We put his bargain-hunting hat on,
and wears the confident air of someone who thinks they can buy a decent system
for $325.
I’ve been sent some amazingly expensive
equipment to review over the years. Some things I’ve greeted with a quiet envy
that I don’t own something that brilliantly conceived and constructed, while
some things have left me wondering who in their right mind would buy it.
For exactly that reason, I wouldn’t blow a
huge budget buying a PC, because the turnover of parts and technology will
relegate it to the status of also-ran in the blink of an eye. It’s a hard truth
that the majority of branded PCs currently leaving the factory are already
obsolete, in the strictest application of the word. The pace of change is unlikely
to slow down anytime soon, though, which leaves us all wondering what the best
plan is.
Well you could be tempted by those brands
that go on about ‘future proofing’ which, in their context, means spending
excessively on their most advanced products. Or, you could work on the basis
that a PC is concurrent for about 3-4 years, and on those timescales you’ll buy
something new and cheap to replace the cheap and cheerful system you previously
purchased. That might not seem especially friendly to the environment, but it
will be lighter on your pocket.
That begs the question exactly how
inexpensive can a system be? Well, if you’ve pulled it out of a skip, very
inexpensive, but for the sake of this article I’m going to talk about buying
systems.
I’ve given myself a budget of $325 to see
what I can achieve, and I’ve decided to look at a range of computers that you
might use to do typical office chores. If a system costing $325 lasts four
years then the cost of ownership, excluding power consumption, of just $80 per
annum seems a remarkably good deal.
What’s important to understand about many
of the systems I’m talking about is that, by definition, they’re not the very
latest hardware. That doesn’t preclude them from being useful pieces of
equipment that will run the latest version of Windows, though, or that they’re
incapable of performing many of the tasks that you need a system to perform.
First up let’s look at some cut-price
desktop systems, where I found some surprisingly pokey gear inside my $325
budget.
Desktop Choices
Given all the parts you need other than the
computer to actually work, I’m going to take the general assumption that you
will have a monitor, and possibly a mouse and keyboard too. So given that we’re
just talking about a base unit, what exactly can you buy with $325 burning a
hole in your pocket?
Zoostorm Desktop PC ($325 from Ebuyer)
This system is based on an Intel H61
chipset and offers the Intel Pentium DC G645 2.9GHz that, as the ‘DC’ suggests,
is a dual core CPU. Amazingly for this price this system also comes with 8GB of
RAM, a DVD Writer and a 500GB hard drive.
Zoostorm
Desktop PC
The processor uses socket 1155 (also called
H2), so you can replace it with something more impressive when your budget
allows. This is an original Sandy Bridge chipset, but in theory accepts new Ivy
Bridge processors. It also has a PCI Express x16 slot, so you could put a
discrete video card in here too. The only caveat to that plan is that the mATX
Tower case only comes with a 300 watt PSU, so there are limits to how much
expansion the system can reasonably handle.
On the plus side it has a PS/2 keyboard
port, lots of USB 2.0 (no USB 3.0), Gigabit LAN, six channel audio, and both
VGA and DVI video output. It also comes with a 1 year collect and return
warranty, and incredibly the price is inclusive of warranty.
What you do need to add, other than the
obvious peripheral items is an operating system, because the Zoostorm is
shipped devoid of one. Those wanting to stick to the $325 budget could use a
wide range of Linux distorts, or you could buy an upgrade version of Windows
for another $65, or a full OEM license for $114.
Primo 6000i ($317 from Overclockers UK)
The Primo is a low cost PC that
Overclockers will configure however you’d like it, but the basic system comes
for under $325. So what do you actually get for that price?
Primo
6000i
This is another Intel H61 system, like the
Zoostorm, except in his model they’ve used the Intel Pentium G620 2.60GHz CPU,
which is slightly slower than the G645. They also only provide 4GB of RAM,
though upgrading to 8GB costs you only $20.
Included in the base model is a 500GB hard
drive, a 24x DVD+RW SATA writer, and eight-channel audio.
There is probably slightly more legroom for
expansion in the Primo as, while it is a microATX Case and motherboard, it has
a 500W PSU to handle a much more powerful graphics option. The video you get as
standard is the Intel GMA X4500 that’s part of the CPU, which is fine for 2D
work and video playback, but hardly sufficient for fluid high resolution 3D
gaming.
There is no OS installed as standard, but
Windows 7 can be added for $80, and they’re offering a Windows 8 upgrade to
that for just $24 until January 31st.
HP Compaq DC7900 SFF Desktop PC ($273 from
Misco)
It appears that HP entirely miscalculated
how many business systems it would sell a couple of years back, and the DC7900
is still being shifted because of that. As sold at this price, this is a rather
old design built on the Intel Q45 chipset that first came out in 2008. Basically,
this is a four year old computer!
HP
Compaq DC7900 SFF Desktop PC
That said, the Core 2 Duo E8400 processor
it comes with was a sterling performer, and you do also get 2GB of RAM and an
80GB hard drive in the small form factor box. But these aren’t really the big
selling point, that’s the fact that you also get Windows 7 Professional on it.
This is old technology, but if speed isn’t
critical this is a very competitive price for a fully working built for
business system that comes with a 12 month warranty.
Dell Optiplex 745 MT ($293 from
Microdream Ltd)
This won’t be a big surprise to learn that
this system isn’t coming from Dell directly, who stopped selling this
particular type of Optiplex some time ago. These systems are sold as
‘Refurbished’ by Microdream, and as such they come with no small amount of
caveats.
Dell
Optiplex 745 MT
My experience of buying refurbished
hardware has swung wildly from items that looked entirely new to those that had
definitely seen better days. It’s a gamble, but those that win can get good
hardware for a song.
If you decide you are willing to take that
chance, then in this example you get a Core 2 Duo E2160 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM,
an 80GB hard drive, an Nvidia GeForce GT 610 video card, and Windows 7 in the
bundle.
For another $11 they’ll provide a mouse and
keyboard, and a 12 month warranty for $48. If you don’t take that last option
then it is only covered for 3 months, barely enough time to really test it
properly.
This system is sold as ‘Gaming Ready’ which
given the capabilities of the GeForce GT 610 I’d strongly suggest is an
oversell, but I can’t deny that the combination of a workable solution and a
Windows 7 license is an attractive one.
This is just one of the many system that
Microdream are shipping currently, and they can even offer you a system with a
monitor for less than $325 if you are happy with refurbished equipment, and the
very limited warranty that it comes with.
