Cheap desktop

secondtoughest

I'm looking for a cheap desktop. I have a lovely big monitor so I just need the base unit. All I'm going to use it for is for is downloading and burning DVDs. I have a work laptop I can use for browsing.

Can any recommend something for me? I'd like to spend under £300 - the desktop will only be used for the tasks mentioned above. Any particular places online that'll do good sales after Xmas?

Thank you.

Blacksheep1979

just get an external dvd burner for your laptop (and harddrive if you need more space) if that's all you need/want it for.

secondtoughest

Can I funnel my files from an external HD through my laptop to an external DVD burner? I'm not sure how they work.

epz_2

secondtoughest wrote: »

Can I funnel my files from an external HD through my laptop to an external DVD burner? I'm not sure how they work.

yeah simple.

external 500gig drive will be £60 and i doubt an external burner will be over £40.

if i were you i would get a nas disk, basicly the same as an external drive except it connects to your network rather than usb port and you mount it as a shared drive. it means less cables etc, some even have video out and remote controls so you can just dump divx files on them and play it on your tv.

krono6

You should build your own PC.
It's easier than most people assume. My PC costs roughly £280, and it's very decent.
www.komplett.co.uk Go there, and check their "Upgrade Kits". They feature the Motherboard, CPU and RAM sticks in a nice bundle, then the other parts, like the hard drive and such (organize from price, usually the cheapest works just as good as the rest).
Also, try to make sure your upgrade kit features a motherboard with VGA (that way you don't have to shell out for another graphics card).
So, my current PC, around £280 with shipping, has the following specs;
CPU: Dual Core AMD Athlon 4800+ (2.4GHz, overclockable).
RAM: 2GB (2x1GB sticks) DDR2 RAM.
Hard Drive: 250GB Spinpoint 7200RPM IDE (SATA drives are around the same price, too).
Graphics: Integrated nVidia GeForce 6100 (256MB dedicated, 512MB shared).
Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD-RW/RAM Drive w/Hardware Buffer.
PSU: 500 Watt w/SATA Power Cables.
Motherboard also supports SATA, and PCI-e x16 if you wish to put in a modern graphics card later on.

Don't be discouraged about building a rig, it's very simple, you just need to be careful. It's simply a matter of slotting things here and there.

secondtoughest

Thanks for your advice. I'm currently bidding on cheap desktops on Ebay, setting myself a budget and not going over it as there's enough around. I reckon I can pick up what I need for around £150 if I'm shrewd enough. I have 2 external HDs already.

My last PC was a self build, but a mate did it and as we're not in the same area I can't rely on him this time. I'm not confident enough I can do it myself... we'll see :rolleyes:

Blacksheep1979

epz wrote: »

it means less cables etc, .

How does a NAS have less cables? It has a power cable and an ethernet cable = 2 a normal external hd has a power cable and a usb lead....

If the op (no offense meant here to the op) doesn't even know that you can use an external hd effectively the same as an internal one I think there's no point overcomplicating the matter with network storage devices.

bookduck

Komplette is a bit expensive compared to novatech even though their spec is slightly higher? Ebuyer should be cheaper and Novatech.co.uk is not too bad, especially if you have a case, a Motherboard, memory, processor bundle night be worth it

Looking around, came across this and value for moneywise/spec it is not that shabby at all (the HP one! ) http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=7258687&posted=1#post7258687

epz_2

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

How does a NAS have less cables? It has a power cable and an ethernet cable = 2 a normal external hd has a power cable and a usb lead....

If the op (no offense meant here to the op) doesn't even know that you can use an external hd effectively the same as an internal one I think there's no point overcomplicating the matter with network storage devices.

ok less cables hanging out the laptop you are using. i dont give a monkeys how cables many sit behind my tv plugged into my router. with wifi i can either have a power lead or run on battery, and not trip over wires when i want to move about.

Blacksheep1979

not really going to want to be moving around much burning dvd's is the op?

secondtoughest

Bump.. still looking.

By the plethora of choice on Ebay I'm loathe to pay over £250 for what I want.. any ideas? Any decent sellers on there?

Anywhere with a decent sale.. Aria & Ebuyer don't seem to have anything for the price range, maybe I'm being too optimistic?