a free 2 year guarantee.

sure, i understand. so why don't you like mac? it's exactly what you want per your description-- a box with good audio inputs. are you using some special windows-only software?

i get it that you're attached to the old ways but it's only going to get harder the more you wait, and you might be missing out on new great shit-- e.g., i think the ipad would be great for recording. do a search on that and see what you find just for curiosity. eg. this video, this is just a civilian not a geek: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHjbeeLVM3k

alright dude i don't know what will happen in the end but best wishes.

ps- if you're not physically impaired you can build a custom box yourself cheaper than some hired dolt.

pps- terminal pharmacy uses ipads to run huge live audio shows-- he doesn't post here anymore but you could ask him about it.

what symbol says.

in the uk the prices are often the same as the us. the exact same. so a $600 dollar computer costs £600. and $600 is £366. so we're screwed.

You're looking for something a bit specific it seems. I'd suggest building a new desktop. They're cheaper and you get exactly what you want. If you're last PC was a desktop...you could probably just switch out some parts.

WHen the new consoles came out...I noticed the PS4 was £499 or something like that......which is the same price in the US.

dafuq is that about?

SOCIALISMO O MUERTE

build your own. it's really quite easy and comes with several years worth of self-satisfaction.

Not that I know how, but I do know you can build a computer that will satisfy your needs and do so at a reasonable price......and if you don't know how or have the time, any locally owned computer store should be able to do this for you.

Don't settle for less!

Last but not least, Hello Stu :D

if you can read a cooking recipe, then you should be able to build your own rig.

the techno_priests would have you believe that it's far more difficult than it actually is, in order to preserve their perceived level of power.

the biggest hurdle is the minor research needed to ensure that you have no hardware conflicts (ie: between the mobo / processing chip / etc)

for £600, a self-built would buy you twice the computer of any premade system. plus, it may be possible to simply reuse some of the components that you already have (ie: RAM / monitor / etc etc etc).

here's some google-fu: http://lifehacker.com/how-to-save-mo...n-pc-511195742

I'm not really too bothered about saving money, I couldn't wait any longer as it's been months since I had a pc so today I went and bought a new laptop. I might get my old desktop fixed or get a custom built at some point but I don't have time to do it myself....

I'll probably get a usb soundcard to at some point.

(Hi Bytor!)

:eek:


i understand the impatience. what did you end up getting? #geekpr0n

I built my own this year cuz I've been gaming on PC more than any console these days, and cuz fuck Win8. It's really not too tough, just time-consuming (both planning, and actual building) but rewarding as fuck.

totally off-topic for stu, but does win7 run xp or win98 games?