Be Excellent To Each Other

My Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop is so old and shit it can't even cope with running a Doom mod.

I need a better spec PC to play modded games with. I am hoping to get a 'tower' only set-up. Something cheap and cheerful that I can hook-up to my LCD TV to play old games with,

Any off-the-shelf recommendations?

Might be worth checking out a 'shuttle' style PC.

Hot UK Deals regularly post business deals from the Dell website.

Depends on spec and budget tbh.

Sadly right now is a really bad time to buy a new PC on account of the horrendous memory prices. Thus I would reccomend getting something refurb from Ebay.

I mean, if you take into account that this thing was £330-£350 when the others got it you will see what I mean.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showprodu ... =FS-259-OK

It's hard making reccomendations without knowing what you are after exactly and what you are willing to spend. As I say though now is not the best time ever to want to buy a PC. Whether that will change or whether we were just being spoiled with really low prices? I don't know.

I think you are probably right. Something small, unobtrusive with bog standard spec for the age we live in. Something I can stick in a corner and forget about. Like a Mac mini but capable of playing windows based games out of the box and much cheaper (hopefully). I don't really know how to search for something like that. What are the key words?

The Acer Revo (the review of which is hanging around on this forum somewhere) is superb. I love mine and they are cheap and compact. You can even mount them behind your TV on the VESA mounting.

Here you go.

http://www.beexcellenttoeachother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=393672

If you go on Youtube you can see people have managed to get all sorts running on them.

That looks perfect. Thanks.

Chinny, would you recommend the Revo as a media-centre type PC?

I would imagine that's what they were intended for tbh.

It's not got a DVD player, has it?

No, but do you need one? For me a media centre is a computer with all the content on the HD, not DVD.

I think one would work splendidly as a media centre. The tiny size alone is a big plus point and if you need a DVD player you can either buy an external or do the sensible thing and buy a proper standalone DVD unit for 30 quid.

I'd use one as a media centre extender, to be honest, and have a 'proper' media centre in another room that I could use for ripping DVDs and storing bucket-loads of media on.

What size drives does the Revo use, Chinny - laptop or "normal"?

Given the size I would imagine its a laptop drive.

You might be surprised - we have tiny form-factor Dells in the office that use standard drives. The inside is a work of art, like something off the Krypton Factor!

As small as the Revo though?

Close to, I'd imagine. 24x26x9cm.
[Edit]Eesch, or not. 3.0cm (W) x 18.0cm (D) x 18.0cm (H) - that's fucking tiny.

The Revo is indeed astonishingly small and light. If you have to plug in a USB stick you have to hold the unit steady or you'll never get it in.