Build for internet browsing + using itunes (no gaming)

[oli_ramsay]

I've been asked to price up a couple of builds for a friend's mum. She'll just be using it for itunes and internet (nothing heavy and definitely no gaming).

I've been out of the loop for a while and would love your opinions on what's the best CPU for the job. Maybe an AMD trinity APU? I've no idea what's good value at the minute seeing as the last machine I built was about a year ago (see specs).

Also considering an SSD for OS (but don't want to buy an old crappy one by accident), and 1 or 2TB HDD for storage (I'll be avoiding Seagate this time round!).

I'll be using ebuyer.com

Thanks in advance

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I see no reason to build a system for her. A laptop or all-in-one will do just fine.

 

[oli_ramsay]

I see no reason to build a system for her. A laptop or all-in-one will do just fine.

She wants a price, then she'll decide.

 

[oli_ramsay]

Maybe you could recommend an all in one? is Lenovo a reliable brand?

 

[AsRock]

Sounds like some thing like this would do the trick.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883156144

or a laptop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883156144

Get one of the new samsung SSD's or Corsairs u it to 4GB and should be good.

 

[oli_ramsay]

She's got quite a bit of money so I could build something half decent just without a graphics card. No need for that old thing which they don't ship to the UK anyway, even though that is excellent value.

 

[Kursah]

So do a sub $400 build...go with a newer haswell w/GPU...there's some ~$70 options iirc, 4GB ddr3, a small ASRock board, Rosewill case, and a 500GB-1TB HDD, maybe a $15-20 DVD burner, and an Antec, rosewill, etc. ~400W 80+ PSU. Should be able to easily come in under $400 and be amazing...though this does not include OS. I leave that choice up to the customer. I've sold even amounts of 8.1 pro and 7 SP1 pro. Slap MSE + Malwarebytes on 7 and Malwarebytes on 8.1 Pro. Set a 10-20GB Windows restore allocation, Good to go.

One could even go cheaper and probably do sub-$300. I prefer to spend a little extra on the quality PSU...and the newer cpu with iGPU is excellent. Low power usage, very efficient, GPU can do more than enough, even light-med gaming, etc.

Hope that helps!

 

[oli_ramsay]

So do a sub $400 build...go with a newer haswell w/GPU...there's some ~$70 options iirc, 4GB ddr3, a small ASRock board, Rosewill case, and a 500GB-1TB HDD, maybe a $15-20 DVD burner, and an Antec, rosewill, etc. ~400W 80+ PSU. Should be able to easily come in under $400 and be amazing...though this does not include OS. I leave that choice up to the customer. I've sold even amounts of 8.1 pro and 7 SP1 pro. Slap MSE + Malwarebytes on 7 and Malwarebytes on 8.1 Pro. Set a 10-20GB Windows restore allocation, Good to go.

One could even go cheaper and probably do sub-$300. I prefer to spend a little extra on the quality PSU...and the newer cpu with iGPU is excellent. Low power usage, very efficient, GPU can do more than enough, even light-med gaming, etc.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, this is just type of reply I was looking for

 

[thebluebumblebee]

She's got quite a bit of money so I could build something half decent just without a graphics card. No need for that old thing which they don't ship to the UK anyway, even though that is excellent value.

Are you thinking a quality build, maybe even a silent system? No HDD, only SSD for example?

 

[oli_ramsay]

How's this look?

 

[thebluebumblebee]

I don't understand building a system exactly like what she could buy "off the shelf".

 

[CJCerny]

I don't even understand why she needs a PC. This is a case for an iPad if I ever heard one.

 

[oli_ramsay]

I don't understand building a system exactly like what she could buy "off the shelf".

Me neither but that's what the customer wants

I've told the middleman this, but he wants money and so do I lol, plus I'd enjoy building one.

If someone asks me to build them a PC I'm not going to tell them to use an iPad. A PC would be much more powerful, better to use for long periods of time etc etc She obviously wants one else she wouldn't ask.

 

[Devon68]

Maybe this:
http://orders.ebuyer.com/customer/shopping/index.html?action=c2hvd2NhcnQ=

 

[Kursah]

I don't understand building a system exactly like what she could buy "off the shelf".

By the time you get that thing home, from said shelf, there's piles of bloatware, possibly sold on "extended warranties" which are more hassle than they're worth in many instances, and a lower quality machine that one could build. That's where the difference between a custom build, even at that price point and a mass-produced unit differ. If at all possible, even with used parts, I prefer to do builds. I can have better control of the quality going into my units. My place of employment deals primarily with Lenovo, which I've liked until the M73 series...so far not been impressed..especially for the price.

Sure she could go with a tablet or laptop all day long, but neither can quite match the capabilities or longevity of a nicely built desktop, at least in my experience. I have seen far more issues with portable items. The more we support such a thing at a lower level, the more reason there is for custom builds up the ladder too. It'd be nice to see more of this and less of the mass produced bullshit imho, sure convenience is one thing, but if a customer wants it, who are we to say no? Give them options, yes, cater to their needs and their budget, absolutely. I for one think that's a good build, and a solid plan for the customer. A system like that with basic use would last years upon years...and years past the tablets and laptops that would more than likely need replaced or repaired much sooner, thus leading to higher expenses and still lesser capabilities overall should she find a need. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks that way though.

