Good cheap computer for Win XP

[quique]

Hey all, sorry in advance if posting in the wrong forum!

I work in IS at a mid-sized private company and I am in charge of upgrading our computers. I'll probably be buying around 20-50 computers total, all with the same specs. Here are some of the requirements:

must be able to run XP pro
good enough for internet, e-mail
no gaming whatsoever
must be INEXPENSIVE!

Anybody have any recommendations in terms of:

specs,
manufacturers, brand names,
vendors (CDW, Newegg, Fry's)
whether or not it would be cheaper and more feasible to build them myself.

Thanks for your help!

Q.

 

[Zugzwang152]

get dells, best price/quality you can get, and a good tech support/customer service infrastructure.

 

[ribbon13]

Go to the Boeing surplus store in Kent WA. Pickup 20-30 Dell Optiplex G150s for $200 each.

 

[newbiepcuser]

Wait for deal on the Dell SC420. We are talking about under 300 here. It doesn't include an OS license though.

Here is an example.

 

[quique]

I was checking out the Dell website and they've got some pretty good deals. I heard that they only use Intel CPUs. Does HP/Compaq only use Intel also? Are there any desktop manufacturers that only use AMD CPUs? They'd hopefully be cheaper!

 

[Cheesetogo]

HP uses amd proccesors. as well as intel.

 

[phisrow]

HP, at least, has some Athlon based models; but they look like a pretty lousy deal. The Intel boxes start at $333 a piece, the AMDs at $487. As Celeron Ds don't suck nearly as much as Celerons used to, and Athlon XPs are pretty unexciting now, you don't even get much in the way of performance advantage. Also, for your applications, pretty much anything 800MHz or better will do, just please, please, please, for the sake of your users, give them enough RAM. As others have said, you'd be best off getting the best deal Dell or similar can give you(and adding enough ram). AMD only really becomes a good idea for self builds, whitebox home systems, and fairly high end boxen(8 way servers and stuff).
Incidentally, you can sometimes get really good deals on P4s and A64s from the home computer lines of the various manufacturers; but you would be well advised to ignore them, for this purpose. Image stability is a very Good Thing.

 

[Slowlearner]

I work for a small shop with some 30-40 PCs and through the years have been buying 5-6 PCs every year - and my experience has been to look for stability and reliability. On that count only Dell and HP (not Compaq) have delivered. So far the CPU is concerned, AMD and Intel have equivalent processors. But you need reasonably capable systems with adequate memory, storage, optical drives and video. For an office setup inexpensive means ~ $700+, so I would suggest looking at Dimension 4700 or equivalent HP, avoid the very basic 2400/3000, the ones with integrated graphics - I would say that a 30$ graphics card is worth it - at least 512MB mem, 80GB HD, CDRW/DVD combo drive, NIC and XP Pro and 17" CRT monitor and the fastest processor that you can afford.

 

[imported_whatever]

Originally posted by: Slowlearner
I work for a small shop with some 30-40 PCs and through the years have been buying 5-6 PCs every year - and my experience has been to look for stability and reliability. On that count only Dell and HP (not Compaq) have delivered.

has compaq gotten any better since HP bought them?

 

[ribbon13]

Compaq proliant was one of the nicest sever series ever made. Thier desktop blew horrible nasty moldy stinky chucks though.

 

[Slowlearner]

Yes, HP Compaq's are better - but I prefer a pure HP (with no Compaq name on the label).