Purchasing a system for a friend.

[ManBearPig]

Heres the deal...we have a friend that got a heart transplant, and over the last few years hes been really down and depressed, and he doesnt have many friends and hes pretty independent, but one thing he loves to do is get on the internet and just look at all sorts of stuff, and email people the things he finds. He doesnt really have enough money to get a lot of things, let alone a new computer, because he cant work due to his heart and he only gets a little bit of money since he is a veteran.

Anyway, the computer he uses sucks complete ass...it has like 64mb of ram, the shittiest processor ever, and he can only run windows 95 (or 98?) on it...he cant even view certain pages because the computer cant handle it.

I want to spend like $200-300 and get him a new computer. I know, it's not a lot, but i really dont have a lot of money either. is there anything you guys recommend? i think i have seen systems advertised around this range, but that was a while ago.

Is there anything you recommend?

 

[RPatrick]

I would check on Craiglist. If you are looking for a PC just for surfing, you can surely find one with windows XP that is fully internet capable for less than $200, probably much less.

 

[ther00kie16]

$300 should be doable. $400 would be enough for a Dell with a LCD or a cheap notebook. $300 could net you a system from Dell outlet when they have an outlet deal again. Otherwise, outside of Black Friday, I don't know when you can expect to get a system for $300, maybe the day after Christmas?
Geeks has old p4 refurbished systems for ~$100 but without monitor, operating system or accessories so it's probably a bad idea.
My suggestion is to wait to see if there are any $299 deals (perhaps day after christmas).
I see new Dell Vostro 200s on ebay for ~$335. If you use the live cashback (which is currently 20% but was at 30% just recently), it would end up being less than $300. That would be fine. Or if you can, try raising some more money (~$400) and get him a whole system from Dell that would include a LCD.

 

[ManBearPig]

thanks for the suggestions guys. I think i want to get him something without a monitor because he already has some that people gave him (or if all else fails, i will give him one of ours). i'll stay on the lookout. i figure it wont be terrible hard to come by because it doesnt have to be a really powerful system.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

This for $300 is more than adequate. I'd go for this over anything off craigslist or even a custom-built to give him a year of support.

 

[ther00kie16]

Originally posted by: Rockinacoustic
This for $300 is more than adequate. I'd go for this over anything off craigslist or even a custom-built to give him a year of support.

yea, i recommend looking for a vostro 200 on ebay (~$350 or <$300 after cashback) for more ram and dvd-rw because that one only has 1gb which is painful for a vista system and also no burner so he wouldn't be able to burn discs.

 

[Blain]

The Dell Vostro line is just the ticket for this situation. :thumbsup::laugh:

 

[DSF]

If you can't find a computer with a monitor for the right price, check for monitors on craigslist. Working CRTs in the 17-19" range are usually $20 or less, and often free.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Kazaam
thanks for the suggestions guys.
I think i want to get him something without a monitor because he already has some that people gave him (or if all else fails, i will give him one of ours).

 

[ManBearPig]

Alright, thanks a lot for the vostro idea...it seems pretty reasonable. only bad thing is the memory, and id ideally like for him to have a dvd burner since he loves movies, but we'll see...

 

[Denithor]

Memory & DVD burners are dirt cheap.

Like $20 for 2GB and $20 for a speedy DVDRW. Just look around newegg and also the hot deals forum, sometimes you can get memory even cheaper (I picked up 4GB from frys.com for $20AR about three weeks ago).

 

[Blain]

You can't have everything at a bargain basement price. :shocked:
I want him to have SLI 280's, but that's not going to happen on $200-$300.

 

[Crusty]

Have you thought a Netbook at all?

 

[ther00kie16]

get a vostro on ebay. i can't link you one but search buy it now, vostro 200 on ebay. i see one at $339 ($271.20 after 20% live.com cashback) that comes with e2220, 2gb ram and dvd burner. that should be plenty. if you want to save more, i'd wait until live.com cashback goes up to 25% or 30%. by the way, dell warranty is transferable so no need to worry about that.

 

[AVP]

I agree with therookie, get something on ebay with the live.com cashback. Just make sure you don't buy him a system with vista that has under 2gb ram and is either a c2d or athlon x2!

 

[ManBearPig]

Originally posted by: ther00kie16
get a vostro on ebay. i can't link you one but search buy it now, vostro 200 on ebay. i see one at $339 ($271.20 after 20% live.com cashback) that comes with e2220, 2gb ram and dvd burner. that should be plenty. if you want to save more, i'd wait until live.com cashback goes up to 25% or 30%. by the way, dell warranty is transferable so no need to worry about that.

Thats pretty awesome...how does cashback work? it just comes as a check iirc, right? and is that new or used?

 

[ther00kie16]

Yea, make sure to buy the new ones and ask seller to transfer warranty through dell's website. Some sellers have them shipped directly from Dell apparently so then you would have to register the system for warranty.
The live.com ebay cashback can be read about in detail here.
Basically, create a live.com account (or use your existing hotmail) and open the cashback account part (or transfer from jellyfish.com if you used to use that because Microsoft bought it and it's now live.com cashback).
Search for any item like "ps3" on live.com and click on the ebay link that says "you may get 20% off with paypal if eligible". Buy a Buy-It-Now item in the window that opens from that link within 60 minutes (has to be through ebay's checkout though; 3rd party checkout, except for buy.com, won't qualify) and make sure the % off banner is always there as you go through the steps of checking out. I think it will tell you if the item is not eligible before you are committed to buy the item. After you pay for the item (like within an hour or so), you should get a message that will tell you to click on it to get your cashback. It will link to live.com where you login to your account and the cashback should show up. It's 60 days before checkout but recently some people are getting instant cashback, but no one seems to have figured out why.

 

[ManBearPig]

Bump to see if anyone else has any suggestions.

 

[ther00kie16]

Sorry, appears as if ebay cashback is dead (for now). People on slickdeals seemed to know what was going to happen with the cashback recently and I think they are right about it being dead now, possibly permanently.

 

[ther00kie16]

Hey, it seems as if there's still 15%. You just have to keep clicking search for a term like "wii" over and over until the 15% shows up.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'd build, myself. You might not save money, but you get the satisfaction of knowing exactly what goes into your computer, and you have the option to overclock.

I'd go with the cheapest G31-chipset mobo on NewEgg. $53
E5200 $78
4GB of Gskill DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 memory $40
DVD burner $20
case + PSU - suit to choice, $50
WD 6400AAKS HD $75

You could stick with the onboard video to save costs, and you could overclock the E5200 to around 3.75Ghz @ 1.4v. It's quite the budget powerhouse. Plenty of nice, fast, storage space with the 640GB WD HD.

 

[ManBearPig]

anything good thats $300 lately, or should i stick with the vostro?

 

[Blain]

Vostro