Portable units have their place, the dreaded e-machines style off-the-shelf choices have their place as well, so do economy-based custom builds that blow away their off-the-shelf competition, have upgradability, and in my experience at-least makes more sense, especially should that person call upon you for any further issues, I find driver support is better with brands I stick with...versus the HP, Dell, Lenovos, which are generally good, they can't match the component builds I've done for driver support. Again that's my experience.

 

[oli_ramsay]

By the time you get that thing home, from said shelf, there's piles of bloatware, possibly sold on "extended warranties" which are more hassle than they're worth in many instances, and a lower quality machine that one could build. That's where the difference between a custom build, even at that price point and a mass-produced unit differ. If at all possible, even with used parts, I prefer to do builds. I can have better control of the quality going into my units. My place of employment deals primarily with Lenovo, which I've liked until the M73 series...so far not been impressed..especially for the price.

Sure she could go with a tablet or laptop all day long, but neither can quite match the capabilities or longevity of a nicely built desktop, at least in my experience. I have seen far more issues with portable items. The more we support such a thing at a lower level, the more reason there is for custom builds up the ladder too. It'd be nice to see more of this and less of the mass produced bullshit imho, sure convenience is one thing, but if a customer wants it, who are we to say no? Give them options, yes, cater to their needs and their budget, absolutely. I for one think that's a good build, and a solid plan for the customer. A system like that with basic use would last years upon years...and years past the tablets and laptops that would more than likely need replaced or repaired much sooner, thus leading to higher expenses and still lesser capabilities overall should she find a need. Maybe I'm the only one that thinks that way though.

Portable units have their place, the dreaded e-machines style off-the-shelf choices have their place as well, so do economy-based custom builds that blow away their off-the-shelf competition, have upgradability, and in my experience at-least makes more sense, especially should that person call upon you for any further issues, I find driver support is better with brands I stick with...versus the HP, Dell, Lenovos, which are generally good, they can't match the component builds I've done for driver support. Again that's my experience.

Exactly, a similar system from PC world is £65 more than the one I'd build. Plus it consists of lower quality components (mobo + PSU especially as these are the things that are likely to fail).

Plus nothing beats the comfort of sitting at a desk and having mouse and keyboard and a big screen (things a laptop or tablet couldn't offer)

I'm actually thinking of doing this as a business or something on the side for a bit of extra cash. It's something I enjoy, but I'm not sure there's a market for it. Would most people rather have a laptop/tablet than a PC?

 

[Dent1]

Also be careful, once you build a computer they'll be calling you all hours when things go wrong.

"Internet Explorer is crashing. What do I do".
"Why does my friends computer work faster"
"Since you touched it iTunes stopped working"

 

[Arjai]

I prefer my PC because of the control I have with components and storage. I also love my UltraBook, because I am mobile and this is plenty capable for my needs, including crunching for WCG!!

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Also be careful, once you build a computer they'll be calling you all hours when things go wrong.

"Internet Explorer is crashing. What do I do".
"Why does my friends computer work faster"
"Since you touched it iTunes stopped working"

+1

 

[suraswami]

one of the cheap AM1 quad-core combos?

 

[Kursah]

Also be careful, once you build a computer they'll be calling you all hours when things go wrong.

"Internet Explorer is crashing. What do I do".
"Why does my friends computer work faster"
"Since you touched it iTunes stopped working"

This can and will happen. Pretty easy to deal with, set them up with Teamviewer ahead of time, remote on...have them duplicate the issue. If it can't be fixed in five minutes, then they'll need to be charged for service. Or if it can't be duplicated they'll back off. Works pretty well for me. Picky people will be picky...regardless. How you handle them can keep them at bay and recommending you, which could be okay. If you get into working on and fixing PC's and networks, you'll have this. There's no sales and service area where you don't have something similar. So odds are if you've had any real experience in the field in about any sales and service (i.e. automotive, ohv, PC, networking, supplies, electronics, phones, clothes, shoes, etc, etc, etc...), you've already dealt with these kinds of people. They are unavoidable, so treat them right but balance with not letting them get everything for free...it will balance out.

 

[kajson]

I'm not an expert, but in your case it might be worth while to actually invest in some form of creative soundcard and a couple of decent speakers? Or are the speakers covered? A combination of those 2 can make a big difference in sound quality. Though maybe someone else can advice on decent budget options in that department. I'd go with a haswell processor, just because of the better igpu.

If you are really bored and want to invest countless hours building and cry because of stuff not working like you thought, you could also looking into building a hackintosh

 

[Dent1]

I'm not an expert, but in your case it might be worth while to actually invest in some form of creative soundcard and a couple of decent speakers? Or are the speakers covered? A combination of those 2 can make a big difference in sound quality. Though maybe someone else can advice on decent budget options in that department. I'd go with a haswell processor, just because of the better igpu.

If you are really bored and want to invest countless hours building and cry because of stuff not working like you thought, you could also looking into building a hackintosh

Hackintosh

 

[Delta6326]

Total is $383 need Keyboard, monitor, etc. This will do everything they need it to plus it's very low power.

 

[oli_ramsay]

Just finished build, specs I went with:

Got windows 8.1 update 1 x64 on there

Couple of questions:

- I installed in using a monitor with a res of 1920x1200, will this auto-change when it's plugged into a lower resolution monitor?
- Should I keep the warranty paperwork?


Cheers for help so far