Good cheap computer

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
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We've always gotten the hand me down computers from my wife's office but they don't have any ready to upgrade Our old one just died and we need to buy a new tower (or cpu or whatever you call it) only. We have a good monitor, keyboard, printer, etc. She is right in the middle of a semester so she needs it pretty quick.

I don't think we need anything fancy. I like to use it to websurf but that's about it. I think she uses Microsoft Office Suite 2010 and excel 2010 for her job and is in school so she does word processing and reseach online.

Here's the thing, we just spent $10,000 having a big old barn taken down on our property and didn't expect any more expenses for a few months. Therefore, "I'm on a low budget" Any idea what this might cost?

Any comments would be welcome.
 
You can get a cheap but perfectly good desktop for under $400 including tax if you take a look at Wallmat, Costco, Amazon, Newegg, etc. If you buy online, you may not even have to pay tax or shipping. Choose the one that has the most memory and the fastest processors, then pick a few "bells and whistles" that you may like, beyond that, there is no real difference in PCs nowadays. If one is on sale for even less, get that one. Stay away from any local brands simply because they won't have as good of a warranty as the big brands. Pay more than this, you are paying for faster processors useful only for gaming and audio effects.

Nowadays, almost all PCs are assembled in China by 2 main companies (FoxxConn and QSMC), about 95% of the internals come from the same components suppliers. Your Dell, HP, Acer, Japanese brands and even Apple systems all come from these same 2 factories. -I know this because I live in Silicon Valley and have been part of this business for 20 years.
 
Thanks for the advice. I always end up buying more than I really need, knives, guns, etc., At least with them they aren't out of date by the time you get them home!
 
Shann said:
Thanks for the advice. I always end up buying more than I really need, knives, guns, etc., At least with them they aren't out of date by the time you get them home!
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That is the #1 reason why you don't buy the newest technology PC. The expensive components inside will become obsolete in 90-180 days. You will get those same components inside your $400 system 1/2 to 1 year later.
 
No matches for the barn? Kidding..I had a four(4) stall barn removed in TN....BIG backhoe, dug a pit, crushed, pushed in and buried...you'd never know it was there...don't remember the exact cost but sure around $1,000.

No help on CPU..had local PC whiz kid build a tower for $450 or so a few years ago and running strong. Recently bought my wife/grandkids a Dell Inspiron laptop for $500..we're happy with our setups but obviously not power users.
 
I was just surfing NewEgg and they have several nicely-specced towers for under 400 bucks. I've dealt with them before and they are quick and reliable.
 
I've bought several used refurbished notebooks from usanotebookdotcom on several occasions with good service from all I've bought from them. For a couple hundred bucks you could just stick a notebook on there. Some of the Lenovo and other computers they offer have more going for them than my biggest desk top. Anyway, just a thought.
 
Shop the Sunday newspaper adds for cheap "desktop" computers. $400 is pretty entry level but, manageable where I live - especially if you don't need a new monitor.
 
$400 can get you a nice premade tower these days. I've been selling and servicing computers since my freshman year in High school and am still amazed at how nice of a machine one can get today for so little money.

I second checking out New Egg. A few months ago a friend ordered a $699 computer from them thats a killer gaming rig for what they do. Honestly most inexpencive computers will do all the things that most people need like watching DVD's, netflix, surfing the internet and office productivity software. Even a slow CPU by todays standards is fast enough. It's Memory and hard drive space that people tend to need more of. And right now memory is cheap. IMO If you have the option of a faster CPU or more memory, get the machine with more Memory. That is, if you don't plan on upgrading the machine much or if any over the years.

This summer of fall I would like to build a new machine. Built my current machine in 2007 and have done a few upgrades to its. It's setup for gaming and other stuff and still does a good job for me. The new computer would be more for Work, surfing, music and movies. Am thinking Small, energy efficiant. Then I have a power hungry machine for when I want to play games and something that hardly uses any power when I'm doing work. I have a spare case, Power supply, monitor, and DVD drive so would just need the Mother board, CPU, and memory. $250 to $300 is all it would cost me from newegg for a crazy efficient machine. :D
 
Check Dell's outlet. I buy all of my computers from there and they are usually around 50% off the retail price for a small scratch or even brand new. I bought a dual core beater tower that outputs 1080p as a home theater PC for around $200. If all you do is surf and check email like most people, you can get away with the cheapest one they have available that meets your needs.
 
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