[footynut]

hi i am looking to buy my children a pc i dont want to spend to much as i have to buy (3) could anyone tell me if this one is any good or have you seen one for the same price or even cheaper that is better any help would be much appreciated http://www.comet.co....568_269980.html

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what will they be using the computer for, Games, homework ETC. ??

[2coolforu]

what will they be using the computer for, Games, homework ETC. ??

[footynut]

yes homework games msn things like that

[Neil Jones]

Don't buy anything from Comet, for a start, they fall under the same ownership as PC World, which is also one of the worst places you could go. Mainly because they try and sell you a warranty that they then often fail to stick to.

(N.B. PC World as in a UK Company, not PC World as in pcworld.com).

That system you linked to is going to be useless for gaming in three areas:

1) Sempron processor (not really designed for gaming but may pass for lightish use)
2) Amount of memory.
3) Onboard graphics.

How much are you looking to spend and who says you have to buy three computers? This could be a perfect opportunity to introduce the concept of sharing

[warriorscot]

You may be able to get a good one for games and anything demanding and three old clunkers set up to use linux, so they can do homework and chat etc.a good way to do it having a pc that is also a great gaming machine as well as work machine isnt always great .

[footynut]

ok mate thanks for the advice i will look for something else maybe a dell?

[Neil Jones]

Dells are nicely priced at the moment, with some nice specifications, but don't go for the first one you see based on the price.

[Thebinaryman]

warriorscot's idea was great, just make sure if you get a pc for gaming, find out what graphics chipset or video card it has. some onboard graphics are ok for light gaming (dell somtimes has onboard FX5200's) but NEVER get intel extreme graphics or any non ati or nvidia graphics chipset. best solution is make sure it has an actual video card, not onboard video, and the video card then make sure its an ati or nvidia. as warriorscot said, you can make most old clunker pcs great for office/internet by installing a distribution of linux, and that will give you a powerfull, efficient operating system that usually built in comes with office productivity software for homework, and some chatting software and internet/email software. as well as THOUSANDS of other miscilanious utilities all for free. for help deciding on a linux "distro" go to www.linux.org i'm not half as experienced as some with linux so it would be better to ask others if you have futher questions about liunx. but back to the point. you can't go "too" wrong with a dell. just dont look at the price, look for what you need, and dont underestimate, then look at the price.