Computer Shopper - UK (2019-12)

48 DECEMBER 2019|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 382

01

Abasic PC costing around £350 will

be ableto run everydayoffice,

multimedia and education software and will

easily cope with surfing the internet. It might

even be ableto run some modern games.

Many PCs can be sold either with or

withoutamonitor .Ify ou don’t like the

displaythe manufacturer isoffering, you

can always use your current one,orb uy

another one separately.

02

If you wantto playgames, you’ll

have to upgrade the graphics card.

Budget cards such as the Nvidia GeForce GTX

1050 will cope well with many 3D games, but

to playthe latest 3D games smoothly (and

enjoythe best-quality graphics) it’s worth

upgradingto amore powerful card such as

the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.

Choosinga... PCsystem

03

All modern PCs come with at least

adual-core processor and are

capableof most tasks. Anyone who

regularly undertakes demanding tasks

such as video editing and encoding

should considerahexa-core oreven

an octa-core processor.

04

There are plentyof good reasonsto

upgrade the PC’s memory or hard

disk. If you’ll use your PCforgaming, video

editing or other demanding tasks, you’ll

need at least 8GBof RAM andalarge hard

disk; 1TB should suffice.Many new PCs have

an SSD ,which speeds up the time it takesfor

your PCto boot andforprogramsto load.

05

Having plentyof USB ports is

always useful, as most computer

peripherals attachto these ports. Most new

PCs come with USB3 or the latest USB3.1

ports, which providefaster data transfers

when used with supported devices than the

older USB2 standard.

06

Most new PCs now come with

Windows 10 pre-installed. Don’t be

tooeasily swayedby the inclusionof other

software,though, as it maybet hat you’ll

never use it.

07

While most PCs come in casesof

asimilar size,some have more

compact minitower or mini PC cases.

These smaller PCs will fit under your TV

or on your desk more easily,but bear in

mind that they’re significantly harderto

upgrade than full-size machines.

PCs

ACERChromeboxCXI3

★★★★★

£528•uk.insight.com

RASPBERRYPI

4ModelB

★★★★★

£34•thepihut.com

An absolutely tiny Chrome OS

system, the Chromebox CXI3 is

compact enoughto attach to

the backof amonitor .Even better,ith as more

power than most Chromeboxes, thanksto its

Core i5 processor,and is loaded with useful

ports in spiteofi ts minimal size.It’s cheap,too,

although we’d recommend investing inabetter mouse and keyboard

than the bundled peripherals.

Afaster processor,

quicker networking

and dual HDMI outputs

make the Pi4amuch better desktop computer

than previous Pi models, and it hasn’t lost any appeal asacheap

hobbyist board, either.4Kv ideo implementation could be better

–wehad issues getting smooth playback in Raspbian–but that’s

the only noteworthy concern.

PROCESSORQuad-core1.6GHzIntelCorei5-8250 0U•RAM8GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB3•

REARUS BPORTS3xUSB3,1xUSBType-C•TOTALSTORAGE64GBSSD•DISPLAYNone•

OPER ATINGSYSTEMChromeOS•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.acer.com•

PARTCO DEDT.ZOSEK.001•FULLREVIEWAug2019

PROCESSOR1.5GHzquad-coreBroadcomBCM27 (^11) • RAM1GB•USBPORTS1xUSBType-C
(power),2xUSB2,2xUSB3•STORAGEMicr oSDcardslot•DISPLAYNone•OPER ATING
SYSTEMRaspbian•WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.raspberypi.org•PARTCO DEPi4
ModelB•FULL REVIEWSep2019
CCLPaladin
★★★★★
£1,670•www.cclonline.com
The Paladin is stuffed
with AMD’s latest
technology,including the
excellent octa-coreRyzen 73700X CPU
and a4K-capable Radeon RX 5700 XT
graphics card.Storage is another highlight:
the SSD isn’taPCI-E 4.0 model, which the
motherboard is compatible with, but it’s
still veryfast and offers an enormous 1TB
of space by itself.
PROCESSOROcta -core3.6GHzAMDRyzen73700X•RAM16GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB2,
2xUSB3•REARUS BPORTS2xUSB2,2xUSB3,2xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•TOTALSTORAGE1TB
SSD,2TBharddisk•GRAPHICSCARD8GBAMDRyzen73700X•OPER ATINGSYSTEMWindows
10Home•WARRANTYThreeyearscolle ctandreturn•DETAILSwww.cclon line.com•PART
CODEGAME -PBME0202 030401000200020000000000 (^020001) • FULLREVIEWNov2019
PALICOMPAMDAbyss
★★★★★
£700•www.palicomp.co. uk
At this price,you’d
seriously struggleto find
amore comprehensively
capable desktop system thanPalicomp’s
AMD Abyss. It can multitask with
serious applications just as well as it
can run games, and with its large,fast
NVMe SSD,itw on’t be slowed down
by storage .There’s alot of room for
future upgrades,too.
PROCESSORHexa-core 3.6GHzAMDRyzen52600X•RAM8GB•FRONTUSBPORTS2xUSB2,
1xUSB3•REARUS BPORTS2xUSB2,2xUSB3,2xUSB3.1,1xUSBType-C•TOTALSTORAGE
512GBSSD,1TBharddisk•GRAPHICSCARD8GBAMDRadeon RX570Armor8GBOC•
OPER ATINGSYSTEMWindows 10Home•WARRANTYThreeyearsRTB•DETAILS
http://www.palicomp.co.uk•PARTCO DERYZ6•FULLREVIEWApr2019

YPI A

the

er processor,

networking

al HDMI outputs

better desktop computer

ls, and it hasn’t lost any appeal asacheap

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