Building 2011's Sub-$200 Computer

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Building 2011's Sub-$200 Computer

Posted by timothy on Friday September 2, 2011 @12:59PM from the trade-one-form-of-depreciation-for-another dept.

adeelarshad82 links to PC Magazine's recent account (updating a similar quest detailed last year) "to see if a decent PC could put together for less than $200. Turns out that between some great deals, an AMD processor, and a Linux OS, it can actually be done." They actually come out with a decent-enough system for that money — but omitting an optical drive in a full-size desktop computer build seems something like cheating.

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Don't even have to build it yourself by steevven1 · 2011-09-02 13:05 · Score: 5, Informative

You can get an eeePC netbook for $199 RETAIL at Best Buy...Best Buy!!! I know this is talking about desktops, but it just doesn't seem that surprising...
1. Re:Don't even have to build it yourself by jtownatpunk.net · 2011-09-02 14:24 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Or you can get a bottom-end eMachines dual core 15.4" laptop for $230. It ain't fancy but, unlike the article's $200 desktop, it includes monitor, optical drive, input devices, and even a UPS. And it comes with an operating system that will have support for or be supported by whatever peripherals or software the user wants to add without having to call their weird nephew for help.
2. Re:Don't even have to build it yourself by Pharmboy · 2011-09-02 15:03 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Browsing isn't what it used to be. For many people, browsing means playing Farmville on Facebook, which will eat up a lot of CPU and memory. And no, Zinga programmers don't really care about efficiency on your computer, only on their servers.
  
  --
  Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
3. Re:Don't even have to build it yourself by RobbieThe1st · 2011-09-02 15:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  ...And for $700 you can build a top-of-the-line, amd-based gaming machine off Newegg that will run just about everything you throw at it. But that, like your couple of builds, are *still* way above what was managed with the $200 machine.
re: optical drive by ZankerH · 2011-09-02 13:07 · Score: 5, Insightful

but omitting an optical drive in a full-size desktop computer build seems something like cheating.
It's 2011, dammit, why do people still use optical drives?
no, it's time. by tverbeek · 2011-09-02 13:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

"omitting an optical drive in a full-size desktop computer build seems something like cheating"
Optical disks? How quaint! :)

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http://alternatives.rzero.com/
1. Re:no, it's time. by JanneM · 2011-09-02 13:36 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  "You do realize people still buy software, and that it still comes on optical disks."
  This is a Linux system they built, though. Shrinkwrapped software is very rare, verging on nonexistent, for that OS.
  
  --
  Trust the Computer. The Computer is your friend.
Re: optical drive by Nos9 · 2011-09-02 13:18 · Score: 3

Because the people that put out content for the computer ship on them. A cheap 4G mem stick is ~$4, to press 4.7G DVD costs them pennies. Until there is a useful way to allow customers to DL onto their own memory sticks, optical will stick around.
Re: optical drive by DesScorp · 2011-09-02 13:19 · Score: 3

but omitting an optical drive in a full-size desktop computer build seems something like cheating.
It's 2011, dammit, why do people still use optical drives?
Because they want to.

--
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
Re: optical drive by Jeremiah+Cornelius · 2011-09-02 13:23 · Score: 4, Funny

What is this "Audio CD" you speak of? Is it like an Audi TT?

--
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Re:Build a desktop? by amiga3D · 2011-09-02 13:26 · Score: 3, Informative

It is if you want anything with serious horsepower. Sure, a commodity PC will work fine for most things but if you want 8 cores and 64gb of ram with multiple video cards you'll be better off building it yourself.
Re:All recent Computer architectures are dogs. by obarthelemy · 2011-09-02 13:34 · Score: 3, Funny

your spelling is about as good as your thinking.

--
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
Press F2 to continue... by CaptCanuk · 2011-09-02 14:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

Missing:
- keyboard
- mouse
- network cable
- monitor?
- USB key to install from
- Friend to copy OS onto your USB key
- taxes (for those lucky to have them)
I think the real cheat is any budget that involves a mail-in rebate.
The article starts out about financial difficulties and then provides a price that doesn't reflect the walk home price. 3-6 weeks you might make that money back IF you are lucky that the rebate was honored.

