Dragons Hobbies Forum
General Category => Blogs => Topic started by: Dragon on March 08, 2010, 15:33:17
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In addition to all the other stuff I get in my email, I get newsletters from PC Mag. I saw the headline for an article that caught my eye called, "How to Build a Kid's Desktop PC (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2360849,00.asp)." Having a reasonable cost seemed to be one point of the article, but with a total of about $900 that didn't seem much like a computer I'd build for my kids. Other than a laptop that I bought a few years ago, I haven't paid that much for a computer in over 10 years. If they had suggested some parts that came up under $400, it might have been an article worth saving. Actually, my wife saw a brand new laptop for under $300 in the sales paper. Maybe our house is a little out of the ordinary, since we have more than one PC in use many times anyway, but I think that the kids should be just fine with secondhand PCs.
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I went back to that PCMag article to see some other the other comments. Of course, the consensus is that $900 is too much to spend for a kid's computer. Here's another comment from there that I liked. This actually describes a PC that someone could build for under $400.
$900 for a slow computer for the kids?!? $230 for a motherboard - are you nuts?
How about an Athlon II X3 435 for $75 with a $65 785G motherboard? 4GB of DDR3-1333 Ram would be $95. A basic case with 80% efficient power supply for $65. A 500GB hard drive for $50. The Lite-on drive you suggest at $39. If you don't have an old keybaord/mouse that's another $25. I'd use an old copy of XP or Vista, but if you need to buy an OS, Windows 7 OEM Home Premium can be found for under $100.
So, I'm at $350 for the computer plus $100 if you need an operating system. This is about half of what you came up with for a much faster computer with twice the storage space. When an upgrade is needed, I'd go with a graphic card and/or a faster quad core Athlon or Phenom.
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I don't even spend that much on a computer for me!!! It's a fun thing to do every 3rd or 4th Thanksgiving. Which ad has the best price on a computer? Doesn't matter what the specs are as EVERYTHING will be new and upgraded from what we're using now...
This strategy has worked for me for a couple decades now...