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Thread: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

  1. #1
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    Smile £300 PC challenge (with tft)!

    Around christmas i saw a number of decent(ish) spec dell machines coming in at the £300 mark inc monitor.

    I have been comissioned by a family member to buy a pc with a budget of £300, and after days of searching i cant seem to find any good deals.

    The best i can find at the moment is this Dell:
    PROCESSOR Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2140 Processor (1.6GHz,800MHz,1MB cache)
    OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Business
    HARDWARE SUPPORT Base Warranty - 1 Year Business Hardware Support
    MONITOR Dell™ 17" Black Wide Flat Panel (E178WFP) - UK/Irish
    MEMORY 1024MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x512]
    HARD DRIVE 250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst™ cache
    GRAPHICS CARD Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100
    OPTICAL DRIVE 16x DVD +/- RW Drive
    KEYBOARD Dell™ Entry Quietkey USB Keyboard - UK/Irish (QWERTY)
    MOUSE Dell 2 Button USB Optical Mouse

    Can anyone spec anything better within a £300 budget.

    I am happy to self build and have a spare core2duo compatible motherboard with intergrated graphics i could use.

    i would be most greatful!
    Last edited by colincliff; 14-01-2008 at 11:47 PM.

  2. #2
    finding nemo staffsMike's Avatar
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Well lets say £100 for the TFT.

    So build the PC for £200.

    Decent case + PSU
    Antec NSK 4480 Mini Tower Case (Silver) - 380W Earth Watts PSU

    £55

    E2140 - £40
    2GB PC5300 - £25
    160GB HDD - £30
    DVD writer - £15

    £165 + your motherboard (but scan today only would normally save about £5 off this)

    OEM Vista £50 so £205

    Find a monitor for £100 and you would be about there.
    Extra Value MA9JB 19" TFT Monitor Widescreen 1440x900 500:1 8ms Black VGA 3 Years Warranty - Ebuyer

    Tbh though if you can get the dell for £300 it's probably the best bet.

  3. #3
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    I would go for the Dell too as it would be difficult to build anything better for the price IMHO!!

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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    If you can build for about the same price, and you're happy to maintain it, then I would because:

    1. Dell OS installs tend to suck IMHO: not configured properly and cluttered with shareware trials. I recently 'upgraded' a new Dell laptop to a stock Vista Home Premium install (from the supplied discs but not the Dell system image) and you wouldn't believe the improvement in performance.

    2. I don't think Dell have switched over to using 100% stock components yet (though I could be wrong here) so it could be easier to fix/upgrade a custom PC.

    Don't get me wrong: I think Dell produce decent machines, and recommend them if I don't have time to build a PC for people, but most of the time custom is better.

    P.S. Stick a Linux distro on and save the cost of Vista. Dell supply it too.

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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    I think you might as well go with Dell, you'll get something similar and you won't have to do tech support. On the other hand, building PCs is fun.

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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Running Vista on 1GB...!

    Monitor, DABS Value, £92.82 inc. VAT (widescreen 19", DVI)
    dabs.com - Dabs Value 19" Widescreen DVI 8ms TFT and a 3 Year Warranty (L-1931WS)
    PeterC

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    Rocket WMD45

  7. #7
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Just noticed that the new Celeron Dual Core processors have been released:

    Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200 Socket 775 (1.60GHz) 800FSB 512KB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £34.84 £29.65 £34.84 £29.65
    Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD £51.00 £43.40 £51.00 £43.40
    Antec NSK4480 Black & Silver Mini-Tower ATX Case - With 380W EarthWatts PSU £50.72 £43.16 £50.72 £43.16
    Corsair 2GB DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400 Memory CL5 Lifetime Warranty £25.98 £22.11 £25.98 £22.11
    Extra Value 19" TFT Monitor 1440x900 1000:1 450cd/m2 8ms Black £92.83 £79.00 £92.83 £79.00
    LiteOn DH-20A4P-21C 20X DVD±RW/DL/RAM Black Bare Drive - OEM £15.13 £12.87 £15.13 £12.87
    Western Digital WD1600AAJS 160GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM £31.66 £26.94 £31.66 £26.94
    Cart total inc vat: £302.16

    Free Shipping has been applied to this order

    *FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ORDER» Shipping Charge:
    Subtotal:
    VAT:
    Total:

    £0.00 £0.00
    £257.13
    £45.03
    £302.16

  8. #8
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    I thought pentium meant celeron these days

    Any reviews for them?

  9. #9
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Here is one:

    X-bit labs - Celeron E1200: Dual-Core Processor Almost for Free

    The AMD X2 processors are faster but then the Celeron is the cheapest dual core processor with included heatsink and fan though.

  10. #10
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    lots of people are happy to use linux, i see, since they aren't including the price of windows

  11. #11
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    It depends if the user is happy with using Linux. Many people have learnt or been taught to use XP and using something else unfamiliar maybe not worth the bother for them unless it had exactly the same type of GUI.

  12. #12
    Comfortably Numb directhex's Avatar
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    It depends if the user is happy with using Linux. Many people have learnt or been taught to use XP and using something else unfamiliar maybe not worth the bother for them unless it had exactly the same type of GUI.
    then they should be including the price of windows in their £300 challenge pc!

  13. #13
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Of course!! Since the OP already has a suitable motherboard with integrated graphics it is possible to meet the budget.

  14. #14
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Hex, as I read it Mike and Cat (the only two to post full systems) have both included a copy of Vista in the total price.

  15. #15
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    Quote Originally Posted by CAT-THE-FIFTH View Post
    Just noticed that the new Celeron Dual Core processors have been released:

    Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200 Socket 775 (1.60GHz) 800FSB 512KB L2 Cache Retail Boxed Processor £34.84 £29.65 £34.84 £29.65
    Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic x32Bit OEM 1PK DVD £51.00 £43.40 £51.00 £43.40
    Antec NSK4480 Black & Silver Mini-Tower ATX Case - With 380W EarthWatts PSU £50.72 £43.16 £50.72 £43.16
    Corsair 2GB DDR2 667MHz/PC2-5400 Memory CL5 Lifetime Warranty £25.98 £22.11 £25.98 £22.11
    Extra Value 19" TFT Monitor 1440x900 1000:1 450cd/m2 8ms Black £92.83 £79.00 £92.83 £79.00
    LiteOn DH-20A4P-21C 20X DVD±RW/DL/RAM Black Bare Drive - OEM £15.13 £12.87 £15.13 £12.87
    Western Digital WD1600AAJS 160GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache - OEM £31.66 £26.94 £31.66 £26.94
    Cart total inc vat: £302.16

    Free Shipping has been applied to this order

    *FREE SHIPPING ON THIS ORDER» Shipping Charge:
    Subtotal:
    VAT:
    Total:

    £0.00 £0.00
    £257.13
    £45.03
    £302.16
    There doesnt seem to be a motherboard with this setup. A bit busy to have a look myself but in general I find that budget systems are much better value when bought as a complete system.

  16. #16
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    Re: £300 PC challange (with tft)!

    The OP already says he has a spare Core2 compatiable motherboard with integrated graphics which he can use for the build.

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