Basic System for Office Internet

[Champman99]

Hi,

Although I am an experienced system builder - I never feel entirely comfortable building PCs for non-family, in case stuff goes wrong in the build etc. My friends PC has died and they want a new one for simple internet/email/office.

They have a license for Vista from their last PC which I think could be used (I'm happy to install it for them), but systems both with and without OS would be considered (if with OS then W7 obviously)

A couple I've found so far are

http://www.cclonline.com/product-inf...93&tid=gsearch

(Possibly configured to 4GB Memory and a micro-ATX case)

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/pc/range/gamma.html

Novatech has the advantage that their HQ is local which means that the PC could easily be dropped off if something went wrong - and this PC has a nice looking compact chassis if the pics are to be beleived. I also have more experience of (good) Novatech customer service than CCL.

A concern for me are the PSUs used in these type of builds. These builds actually seem to be slightly less than I could price the build for but then again I would want to use a decent Chassis and something like a Silverpower or CX430 PSU.

Any other recommendations would be great. Cheers! As cheap as possible is the order of the day, but obviously modern OS requirements such as 2GB RAM etc apply.

[smargh]

Acer Revo or maybe a Sapphire EDGE-HD. Very small and quiet.

My sister has a Revo R3600 and likes it - she wanted something virtually silent, for MS Office, general internet etc. It can play regular DivX, but not 720p. Newer Atoms can probably handle things better.

[billythewiz]

Dino PC gets reasonable reviews. They offer a similar things to what you've found at Novatech

http://dinopc.com/shop/pc/pcs-home-o...?idcategory=95

I wouldn't consider the Nanosaur unless your friend specifically wants Linux rather than Windows.

I notice that the Novatech is pictured with a monitor but it's not mentioned in the list so I presume it's not included. The £250 price also doesn't include an OS.

DinoPC seems to offer bare systems (just the box, no keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers) as well as full systems. They also offer configurability, so going from 2GB to 4GB costs about £20, going from 0.5 to 1.0TB HDD is ~£15 and they also have some PSU options (upto 500W).

At the £250 mark, excluding an OS, Dino have an i3 system, which comes out at £250 if you go to 4GB Ram.

I'm not affiliated with Dino or anything like that, but their site will help you decide how good value the Novatech system is. Having Novatech local (for easy returns) is quite a big bonus for such a cheap PC and something that's difficult to compete against.

[Flibb]

PC world have been foing some deals on rigs. Picked one up a compaq for my brother in law for £275 including win7. Pleasantly supprised with the build quality and how quiet it is.