Gordon,

With £750 to spend, you should be able to get a very nice PC that will keep you going for several years. If you (or others that use this PC) don't do any 3-D gaming, then there's no need to get a high end graphics card. This will keep costs down in that area, freeing up cash to spend on processor/HDD/memory which are the important elements for photo processing.

XP Pro SP2 is a wise choice, though having just started using Vista, there's fixes available for all the niggling problems I found I had. You may find that a new machine comes bundled with Vista now, though you should be able to specify that you want XP instead.

As for £250 for a decent screen, it depends on your definition of decent. See my review of the Viewsonic VP930 flat panel,
http://www.worldphotographyforum.com...ead.php?t=2452
this was £200 and isn't really up to CRT standards for photo editing. If it's going to be your main screen, I'd spend a bit more than £250, or even better, keep your CRT if you are happy with it.

I was going to suggest building your own, but then i read this and that thought went out the window.... :)

£750 should get you a good PC now as prices are well down. For a 'Mac' you are looking at 3 or 4 times that, but all the arty people swear by them. :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the advice everyone. It looks as though I should get a desktop rather than a laptop, for value for money, with as fast a dual processor as I can afford, 2Gb RAM and a big hard disc. SCREENS ... hmmm. A bit more research needed there.

Gordon,

Your plan of action given above seems sound. Re: Screens, it depends what the primary purpose/use of the machine is going to be. Whilst I much prefer photo editing on the CRT, I find myself doing more and more "office" type work on the PC with the flat panel, despite it being a slower machine. The VP930 flat panel is very nice for text based viewing, but can't cut it for colours. If you want really good colours for photo editing then I think you are looking at £500 plus £100 for a calibrator. You may find it beneficial to stick with your existing CRT (assuming that's what you have).

If you, or anyone else who's going to use the machine isn't into high-end gaming, then you could do a lot worse than buy from the Dell Factory Outlet here:
http://outlet.dell.com/Emea_Dfo/EuDi...constraint=DIM
Previously I have always built my own PCs from components, having lurked on the Dell outlet site for a while, I came to the conclusion it wasn't worth it. I could buy a complete box with software for less cost than just buying the bits I needed to upgrade my original PC.

I recently bought a Dimension 9200
Pentium Core2 Duo E6300
2GB RAM
2x250GB HDDs (RAID)
DVD-ROM
DVD-RW
nVidia 7900GS graphics card
CF/SD/MS/etc card reader built in
TV Tuner card
Integrated sound and network, 8x USB2
Vista Home Premium
KB, mouse and speakers - no screen
Total cost £438 (after £40 refund for delayed delivery)

There's some deals to be had, but you may have to lurk for a while before a real bargain pops up.

Regards,

Duncan