Ok guys whats the cheapest base unit build you can come up with please, it has to be able to browse the web, email and use Word. It must include Win XP home too.
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Ok guys whats the cheapest base unit build you can come up with please, it has to be able to browse the web, email and use Word. It must include Win XP home too.
As in prebuilt oem system or from separate parts self build?
Either mate whatever you can find would be good
Cheapest I could sensibly find on ebuyer is as follows:
http://www.geocities.com/adamwwallace/system.JPG
You could probably shave off £20 if you really wanted to be cheap and get a Duron 1600 and 266fsb mobo but its not really worth it.
The thing that really bumps it up is windows xp. It may be worth looking at the Acer Aspire systems on ebuyer, they are only £40 more expensive and would get you a warranty and a few more software options.
Ooh Err - PC Chips motherboard? I know it's cheap but lordy, they haven't got a great reputation for quality products.... :S
Ruairi
And not a PC Chips motherboard probably.
I'd rather eat my own legs than use a PC Chips mobo.
He did say the cheapest if i'm not mistaken
You still need an HSF to go on that sempron, as it is OEM i dont think it comes with the standard AMD one.
Ebuyer Value CLA-XP28 AMD Cooler Althon upto XP2800+ : Quick code 81893 £2.50 inc VAT
It's worth £40 not to have to build it and install the OS and drivers.
I have a load of Pentium 1 computers from a job lot here all you need is a hdd, you can have one for free if you pay for postage!!! they run win98 just fine :D
nez
Pre-built cheap! E-bay for an old 500Mhz or if you can afford it, get something along the lines of what dark horse suggests. I reckon you can go plenty cheaper though, looking around.
Do you need a monitor?
Well its to replace a crappy pc that my father in law has and it really needs to be new not used, it also has to run Win XP. All he needs is the base unit he already has a monitor,keyboard and mouse.
Would a straight CD drive do as opposed to a DVD and CDRW one as shown above?
This is very similar to the system above with a couple of changes and a hsf added (Edit: i cant stand angelfire...)
However, id spend another £6.50 (making it up to £200.40 inc postage) by removing the duron, the hsf and the lame motherboard and going with this bundle. Then youll have a better motherboard and the systems fsb will be 333 instead of 266.
So to sum up, ive ended up with pretty much the same system as previosuly recommended so this is the type of thing you should expect to end up with.
I had a look at this as well recently for a friend. For £250 (I think that's what I paid delivered) you can get a complete pre-built system from Ebuyer with winXP Home installed, and a cheap Works office software aswell, and AV, etc etc.
With a 1 year warranty, it beats the hell out of trying to debug a heap of cheap'n'nasty components, to work out which one isn't working when something goes wrong. Let Acer sort that out instead. It might use a PC-Chips motherboard, but because they do the pre-install, you don't have to worry about sorting it out yourself
For an extra £30-40, it's well worth it IMO. If it was a higher spec system, no way would I buy an Acer, but at that price it's saving me a few hours work, so worth it. I did it that way anyway.
I agree, this is better value, offers more performance and is straight forward. Depends how much hes willing to pay the extra 20% or if he'd rather build it himself.
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=86864
Dell Outlet
Just put a Dell 2400 spec as below in shopping basket
CPU: 2.4 celeron
Operating System: English - Win XP SP2 Home
Memory: 256MB (1x256) Single Channel DDR333
Hard Disk Drive: 40GB Hard Drive 7200RPM
Modem: V.92 Data Fax Modem UK
CD Read-Write Drive: 48X/32X DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
Software: Microsoft® Works® 7.0
MISC: Dell Standard PS2 Keyboard
Dell 2 Button PS/2 Scroll Mouse
Including £50 discount comes to £201 inc delivery and 90 day warranty. Some of the systems can be a lot cheaper than that but they tend to fly straight back out.
Edit: There was one a couple of minutes later at £208 which was the same but with 2.6 celly, 80gb HDD and a full gig of ram
Dell outlet? Do you mean PC world? Or is there a Dell 'outlet store' next to the Gap one?Quote:
Originally Posted by kushtibari
I find with Dell, when you buy a 'cheap' PC, it suddenly gets a lot more expensive when you go through the options, even with the cheapest ones (some don't have a 'nothing' option)
LOL, I have been on the outlet site before too, Forgot about it. Just googled it. Never mind me...Quote:
Originally Posted by Bender316
Anyway, a celeron is fairly poor compared to the Sempron. Would still stick with the AXP setup to run XP
How about this setup.
