Need your help...

[Lead_Head]

... I've been given to task to find a family friend a CHEAP PC, for basically browsing the internet, the odd word processing etc. It's for a girl who is in the juniors, approaching Comprehensive school within the next year.

Now, they have been looking themselves and found some deals of 2nd hand PC's from businesses offloading their older PC's.

The deals she's found are:

P3 500mhz
128mb RAM
6.4gb HDD
floppy drive
CD-ROM
Soundcard
External speakers
Internal 56k modem
Onboard 10/100 ethernet card
Keyboard / Mouse
15" digital monitor
2 powercables and mouse mat
3months return to base warranty

Software
Windows 98SE
Ability 2003
£250

Now, I'm looking to better this, for less money, as it's a pretty poor machine and a bit expensive for what it is... I mean come on 6.4GB HDD!!

Now, I can build the PC myself, but might prove more expensive (budgets around that £250), or I could look for cheaper used PC's...

Only problem is, I dont really know where to start!

Any hints / tips / opinions on the PC above welcome... I would prefer a load of links to sum it all up myself.

Do you think I could build a PC with a better spec cheaper?

Cheers,
Nick

[mike_w]

AMD Athlon 1500+ £28.79
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=477

NF7-S £62.28
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...products_id=45

Artec CD Drive £11.16
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...products_id=90

Floppy Drive £5.99
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=193

DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB £52.29
http://www.cpucitystore.co.uk/catalo...roducts_id=104

Crucial DDR RAM £31.73
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=111278&cks=SER

MicroScan V50 15" CRT Monitor £62.26
http://www.savastore.com/products/pr...10268533&pid=1

Logitech Deluxe Access Keyboard PS/2 (English), Retail £12.28
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=121557&cks=PRL

Logitech Mouse Pilot WheelM. PS/2 PS/2, Retail £7.73
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=101088&cks=PRL

Trust SP-6018 300 W speakers stereo desktop £4.00
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=122636&cks=PRL

£278.51, bit over, but much much better!

No 56k modem though. You could probably change the motherboard to something like this, and save some money on other bits, but that's only rough.

Edit: Forget a graphics card, but that makes it much more expensive!

You could get an NF7-M and then a cheapo sound card to save a bit more.

[Lead_Head]

Thanks for your effort Mike, I will look into this tonight and tomorrow.

I'd like some more to compare it to (pre-built stuff) if anyone has any links?

Cheers,
Nick

[-mb-]

Evidence of high cost if prebuilt - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/PCrange.html?SIA
(spec with a 15" CRT and WinXP and it's over £300..)

Cheaper set of components:
AMD Athlon 2000+ (inc HSF) £43
(256k L2 cache 266Mhz FSB)
Asus A7V8X-MX (onboard sound and graphics) £38
(Via KM400 chipset)
256Mb PC2700 Corsair Value RAM £31
80Gb Maxtor DiamondMax HDD £40
(7200rpm 2Mb cache)
Sony CD-RW/DVD-ROM £30
(52x/32x/52x/16x)
17" AOC CRT Monitor £70
(FT700)
Genius Keyboard & Mouse £9
(KB10X & Netscroll +)
Antler Supercase £25
(w/ 300W PSU)

Total £286
All from www.microdirect.co.uk

Hope this helps...I thought features might be more important than performance.

[Flibb]

http://www.accomputerwarehouse.com/p...=PC+Base+Units

They do a variety of monitors as well

Example
Code Product Quantity Price Ex VAT Total
BU00097 Dell GX1 PIII 533 Desktop case (£76.60)
+ Mains Power Lead (£0.85)
+ New Keyboard & Mouse (£7.66)
+ Add Microsoft Win 98 (£50.2127)
+ 56k PCI Modem Fitted (£12.21)
(8kg each) 1 £147.53 £147.53
MON0024 17 Inch SVGA Monitor (£41.70)
+ Power Lead (£1.28)
(13kg each) 1 £42.98 £42.98

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subtotal: £190.51
Total: £242.00

[Flibb]

Loads of people give away 15" monitors, or are very cheap in local papers. Without a monitor comes to £185 inc p&p

Could save more money (£50+) if you had win98se laying around, if you have upgraded to xp think you can re-cycle the windows key as long as its not used on another pc. Can somebody confirm that??

[Platinum]

The thing you have to remember about pre built pcs is that they may seem expensive when you total up the price of the components but factor in the cost of the bundled software (XP costs over £100) and the warrenty and you come out with very good priced pcs..., even at places like PC World.