Horribly OT - PC Advice

I know this is waaaaaaaay off topic but the guys here seem to be reasonably knowledgable about a load of weird stuff so here goes.

Has anyone had any experience with Mesh PC's? Aged parents want to get their first PC and there is a Mesh one that looks good on paper but I haven't had any dealings with Mesh so I'm not sure what their service etc is like. As I will probably be having to fix/identify any problems down the phone from 300 miles away I want to minimise any potential c*ck-ups as much as possible.

Cheers for any input

Mark

Reply to
Mark Spice
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In message , Mark Spice writes

My Mum got a Mesh about 3 1/2 years ago mostly because I thought it looked a good deal and they seem to get good write ups etc.

It's a well put together machine, nice and tidy inside (has a nice case, with easy access for fiddling about - though new cases are different) it's worked fine (though wins the prize for the only PC I've ever had to replace a dead CMOS battery on just recently).

FIL got one as well last year, partly on my recommendation - though he likes to do his own research as well. Again worked fine. I don't think either of them have really had to have any dealing with the service side of the operation, but the sales staff were helpful.

I wish she'd had XP pro with Remote Desktop a couple of times when try sort out some odd problem (software)

Reply to
chris French

Can`t comment on Mesh, but unless they`re into playing games (which I=20 really doubt), then the cheapest basic unit you can find will probably=20 suit them down to the ground.

That should enable them to browse, play music, use skype, check email=20 quite happily.

The small business side of Dell can sometimes pull up some bargains,=20 with base units starting at =A3150+VAT (and they quite often throw in free= =20 delivery) - although i`m guessing you want a "complete" system with a=20 monitor.

Dell have one on the "home" side of their site at the moment, =A3239 inc.= =20 VAT & Delivery - that includes a 15" flat panel monitor !

The main reservation i`d have would be the 256Mb of RAM - but given=20 their probably "limited" use it shouldn`t be too much of an issue -=20 although if you want to push the boat out, pick up some more for them at=20

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for about half the cost of buying it pre- installed.

Reply to
Colin Wilson

There are loads of remote desktop solutions out there, no need for Win Remote Desktop.

VNC is very good, but you'll need to open ports on your firewall for it. TeamViewer is also very good and works nicely through firewalls.

Reply to
Grunff

Have a look at WinVNC SC

This is the "Single Click" version that you program to phone home. Quite handy since it traverses the users firewalls and NAT routers without any configuration (you need a hole in your firewall to let it connect back). Very good for remote support since the exe is only about 160K so you can email it or stick it up on a web site, and the helpee can run it without any installation or configuration.

Reply to
John Rumm

No personal experiance, but they have been around for ages which is always a good sign. They tend to do quite well in the performance charts when they get tested head to head by the magazines etc.

Again, as someone else said look for the low end boxes - because even the low end is still pretty high in absolute terms!

Reply to
John Rumm

My vote goes for the beta version of TightVNC simplified connection options i.e. low bandwidth, default, high bandwidth,

Also now features file transfer utility which is essential.

On the MESH side, I have one running as a file server for accounts database base also use it as remote desktop via VPN through TightVNC to work from home when I need to do stuff not suited to regular VPN connection.

It's been left on for the last 2 years and the only modification needed was to seal up the vent at the bottom of the front panel to stop dust and dog hair filling it (PC) up. Only maintenance required has been to remove the side cover (which is really quick) in order to suck said hair and fluff from the CPU fan as it was thick with the stuff and kept shutting down as it overheated.

No problems with either heat or dust since sellotape case mod. :¬)

Reply to
PeTe33

Yeah I know (in fact use VNC) but I had fussing baby in in arm and was writing one handed and gave up there. :-)

Problem I had was that I hadn't preinstalled any sort of remote desktop before hand, and try as I might, my Mum couldn't managed to get it installed and running.

Reply to
chris French

Have you got a link ? The cheapest one I can see that they have is 289.

Dell machines, despite the slagging they get, are pretty good. I like the way the case and components inside neatly open out, so maintenance is a doddle. I guess some of their parts are proprietary, but for that price you can't go too far wrong.

Crucial are indeed excellent, have used them several times and the goods are always in place first thing the next day.

