My best friend has $1200 for a small form factor PC. Advice?

[Matt_Stevens]

Well, not my best friend, but close. He really needs a new system and has $1200 to spend. But he wants something small. Small Form Factor. He loves my spare system, a Shuttle XPC, but I can't find anyone putting them together at a reasonable price (charging double retail for RAM is not reasonable, nor is charging $250 for a 120gb SSD).

He does some video editing for YouTube, mostly using video from his iPhone 6 and a 1080i HDCAM. So he needs a decent video card. Preferably NVIDIA based.

I want him to have an SSD for his OS drive and a 7200rpm hdd for his files. Most places I check only list a 5400rpm drive for the hdd. WTH?

He likes Windows 8.1. Go figure. Windows 7 Pro is fine if you ask me so wither Win7 Pro or Win8.1 Pro.

Wifi is a must. He has no way to Cat5 to his router.

12 GB of ram should work, though 16 would be cool.

He doesn't like flashy LED lights or loud fans. He despises big towers.

AND he needs to have a warranty and at least a year of technical support.

Options? He looked at the Alienware X51 systems but to go SSD the price premium is beyond laughable. $350 extra for a 250gb SSD? REALLY?!

Maybe I am spoiled from building my own systems and not paying these premiums, but I would like to help my friend out.
Were I not moving overseas the end of the year I would just build him a Shuttle. That's not an option. He will need tech support if he gets into trouble.

He can really go a bit over $1200, but I would like to keep him on budget.

Microsoft office and other software do not matter at all. He has a valid Office 2010 retail disc.

 

[Ken g6]

AND he needs to have a warranty and at least a year of technical support.

So he doesn't want to build it himself? That makes this harder.

Location: NYC

Is he in NYC too? There are several Micro Centers in NYC. They'll build a custom system for $130. They can also sell a warranty, but they don't say how much that is. Their CPUs are really cheap, though, and CPU/mobo bundles are even better, so that can remove some of the cost.

He does some video editing for YouTube, mostly using video from his iPhone 6 and a 1080i HDCAM. So he needs a decent video card. Preferably NVIDIA based.

Actually, these days, Intel graphics is decent if you're not gaming. What else is he doing besides video editing?

12 GB of ram should work, though 16 would be cool.

16GB is the max you can practically get right now on mini-ITX systems. That's why I'm waiting until Skylake comes out, hopefully in August, to build one for myself. When does he want his built by?

Edit: Does he need a KB/mouse/monitor in that budget?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Try this:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1H4WK9

You can always unplug the green light. Otherwise, it's a fairly powerful/premium system with a 1 year parts and 3 year labor warranty and lifetime tech support, and it's within his budget.

But yeah, speccing out a similar SFF system with just the parts and the Windows License?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HDGPTW

You're paying around $300 for the support/warranty.

It's up to your friend. Although I'm guessing you don't want to become the tech support agreement.

 

[Matt_Stevens]

Ken_G6... He has a monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer. Being realistic, 8GB of memory is likely fine, but it would be nice if he can expand. Besides video editing he watches a lot of HD video. No real gaming. He follows stocks, that sort of thing.

He is in western NJ so not terribly far from NYC and maybe even closer to the NJ Microcenter location. No way can he even think about building a PC himself. He really needs a turnkey system so if Microcenter can give him some sort of support or warranty, that could work. I'll have to call them tomorrow.

If I still lived in Jersey I could help him in person, but alas, I am down south now (and not here for much longer).

I wish I had known about Microcenter a month ago. I would have saved myself a lot of grief and just had them build my system. It would have been worth the money and an excuse to drive up to see my friends in NYC! 🙂

Try this:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1H4WK9

You can always unplug the green light. Otherwise, it's a fairly powerful/premium system with a 1 year parts and 3 year labor warranty and lifetime tech support, and it's within his budget.

You're paying around $300 for the support/warranty.

It's up to your friend. Although I'm guessing you don't want to become the tech support agreement.

Yes, my offering tech support is not ideal. Especially when I will quite literally be on the other side of the world by year's end. 😉

The Cyberpower specs are workable. This might be a great option and I will call him tomorrow to discuss.

Thanks.