Building a computer for my sister...

[Abix]

Im building a computer for my sister who hasnt used a computer in years and wont be doing anything more intensive than word processing and browsing the internet on it. I wanted to make a decent budget PC while still letting it be able to be used for years to come and would like your experienced opinions on it.

Without further ado, my wishlist on Newegg: click me

For those too lazy to click the link:
CHAINTECH "7NIF2" nForce2 IGP Motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
Kingston ValueRAM 184 Pin 256MB DDR PC-2700
CasEdge Black/Silver MicroATX Mini Tower with 300W Power Supply, Model "3GTW-01"
AOpen Cool Gray, Black, Beige 52X32X52X16X Combo Drive
Masscool "FalconRock" CPU Cooler for Socket A/ 370
NEC 1.44MB Black Internal Floppy Drive
Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
CTX VL701B 17" CRT Monitor
Microsoft Windows XP HOME Edition With Service Pack 2
Total - $538.76

 

[imported_brad]

to simplify things, a laptop or MAC may be a consideration.

otherwise, you can get a budget model pc from a site like this for lower price, and will come with service and a warranty for her, cause she'll undoubtedly mess something up.

 

[JBDan]

I suggest a Dell. Complete systems/stable/quiet for under $400

 

[DaveSimmons]

You could get a decent Dell with LCD and warranty for that $540, search "Dell" in Hot Deals forum or just go to Dell.com (specials this week are double RAM and LCD upgrade). Then if something ever goes wrong, it's not your fault. But only do this if you're 100% sure she won't need any gaming ability.

Otherwise, you might want to shift some money into more RAM -- a Sempron with 512 MB will outperform a faster XP with just 256 MB for things like task switching and in "girl games" like The Sims 2 🙂

This System Thread has some good suggestions for cutting costs.

 

[Abix]

brad, I checked that site and although their main site claims a price of $438, further clicking reveals that that is without a monitor. Once you add on the $105 for a monitor, youre up to $543. My price is $538.76. The only real advantages is that that computer has a 80GB HD instead of a 40GB HD, and that it uses a video card instead of onboard video. However, most normal usage of computers rarely even gets it above 10GB so that is not an issue in this case for me, as is the video card since she will be doing no gaming.

When comparing the warranty to what I would do(image the drive onto a FAT32 partition w/o a drive letter and include a floppy to easily reload the image) I really dont see much worth doing. First of all, according to their warranty page "This warranty does not cover software", they would provide no help if she were to mess up her Windows XP, which she ultimately would, and truely, the only thing the warranty does is replace the part if it goes bad within the time-period purchased which is nothing less than I could do with most of the parts warranties. All in all, I would rather make it myself than buy from them, although I do thank you for your time in replying to my thread.

JBDan, I looked on Dells site, and the cheapest computer I could see was the Dimension 3000 for $549 after a $50 rebate. Could you link me to the ultra cheap $400 Dell?

DaveSimmons, at the moment, its really a decision between Dell's solid reliable systems and my solid reliable system(I like to think so anyways). However, one of the main things that turns me off about the cheaper Dells is their almost complete lack of ability to perform anything intensive. While I did say she wouldnt be doing anything intensive, I would still like the ability to be there should she ever need to. Also, I would rather give her an AMD processor than an Intel one. Additionallly, I absolutely hate their motherboards with all their proprietary slots, trays, bolts, tilted RAM slots, and so on. It sure is hard to be that price though. Also, thanks for that information about the double RAM and LCD upgrade, I wasnt aware of that before. Ill also keep in mind the possible upgrade to 512MB.

Thanks to all of you for replying.

 

[JBDan]

http://www.rage3d.com/index.php?node=deals#deal19393
Here ya go Abix 😉 Get the refurbished 17 in. crt and you in for just over $400 srry earlier I said under $400

 

[mechBgon]

I think if anything goes wrong with the Dell, it will still be big brother's problem anyway 😉 I'm a brother x3 myself... Anyway, if you're open to suggestions, I would consider something more like this:

WinXP Professional (longer support, plays with biz/school domains, some other reasons)

Antec Sonata (quiet, high-quality PSU, could handle a significant video-card upgrade)

Asus K8S-MX (microATX, onboard video plus AGP8x slot)

1 x 512MB Corsair ValueSelect PC3200

Athlon64 2800+ retail

Seagate 7200.7 SATA hard drive, pick your size

Optical drive as you desire, maybe one of those NEC dual-layer 3500-series DVD burners?

Monitor of choice

Creative Labs 2.1 speakers or some headphones

Keyboard and mouse of choice

Works Suite 2005 DVD OEM, get at MWave for $45 with your hard drive or something (includes full-version Word, Encarta, Money, Streets and Trips, and the Works spreadsheet/database/calendaring stuffs)

McAfee, Norton or whatever you like for antivirus

Is it $538? No 😀 But it gives you the foundation to do a lot of stuff compotently with some add-ons as the needs arise (Doom3, video editing, whatever). 3-year warranty or longer on most of the core hardware (RAM, HDD, mobo, PSU, CPU, & monitor probably).

I know when I built my mom's rig, I ended up very glad that it was expandable because it went from a mild-mannered Duron for email to a budget video-editing rig with a DVD burner, VIVO AGP card and 160GB of storage. And it can do that, and no warranties go *poof* when I add new hardware to it, and I can reconfigure it again if I see the need. But that's my game, I like to play it. Some people don't, and I try to respect that too. Some days I even succeed 😉

 

[live2game]

I would agree with mechBgon he is pretty much right.