Can anyone recommend ( or otherwise ) Fujitsu Siemens pc's. Never had one myself but a friend is interested in getting one as his 1st PC.

Why Fujitsu Siemens? There are many other brands. What's your price range (oh and purchasing from a brand may cost slightly more, but its better than building the PC yourself). They use fujitsu siemens pcs in my commercial workshop, they are not too fast but are very cost-effective (more bang for your buck).

Yes Geno - I think price was the main criteria - he was worried about the quality because of the very cheap price. He has heard some of us surfers talking in the pub and is keen to join us on the web.

If it's a price thing have a look at Dell.
There entry level machines are OK spec'd and you get everything you need.
They are currently starting at around £300 delivered !

Cheers Ben -- this one he's talking about is aroung the £200 mark, delivered price - 2.8 Gb, 256 DDR and 40 Gig HDD - no Writer - but we've told him we can rig him up with our old ones since we updated to dvd. The low DDR and HDD aren't much of a problem and can be easily upgraded when he has the coppers (this is a "wrinkly brigade" gang ;) ). The only thing I was concerned about was the quality - but at the end of the day whether its Dell, HP or whoever I suppose they only build the pc's from the same mothrboards, processors etc.

Have you ever looked at this site from the "Telegraph" Jonegy ? DavidB.

http://www11.xpresssites.com/northcl..._RND=550291544

Yes Dave - I'm a regular reader - but what some of them want for essentially a 2nd - hand PC is a bit of day dreaming. What surprised me was the number of W.98's still being pushed out.

Mind you I got a brilliant guitar from the musical instrument page a couple of months ago ;)

John W

For £200 I doubt you will be getting much else with the PC - no monitor, no keyboard etc. Keep that in mind.

As for Fujitsu Siemens. They are a large company so I see no reason for the PC being "bad". That said - you get what you pay for. Don't expect this £200 machine to be good for doing anything but surfing the web. You won't have much luck playing many games on that (especially the modern ones)

Yeah £200 is way too low.. I initially thought that you made a typing error (and actually meant £2000 lol). But for £200 the computer won't last. Personally, just my (new) monitor cost me £480... You should also think about investing in a good high-res LCD monitor to prevent eye damage (CRT monitors give a killer glare & radiation to your eyes).

Oh and just the mere basic software (Microsoft Office for students, and Win XP Home) will probably cost you £200... so.. yeah.

Maybe £200 for a pocket PC would be a better idea (but again, don't expect much from a £200 device).

I have never seen a £200 computer in my life (apart from pocket pc's).

In this area a 2nd -hand monitor can be picked up for under £30 and from what I've seen of PC World etc, the addition of a monitor and dvd writer puts up to £200 on a basic set-up. As for the OS, I've seen XP Home as low as £45 if bought on the net.

Actually, I do have an ulterior motive ( Sssssssshhhhhhh!! ) - I'm still plodding along quite happily on a 1.2 Gig HP - but at that price - if it is any good - I'll have one myself ;)