I Need A New Desktop

[mrjohn]

My old laptop is about to die is so I am looking to replace it with a cheap desktop.

I have one big capacity desktop (my main machine) for downloading and storage and a netbook which I use when travelling.

I only use the old notebook for watching TV and movies which I download on the other machines.

I want to replace it with a custom built desktop, either new or assembled from some second hand components.

It does not need a big hard drive, but it would need to have a fast enough processor, sufficient ram etc.

Can anybody suggest what sort of specifications would be needed for a machine running something like Gom player, or VLC internet access and streaming TV?

Any advice gratefully received.

[Supernova]

If all you're gonna do is watch movies, an old C2D or i3 processor + 2GB RAM and a decent ATI graphics card (Radeon HD5670 or better) will do just fine. This will enable you to playback 720p or 1080p (HD) content with ease.

[JAS21]

I bought an Acer M3920 (i3) with 4GB memory a few months ago and run Win7 64bit. It came with an AMD Radeon HD6450 card.I bought a seperate 21 inch LED monitor. More than adequate for watching films etc. I quite often HDMI it to my TV...absolutely excellent picture.

[muratremix]

Why not buy a media player to watch movies (with ease) and use that main machine as your desktop? That would save some cash and electric! You can also connect your media player to your wireless network and stream movies from freshly downloaded desktop computer without moving files around.

[Crossy]

I'm tempted to go with the above, plenty of media players that will do what you want at minimal cost.

We went for a mid range Samsung TV that plays our movies etc. from the network storage, not a cheap solution be superb picture quality.

[mrjohn]

"Why not buy a media player to watch movies (with ease) and use that main machine as your desktop?"

Nice idea, and one I had been thinking about but, as I said I like to watch streaming TV (cricket mostly) when available. Also the wife watches Thai TV while I am watching some old Brit film on the computer.

Thanks for the advice on i3 processor and graphics card but I am looking to spend as little as possible and I really don't think I need that sort of quality.

I am really looking to spend the absolute minimum for a machine which needs to do very little.

The 10 year old laptop still does the job (just) albeit with an external monitor and with minimal ram but the keyboard has a mind of it's own and it's just too slow.

[muratremix]

If you really need a cheap charlie desktop, look at http://www.invadeit.co.th/

They have atom cpu desktop case for 5900 baht.