LN10289 Asus Vintage P4 S478 Barebone System £55.98 £65.78
LN7627 320 Intel Celeron-D Socket mPGA478 (2.40 Ghz, 256k Cache, 533mhz 90nm) £41.24 £48.46
LN5547 Lite-On Beige & Black Bezels 52x32X52 CD-RW OEM £12.89 £15.15
LN9506 40Gb Hitachi (IBM/HGST) Deskstar 7K250 (7200rpm,8MB) - SATA £25.94 £30.48
LN5541 512 Mb Corsair Value Select, DDR, PC3200, non ECC, Lifetime Warranty £24.95 £29.32
LN8089 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Inc. SP2 OEM Single £50.99 £59.91
LN8061 256mb Connect3D Radeon 9550 (D-Sub, DVI, TV-Out) 128 BIT £33.49 £39.35
If you change any quantities, please re-calculate your bask
How about this setup.
LN10289 Asus Vintage P4 S478 Barebone System £55.98 £65.78
LN7627 320 Intel Celeron-D Socket mPGA478 (2.40 Ghz, 256k Cache, 533mhz 90nm) £41.24 £48.46
LN5547 Lite-On Beige & Black Bezels 52x32X52 CD-RW OEM £12.89 £15.15
LN9506 40Gb Hitachi (IBM/HGST) Deskstar 7K250 (7200rpm,8MB) - SATA £25.94 £30.48
LN5541 512 Mb Corsair Value Select, DDR, PC3200, non ECC, Lifetime Warranty £24.95 £29.32
LN8089 Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Inc. SP2 OEM Single £50.99 £59.91
LN8061 256mb Connect3D Radeon 9550 (D-Sub, DVI, TV-Out) 128 BIT £33.49 £39.35
£300 total
I think thats a sata drive and it won't be supported by that old motherboard.Quote:
Originally Posted by wedge22
If you wanted to put the budget up I go for something like:
Ebuyer 512mb DDR PC3200 400MHz 184pin Extra Value Ram 049447 27.99 inc VAT
Abit NF7 V2.0 nForce2 Socket A 63166 £38.96 inc VAT
Amd Sempron 2600+ 80282 £43.33 inc VAT
Inno3d 6200 AGP 128mb 93066 £45.28 inc VAT
comes to roughly ~£155 where the previous equivalents were ~£73 so adds £75.
At the end of the day though there is absolutely no need to do anything more than the very cheapest because if its only for word processing and browsing then there is no point in shelling out on faster ram or processor or graphics card which would make sthing work faster when they don't need to.
Have you thought about a laptop? Whenever family members or friends ask me about getting a cheap PC for web and office i always recommend a laptop. Bargains on ebay or go with a new one from dell since they have been very cheap lately.
And its worth the price over a desktop just for the extra convenience and portability. Not to mention the monitor is much friendlier on eyes.
I had not looked into laptops as I thought that they would be too costly.
I hate this obsession with laptops as home pcs, just get a real PC, please, for my sanity if nothing else. (we have to use laptops at school in our computing lessons, its a joke).
diehard desktop fan much?Quote:
Originally Posted by Scarlet Infidel
Laptops are without a doubt a much better option for most users, especially less experienced people.
In a word, i'd describe them as the healthy way to PC
desktops are always whirring away, big boxes of stuff taking up room, huge monitors unless you pay for a TFT etc, and lets not forget the fact that you are tied down to one spot in the house and usually facing a wall.
With a laptop you lose some bang for buck but gain much more
Yeah, I'd agree. I'd never swap my desktop for a laptop, and I wouldn't recommend the swap to any serious user, but in this case it could be just the ticket.
Biostar 210V
Sempron 2500
512MB DDR400
80GB SATA HDD
DVD ROM
Win XP home
£289.38 inc VAT and del fro microdirect.
Nice and small, has onboard gfx, nic and sound. Very good stable systems. Obviously you could drop down to a smaller HDD or smaller CPU
If you must go with a desktop you have to at least got for TFT, even if it is just a 15"
It plays on the mind in a big way, even if it is mostly subliminal
Cheapest yet AFAIK: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=89079
£169.99 with Mandrake and Open Office (I think), but you can add XP to take it up to £220 ish :)
Edit: Now out of stock :Oops:
Buy mine, simple. :devilish:
http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=48438
Errr he said new....Quote:
Originally Posted by Squid0x