Reply to
Geronimo W. Christ Esq

I use VNC to access my parent's desktop when things need fixing, which works well. I'm completely Unix-based at home, and it interworks between the two systems fine.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

For this sort of use, I've often picked up second hand PIII's in the

700-1GHz range from computer fairs for ~£45.

Just looked out of curiosity, and Crucial are about twice the price I pay at computer fairs.

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lists many of the ones around the UK. Bracknell one is very good, but you just missed April's. Luton one used to be good but has been dwindling over the past year - now not so many stalls and prices consequently higher.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

The Mesh computer I bought had some of the good points already described. However, I bought it on the strength of an advert that had a clearly defined components list highlighted to impress the punter. The computer I received didn't contain some of the components listed. So began the long and arduous task of getting what I'd paid for. The boss of Mesh who I had to communicate with by recorded delivery letter justified the discrepancies by claiming that I didn't really need the advertised components. That more than anything else ensured my insistence on getting the originally promised spec. I'd rather have just paid the money and got the right goods in the first place though.

Reply to
Mike Halmarack

I am gong to say two things.

There are two utterly reliable routes to a BASIC PC.

1/. Find someone local who really supports and PAY WHATEVER THEY ASK

2/. Buy a cheap reliable PC locally, install LINUX, spend the time to get it working exactly as desired and install at parents house with training session.

Linux will do at vastly improved reliability all the basic things - web, mail, word processing etc.

Of cpurse if they want to edit videos, download gangsta rap, and play doom, its not the OS of choice...;-)

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

That's the beauty of TeamViewer - it's just a single exe, no installation. So all you do is point the user at the website, and get them to click the download link. It's very handy for situations where you haven't pre-installed anything, and the user is not very confident.

Reply to
Grunff

Crucial isn't cheap (it's not expensive either) but it does have a handy=20 selector tool and lifetime warranty.

Reply to
Rob Morley

I have never to this day been able to find one of their "special offer" PC's like the one described above.

Also don't forget the obligatory £60 delivery charge or whatever. I don't buy Dell out of principle now after their repeated non-existent special offers. I once actually phoned to order one from their mail shot, and ended up in the Bombay sales centre who conveniently "lost" my order at the special price.

Just bought another Mesh PC this morning for my Dad.

:¬)

Reply to
PeTe33

I think to get a decent deal from Dell, you don't just go ahead and buy one - you have to lurk on the various Dell offer deal groups and websites, stalking a deal that meets your requirements :o)

I got my 5150 with 19" monitor a few months back after waiting around for a month or so for the deal I wanted to appear, so they definitely do exist. Great machine (whisper quiet!) at a great price. Don't know about Dell's service, and hope not to have to find out!

Reply to
mark_yh

Try the Dell outlet. Mostly it's full of 'ordered and then cancelled' machines, so you can't configure your own, but if something there is suitable, the prices are good. Link here:

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almost always build my own machines (having spent fifteen years in tech support), but given a choice between Dell and Mesh, I would usually go for Dell. I would pick Mesh for a games box, but not a general purpose house PC. I've spent a lot of time at both organisations. My only criticism of Dell is the way they (used to?) partition the hard drives, and the fact that they have used cable select instead of setting drives to master or slave with a jumper. Windows doesn't care, but it can mess Linux up. As always, YMMV.

My wife and family have had a few decent deals from Dell.

Regards,

Glenn.

Reply to
Glenn Booth

Hi,

Sadly, that happens all the time, and it isn't just Mesh. The machines that get submitted to magazine reviews are optimised (sometimes overly so). I've even known one unscrupulous PC company to remove the cache chips on hard drives and replace them with bigger ones to get a little more performance out of a review machine on a certain benchmark.

Winning reviews makes sales, and 'cross selling' customers to other components is a standard sales ploy.

Quite so. Getting anything other than what you paid for is not on.

Regards,

Glenn.

Reply to
Glenn Booth

One reason for using Linux that has not been mentioned, and may not be understood by Windows users, is that all the software that they could ever want comes free with most Linux distributions. SuSE is a good one and easy to install.

Reply to
Geoff Beale

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