To be able to point you in the right direction, we really need to know what you will be using the machine for. There are a good few general guidelines to follow, such as ensuring good expansion potential, but to give you advice tailored to your situation we need to know whether you just want to use your machine for word processing, E-Mail and surfing the web or if you want to do a little bit more such as gaming or photography work.

Let us know your plans and I'm sure we can give you some guidelines on what CPU to use, how much RAM you will require, a good sized hard disk and so forth, as well as where to consider buying components from.

Alternatively, lots of manufacturers are offering PC's at rock bottom prices which are hard to beat, even if you build your own machine. These aren't necessarily designed to last years, but may be a useful starting point for future upgrades.