El cheapo for my little bro

[kone18]

My brother just turned 21 and in an attempt to stumble to his bed and pass out, dumped a beer in his laptop. Now he needs a new computer for cheap and I said I'd build him one. He's a college student and doesn't need anything fancy, just something for music, writing papers, and running some software from the university.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Tomorrow

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: homework (office programs), music & general storage

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS (free from school)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, microcenter

PARTS PREFERENCES: none

OVERCLOCKING: Onboard graphics will do, and i may try and OC before he gets it.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: whatever the onboard graphics will do

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: none


SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223B $30.99

Foxconn TLM436-CN300C-01 Black / Silver Steel MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case 300W Power Supply

$39.99

COMBO
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Desktop Memory Model CMD4GX2M2A1066C5
GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX
Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5

$254.97


http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view ] my newegg cart [/url]


Any suggestions/problems?

 

[wathman]

Nope.. only way to get any cheaper would be to build a dinky barebones nettop. All the power of an intel Atom, with none of the portability!

 

[K2N hater]

too powerful for the purpose.

look for mini-ITX and pico-ITX motherboards. they're tiny and perform these tasks properly. also the little cases for these boards look mostly great. if you want it to run faster get SSD instead of a hard disk.

 

[kone18]

He basically wants it as cheap as possible, $325 for this build as I have it. As far as performance goes it is what it is. I was just wondering if there was a way to do it cheaper. Barebone system? A SSD is way to expensive and looks aren't important to him, he just wants something that works.

 

[jared51182]

You mentioned that it was his lappy, does he need the portability on campus? What about a cheap-o dell netbook.

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dndofm3&c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&kc=mini_laptop_deals

A few people here at work with me have them, and think they are great.

edit: you could also look into the Dell refurbs for further price cut.

 

[kone18]

thanks i'll run the dell by him. though i think that he's tired of the problems associated with laptops.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5241596&Sku=B69-0124

Should allow upgrades along the way as well. Btw, may want to change the PSU up along the way, but the $$ not sure you are going to do much better.