Feeler thread for my boss. General pricing.

[Bob002]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc Page layout and some graphic design. Nothing terribly high-end, though. For a print magazine.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? Let's say 500-700ish.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible. US, Area Code 65616
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need. Let's say: Mobo, CPU, Ram, HDD, Possibly vid card, Optical Drive, PS, Case. Don't need a sound card, necesarily.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. Nothing.
6) Will you be overclocking? No.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? It's probably some 19 inch older monitor. Non-WS.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? This is just a plan atm, nothing set. Want to give her some numbers.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc. Nothing in particular. We have a storage server already. About the only thing would probably be a 1GB/S NIC.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Possibly, but let's go with no; Need 32-bit, I'd imagine.

right now I'm just trying to get a feeler for my boss. We have an older comp that crapped the bed and she took it to Staples to find out the MOBO was dead. They quoted her $300 (I know nothing about the computer to try and tell you what the actual cost would be).

We don't *need* it right now, but should we need something new, I'd like to tell her a ballpark price and show her what it would get her.

 

[Dangman]

Assuming that you don't want to buy a prebuilt from Dell or Lenovo, here's what I recommend:
$130 - Intel Core i3-2120
$90 - Intel BOXDH67BLB3 Intel H67 mATX Motherboard
$37 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$91 - Hitachi HDS721050CLA362 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$16 - Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE SATA DVD Burner
$47 - Antec NEO ECO 400C 400W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit OEM
---
Total: $561 shipped

 

[Bob002]

Thanks for the quick response, Danny. I thought about pre-builts, but I'm not sure how keen she is on them. I can tell you that these comps are seeing 5-6 years of use, at minimum.

My "main" question is are there any sort of compatibility questions with inDesign and Photoshop and Win7 64? Shouldn't be, but I've run across some programs that are 32-bit only.

I'm sure there will be other issues as these other puters are still WinXP, except for our storage box, which is FreeNAS.

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the quick response, Danny. I thought about pre-builts, but I'm not sure how keen she is on them. I can tell you that these comps are seeing 5-6 years of use, at minimum.

Ask her about it. Some of the prebuilt PCs over the past few years have been fairly solid.

My "main" question is are there any sort of compatibility questions with inDesign and Photoshop and Win7 64? Shouldn't be, but I've run across some programs that are 32-bit only.

Nope.

Speaking of Photoshop: Is the hard drive from that older comp using the SATA interface and still usable? I ask because you can speed up Photoshop if you have the Photoshop swap file on a separate disc

 

[Bob002]

Ask her about it. Some of the prebuilt PCs over the past few years have been fairly solid.

Nope.

Speaking of Photoshop: Is the hard drive from that older comp using the SATA interface and still usable? I ask because you can speed up Photoshop if you have the Photoshop swap file on a separate disc

I haven't actually looked at it, and it isn't here, but I *think* it may be. I'm not opposed to pre-built, tbh. It would save some hassle for use to have comps with warranties, etc.

 

[Dangman]

I haven't actually looked at it, and it isn't here, but I *think* it may be. I'm not opposed to pre-built, tbh. It would save some hassle for use to have comps with warranties, etc.

Good because a prebuilt will give your more bang for the buck with the right sale. Right now, there's this sale going on until the 29th or whenever stock runs out:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...cid=74951&lid=2041159&acd=10993952-268435-993

Pretty much similar specs as the setup I posted but comes with a slightly faster CPU, less RAM (more can easily be added later by yourself), a new LCD monitor and a 3 year warranty with next business day on site service with Dell.

 

[J Macker]

I'd also suggest a pre-built when it's not for gaming. You really cannot beat Dell's prices for a complete system <$600.

Also, you don't have to worry about providing free tech support when there's a problem.

 

[PersonalJ]

right now I'm just trying to get a feeler for my boss. We have an older comp that crapped the bed and she took it to Staples to find out the MOBO was dead. They quoted her $300 (I know nothing about the computer to try and tell you what the actual cost would be).

We don't *need* it right now, but should we need something new, I'd like to tell her a ballpark price and show her what it would get her.

The $299.99 Staples quote is a flat rate service at their depot repair place (Nexicore).

 

[Bob002]

Good because a prebuilt will give your more bang for the buck with the right sale. Right now, there's this sale going on until the 29th or whenever stock runs out:
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...cid=74951&lid=2041159&acd=10993952-268435-993

Pretty much similar specs as the setup I posted but comes with a slightly faster CPU, less RAM (more can easily be added later by yourself), a new LCD monitor and a 3 year warranty with next business day on site service with Dell.

Excellent. We're not doing high end graphics work here. 90% of our work is converting to EPS and resizing. I'll look at what you recommend, but all our other systems are currently frankensteined together, and frankly it gives me problems. If something goes out, getting a replacement part is a pain in the ass.

I'd also suggest a pre-built when it's not for gaming. You really cannot beat Dell's prices for a complete system <$600.

Also, you don't have to worry about providing free tech support when there's a problem.

I'll suggest it again, should the convo come up. The biggest "problem" I have is that her grandson is an IT guy for a phone company (and she knows another guy that runs his own place). So, when something computer related goes wrong, she turns to them.

The $299.99 Staples quote is a flat rate service at their depot repair place (Nexicore).

Thanks for that info. Didn't know that.

 

[engiNURD]

I'd also suggest a pre-built when it's not for gaming or any other special-needs-type-of-usage (e.g. CAD). You really cannot beat Dell's DEAL prices for a complete system <$600. ...

FTFY. If you buy it straight off the Dell site without clicking through any special promos or using any coupons, then it's probably not as good a deal as you could get, since they always have promos/coupons running.

In this case, layout design doesn't really require any special needs, since it's all 2D work. A pre-built would be ideal since it's a small company without an IT dept and systems similar to the one Danny spec'd would do the job without issues.

 

[Bob002]

Little bit of an update. The short version is that my coworker is a dumbass and about to get canned because he can't deal with his diabetes. We are also going to be a little busier and may need to add another, part time person, so a computer is getting to be a must.

She found a spec sheet from the last computer that was built for us, though I couldn't tell you which it is out of this. I'm going to poke through Dell's website now, but if someone wants to possibly throw something better that would (obviously) be updated a bit based on these specs, I'd appreciate it.

The main thing is I want to present her several options, though I've already mentioned the Dell thing, and she said Best Buy to me after that.

**slight edit** - What line of desktop would be recommended? I can see cases for all 3, but am leaning more towards the Optiplex or Precision series. But, he Vostro could work just as easily.

 

[Dangman]

The options in that picture is fairly outdated by about 4-5 years.

The main thing is I want to present her several options, though I've already mentioned the Dell thing, and she said Best Buy to me after that.

Well a little surprisingly, the setup I recommended back in February is still a solid choice albeit a bit more costly now. As for Dell, can't provide a specific recommendation sine we tend to recommend whatever is on sale. Since we don't know what sales will be coming nor do we not know when you're planning on purchasing the PC, really can't provide concrete Dell recommendations. Actually, now that I think about, that's probably the same with Best Buy: Only good reason to buy a PC from Best Buy is if there's an awesome sale on it. But since we don't know what sales will be coming nor do we not know when you're planning on purchasing the PC, really can't provide concrete Best Buy recommendations.

So any timeframe?

What line of desktop would be recommended? I can see cases for all 3, but am leaning more towards the Optiplex or Precision series. But, he Vostro could work just as easily.

Whichever one that fits your budget and performance needs.