pcspecialist.co.uk

PC Specialist have an excellent website. The configuration options for a pre-built PC are varied without being too overwhelming, and you can narrow down the search right from the off by choosing the approximate price range.

I have made the mistake in the past of ordering from a really cheap website and although it seemed like I was getting a tremendous system for the price, one by one the components began to die over the next 18 months or so. PC Specialist make a point of stressing that they use good brands and high quality components throughout. They might not be the cheapest out there, but they provide excellent value for money for a really good quality build. They even recommend you downgrade a bit if you go a bit overboard on the PSU, as I did!

I ordered my PC just before christmas, so there was an understandable delay in delivery. Nevertheless, I was kept informed at all stages, and it's possible to log onto to the website to check the progress. They also emailed and texted me to confirm the delivery date so I only had to take one day off work to receive it.

The PC itself looks great. Everything looks sturdy and well built, and peering through the side mesh reveals a tidily put together set of components. There are numerous case fans, and a huge CPU cooler, so it's built with overclocking possibilities.

There was a slight problem when I tried to boot it up, and this is the only reason I give PC Specialist four stars out of five. It failed to boot up and there seemed to be a problem with the OS. However, a call to their support team put me through to an extremely helpful guy who diagnosed the problem and talked me through a re-installation of Windows. He even called me back to save me the cost of the call. Within an hour of receiving the PC I was up and running.

Despite a large number of cooling fans, including a 20 cm side fan, and twin graphics cards, the PC is almost noiseless. By far the noisiest component is the hard drive. The rest, you can hardly hear.

Software wise, it isn't cluttered with any of the bloatware that can plague other suppliers. PC Specialist only put on what you ask for, so it comes nice and clean.

In summary, I wouldn't hesitate to heartily recommend PC Specialist. I mention above the only reason I didn't give them five stars, and it was aclose thing even then. Of course, the real test will come in two or three years' time when I'll know whether everything is still going strong but I have no reason to expect it won't. I'd advise anyone reading this who's thinking of buying a pre-built PC: don't just go to the cheapest website out there. I did last time, and I paid the price by having to replace loads of the components.

Give PC Specialist a try. I will certainly buy from the again :)