Is it crazy to buy a prebuilt tower?

B

bmigga

Member
Looking for a tower to go upstairs in my parents office. (I'm only 20!) I just started getting real into Computer building/learning when I enrolled in an IT program, so i'm still new and definitely WAY under qualified to attempt a build.

Looking for a Desktop around the $500.00 range. My parents are using it for marketing their business online, holding file storage, word documents, spreadsheets, etc. Very business-y. I know its such a broad question, but I was just wondering if there are any brands/models you would recommend?

Thanks..
 
Unless you want a pretty powerfull computer (which by the looks of it you dont really need) then its fine buying a pre built one.

But maybe building one would be good practice for you :) and you will get a better one for your money and its not too hard just make sure you know what your doing (just look it up on the internet etc. ) i mean im 16 and nowhere near a computer nerd and im building one soon (gotta get the money first :L )
 
it'll be a lot cheaper building a computer, and it's pretty mad fun. greatest feeling ever when you hit the power button and it all works. Like, I'm 15 and i've built myself one, and am within days of building another for my dad's buisiness. if you want a computer that will definately work when you get it, go for a pre-built. if you want to have some fun, build your own
 
The previous posts sum most of it up. This computer won't be doing anything fancy. If you build it you will get all the components you want and better quality parts.
 
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Its just that building seems a bit too over my head right now. I'm taking a Computer Repair and Maintenance class in the fall. Maybe after I have some experience with taking apart, and putting towers back together, then i'll feel comfortable doing it.

I wouldn't know what all parts I need to order, what wouldn't be compatible together, etc. Ya know?
 
For that budget it'd probably be better to buy a prebuilt. It's cheap enough so that it'll be hard to beat if you factor in monitor, keyboard, mouse, and operating system.
 
You should go for a prebuilt one in that budget since you think you are not ready to build one.And also you $100 of OS makes your budget $400 for hardware.So better to get a prebuilt one.And you also need a keyboard mouse and a monitor and these are the things the prebuilt manufacturers are good at pricing so....
 
Most people buy pre-built PCs. You get a product that works, with the minimum risk. You pay a bit more for a bit less. You usually get bloatware if you buy from a box store. I've always found the PCs I've bought (mostly from local companies) come with a load of free software that is not bloatware and is worth quite a lot of money. Usually basic versions but good enough for most users. Anti-malware programs and firewalls are available for free that work fine so there is no need to keep the trial versions of paid AV apps.

Although there is some risk, skip any maintenance contracts. Modern electronics are reliable and parts still have the normal guarantee. You may have a problem but if you never buy any contracts, you will win in the long run.

If you are buying at discount stores, the hardware tends to be on the way out in the lifecycle - that's often why it is cheap. I try and buy all the extra hardware and apps I will ever need in the first 2 years. After that you start to run into availability and compatibility problems.

You will usually be advised in the forum to build your own. It's a good way to learn but probably best if the PC is for yourself. There are risks in putting things together yourself. Rushing to meet someone else's deadline is not good.

I can't give any recommendations as I don't buy enough PCs. There are plenty of reviews available. The well-known brands got that way by providing PCs that suit the average user. HP are better known for business machines but others will work fine too. It's not a demanding application.
 
Pc

Go ahead and buy a HP or Dell Desktop for typical office work. If you were going to build a smoking pc for games or for processor intensive software I would build one but the seems not to be the case.
You also might consider buying a HP Laptop. You can get one at Office Depot for around $500 with an Intel I5 chip.
 
Well I've already got a genuine Win 7 professional, so purchasing OS won't be a problem. So that leaves a $500 budget for a build, or a desktop. Is $500 even enough to complete a custom build!? I figured a good solid build would be at least a grand minimum.

And I've thought about a laptop, but my parents are getting kind of old (still love them!) and they were wanting a bigger monitor. However, a larger monitor doesn't have to be included in the budget YET. So I could just upgrade the monitor later.

Just trying to make a decision. I'm terribly indecisive.
 
Openbizsite said:
Go ahead and buy a HP or Dell Desktop for typical office work. If you were going to build a smoking pc for games or for processor intensive software I would build one but the seems not to be the case.
You also might consider buying a HP Laptop. You can get one at Office Depot for around $500 with an Intel I5 chip.
Click to expand...

HP's customer service is a joke. in my experience, just don't go there
 
Okay, so if I did decide to do a build, what is a good site or post on CF that will tell me all the components I need? Not actual brands, but just items that I will need for a build?
 
Ok Try this.
CPU - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871
Motherboard - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157199
RAM - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394
HDD - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181
Monitor - $136
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009261
PSU - $35(After rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139017
Speaker - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121019
Case - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103036
Keyboard & Mouse - $14
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823575005
DVD Burner - $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334

Total - $516
Including a 21.5" FUll HD monitor and keyboard and speakers.
And a Quad Core and 4 GB or DDR3 - 1333 MHz memory and 500Gb of HDD and a DVD burner and a really nice PSU.
 
You won't regret building a system in my opinion. The first system I built wasn't that good because I picked poor quality parts. I like the list of parts Mihir came up with. I would change one part on his list though. Go with this hard drive over the other one. It has less storage capacity but it is faster. A hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in a system so get this faster model. I own this model and get 148 megabyte per second read speeds with it.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD322GJ/U 320 gigabyte 7200 RPM Serial ATA 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52244&cm_re=sAMSUNG_F4-_-22-152-244-_-Product

Also get a good surge protector. Get one with indicator lights.
 
2048Megabytes said:
You won't regret building a system in my opinion. The first system I built wasn't that good because I picked poor quality parts. I like the list of parts Mihir came up with. I would change one part on his list though. Go with this hard drive over the other one. It has less storage capacity but it is faster. A hard drive is the biggest bottleneck in a system so get this faster model. I own this model and get 148 megabyte per second read speeds with it.

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F4 HD322GJ/U 320 gigabyte 7200 RPM Serial ATA 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...52244&cm_re=sAMSUNG_F4-_-22-152-244-_-Product

Also get a good surge protector. Get one with indicator lights.
Click to expand...

:eek: Actually I almost put that drive only but I thought since it is for office use maybe the drive speed won't be much of a bottleneck. Eitherways 148MBPS is amazing.If I were building one I would have gotten that.
Maybe even I should get one of those.Pretty fast huh.!!!!

+1 on the surge protector.I have lost a Motherboard and a PSU and a DVD burner because of lack of it.

PS. LOL why do you like megabytes(word) so much. instead of 148MBPS you wrote megabytes and instead of 2Gb or 2048MB it is 2048 Megabytes. LOL :D:D
 
I dislike a lot of abbreviations because they change the english language. English grammar is bad enough and adding acronyms and abbreviations just makes it worst.

With newbies it is best not to use acronyms and abbreviations since they may not know what you are talking about.
 
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