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Help me build/buy the cheapest decent PC money can buy

  • admiral_p
    Resident Tankie ☭

    My parents' business desperately needs a new PC. They are currently using a piece of crap with an old dual core CPU and 2GB RAM. They mustn't spend more than €300 because otherwise the proposition will appear too expensive, considering the kind of use they make of it. It's a basic office PC, they don't need anything with any kind of grunt, they only use it for replying to e-mails or Facebook PMs, edit Word LibreOffice Writer files, some spreadsheets, etc. The key is thrift. Oh and it must be well supported under Linux, as they use Ubuntu.

    There is no need for portability, a regular desktop (even a small-form-factor one) is perfectly fine, we'd use the old screen (as small and low res as it is, it's good enough).

    I'm thinking of getting something based around an AMD APU (a Ryzen based one, of course), 4/8GB RAM (why not 8GB at this point?) and an SSD (even just a 256GB one is fine). All the components/products (even a prebuilt PC is fine) must be available in Europe.

    1 Parody 1 Reply
  • Cursorkeys
    🚽 Regular

    Honestly, at that price I'd go second-hand. We just picked up some Win 10 machines from a bankruptcy for 50 quid each. You aren't going to build anything with parts from a named manufacturer for that budget so a second-hand, decent, make like Dell or HP would be miles better.

    Edit:

    must be well supported under Linux, as they use Ubuntu.

    I haven't had any problems with support for many years, I'll be willing to bet that anything you pick up will be fine. Especially as they won't need to having gaming graphics support.

    3
  • Lukfi

    Since it's for a business, I am assuming you need some official proof of purchase to put into accounting and therefore buying second-hand components from a private consumer who cannot issue that could be out of the question?

    1
  • Applied Mediocrity
    Considered Harmful

    I would argue that it is almost possible (or easily possible if the sum is without VAT; idk how business purchases are taxed in Italy).

    AMD: https://www.caseking.de/save-cart/b37510e68e2628067bc6
    Intel: https://www.caseking.de/save-cart/66a99db2ca94c8268b7c

    And that's without "Won Hung Low" parts.

    However, I would agree with @Cursorkeys - check what's available second-hand. New stuff is new, there's warranty and all, but it doesn't seem like a good purchase considering your old folks' needs and the sum involved.

    3
  • Jaloopa
    kills Dumbledore

    As a halfway point between used and new, consider refurbished pre built machines. They might be an older line than the current models but will be nearly new, thoroughly tested and have a decent discount.

    4
  • Parody

    @admiral_p Around here I'd tell you to buy a cheap refurbished machine (typically a lease return). I don't know if you have computer stores that sell those where you are, or if you have a good online store from which you can order them, but if you do then they're a good way to get a decent machine for not a lot of money.

    2
  • R

    Given that you don't really have any other requirement than "cheap", I'd suggest having a look at the entry-level offers of any big chain?

    It obviously depends on your local retailers, but for comparison I had a look on fnac.com (a well-known electronics & book, CDs etc. chain in France, which doesn't have a particularly "low cost" image). The first prices are at 100 EUR, for which price you get what I assume are refurbished ones (from "partner" vendors). Filtering the results to only include brand new ones actually sold by the shop, it starts at 300 EUR. I'm pretty sure I could find cheaper stuff by going to some more mass-market shops (i.e. supermarkets).

    I'm not saying to blindly buy any cheap deal you find (some of those are likely crap!), but I'm saying that rather than building your own, you can probably just pick an off-the-shelves one that will fit you bill (quite literally!).

    0
  • Polygeekery
    Grade A Premium Asshole

    Check eBay for something second hand. G1 and G2 Hp EliteDesk models go for dirt cheap on there. A friend needed a cheap machine for some CNC project a while back and I suggested the same and he picked up a EliteDesk for ~$150USD delivered. 8GB of RAM and a 250GB SSD.

    You would have to check your local auction site of course, but for comparison:

    https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F233254584731

    $109 delivered. Pop a $30 SSD in it and you have a massive upgrade from what they have now for way under your budget. For that price, get two and still be under budget.

    2 Tsaukpaetra 1 Reply
  • Tsaukpaetra
    Notification Spam Recipient

    @Polygeekery said in Help me build/buy the cheapest decent PC money can buy:

    Pop a $30 SSD

    Like these?

    I actually just got a few for unrelated purposes.

    I also popped for these just for shits and giggles.

    1 Polygeekery 1 Reply
  • Polygeekery
    Grade A Premium Asshole

    @Tsaukpaetra Amazon says I have ordered this one 7 times:

    1
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