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---- The geek shall inherit the Earth.
Re: optical drive by wierd_w · 2011-09-02 16:48 · Score: 3, Interesting

While you can't put usb sticks in a wallet, you CAN put sdcards in one. Specifically one made for trading cards.
I would love to see sdcard media get sold in bulk packs like cdrs are. There is a slight problem with capacities not rounding evenly with optical formats... (640-700mb cdr : 1gb sdcard. 4.5gb dvd : 8gb sdcard. 9gb dvd : 12/16gb sdcard) but the form factor is much smaller, you can store waaay more data in a similar sized wallet, and they are less easily destroyed by frequent handling.
Yes. I KNOW they are more expensive. I also remember when cdrs cost over a dollar a pop. These devices don't have to be blazing fast to replace optical media, and while I know it won't be a popular subject with the demographic here, it WOULD work quite well with software firms, because sdcards have to be able to support special hardware drm features to be spec compliant. (This means that your spiffy boxed 3d game you bought off the shelf can chug slowly on install, use your fast sata drive at runtime, and use the sdcard as a dongle to verify game purchase, all in the same package. I am surprised that no software house has tried it yet.
The cards themselves don't need to be fast really, so cheap organic semiconductors, like those used in flexible displays that can exceed amorphous silicon speeds could be used to make the bulk pack cheapo ones.
Like any product, as long as it remains a niche, specialty product it will be expensive, but when it becomes a widespread multi use product, economies of scale drive down the price. I can easily see flash going that way, especially for slow but cheap sdcards.
My $250 system build from Micro Center! by dnorf87 · 2011-09-02 16:51 · Score: 4, Informative

I've done quite a few system builds using this AMD bundle deal that Micro Center has had going on for some time now. Every single system works flawlessly, even the ones with the Powerspec case/power supply (more business if the PSU does fail, and I haven't seen one take a motherboard out yet.)
Phenom II X2 560 Black edition: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347369 $87.99
Biostar A780L3G AM3 760G mATX Motherboard: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0351634 $FREE
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500gb SATA 6.0gbps: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0352164 $49.99
Micro Center branded 2x2gb of DDR3 1333: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0353218 $19.99
PowerSpec TX-381 Micro ATX Computer Case: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0330536 $24.99
Cooler Master eXtreme Power Plus 500w PSU: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0295037 $37.99
Samsung 22x SATA DVD-RW drive: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0293049 $21.99
Grand Total of $255.10 after tax.
You have an overclockable dual core CPU (I wouldn't push too far with the stock heatsink and with that motherboard, but a little bump to 3.6 GHz shouldn't be an issue.), better graphics than the system in the article, twice as much system memory (4gb vs. 2gb), an optical drive, an actual decent power supply, a case with a handle on it, and I could probably go on, but i'd hope you all get the point. A whole $45 more before tax, not including the lame $8 mail in rebate for the power supply. Definitely worth every penny, and this is all something you could pick up and have together in a couple hours assuming you have a store close to you. Most would likely pay $40+ for the convenience alone. I also didn't shop around too much. Better might be possible.
Re: optical drive by GPLHost-Thomas · 2011-09-02 19:01 · Score: 3, Informative

CD / DVDs aren't at all a reliable media for backups. I wouldn't recommend anyone to do that, especially for financial data. If you need a backup, do it with a USB hard drive for the local one, and also send an off-site backup over the wire. That is, at least 3 copies (if you include the one you are working on).
Re:Decent Computer? by walshy007 · 2011-09-02 22:32 · Score: 4, Informative

Not this hardware abi driver interface bullshit again, you bring it up all the time.. and it is addressed all the time. ( I think this is the third of fourth time I've replied to you on this topic on /. alone, usually long write-ups but don't have the time today)
While this is old, it is something you may find interesting. In short, you don't want a fixed abi, what you want, are stable drivers.