Looking for 2 basic desktop builds...thoughts?

[Uppie1414]

Looking to buy 2 new computers for the office (no monitors needed).

Only used for internet, spreadsheets, etc. I can upgrade the RAM, just looking for a good deal on 2x.

Anyone make any purchases lately? Thanks in advance!

 

[AustinInDallas]

prebuilt like hp or lenovo?

 

[Termie]

If your budget is under $500, you should buy pre-built. If it's at least $500, you can start looking at some systems using the i3-3220 and a small SSD, which would make for a very fast internet browser.

 

[Essence_of_War]

What's your budget? And are you looking to build them yourself, buy them pre-built, or whichever works best for your budget?

 

[piasabird]

There is a tendency by some people to buy gear for the office that is just too cheap. Cheap stuff wears out fast. Before you make a purchase you have to know what the expected life cycle will be. You also have to know what it will be used for i.e. Win 8 may not be good enough. We generally are using i-5's everywhere because in a retail package you get better RAM Storage networking with an i-5. Sometimes it costs more to upgrade than it does to just buy all the gear you will need on day one.

When it comes to retail assume it is impossible to upgrade.

On the other hand often computers are cascaded or passed down from people when they upgrade to the low use areas.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

For office use I'd recommend going with a pre-built Dell/HP/Lenovo unless you have some very special requirements. This also saves a lot of hassle with support. Any decent brand name PC should be able to do dual monitor, these days.

On the other hand often computers are cascaded or passed down from people when they upgrade to the low use areas.

I really, really, really hate when IT people do that. I've seen ancient P3/P4s (Willamette Celeron or worse) used because "they don't need any more then that". When it takes 30min+ just to START the PC in the morning, 5-15 minutes to load the appropriate software and there is a 10 second+ delay when accessing something, productivity just took a nosedive out the window. When something is clearly obsolete, I don't care about your budget, just get rid of it. Considering the cost of employing someone, a decent PC is very cheap and pays for itself very quickly...

my 2c...