$300 computer for a friend... (1 Viewer)

My friend wants to buy this computer from Tigerdirecct.com. He doesn't have much money and wants to use the computer more for work (MS Office) and internet more than gaming. Here are some bad things I can think about it right off that bat:

- only 96mb of system memory since 32 of it is for video
- it's from Tigerdirect
- "Lindows" operating system

Good things:

- $300
- Nice case with front USB
- AMD 1700+

I'm pretty sure the consensus won't really recommend this but are there any other deals for around a $500 price tag? If I were to build it for him what configuration would work with that price? TIA...

Well for $300 it's not terrible, I guess. The ram & video can be upgraded. I'd never consider it. For a little more he can do better.

Does he want to run MS Office specifically? I'd check for issues on running it in Lindows, if it runs at all. Although office would cost him more than the computer.

Maximum PC reviewed the Walmart Lindows PC. About the only thing good they could say was it was only $200 & would work for email & websurfing.

For $400 he can get this there. I'm not a huge fan of e-Machines and it is a refurb, but the newer e-Machines are much better than they used to be.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...E400-C1641%20P

With the right components (not the best of course) you can build a machine pretty cheap.

There's actually a surprisingly good deal on the HTF deals page today. It is a bit more expensive, but it's close.

For $421.55 after rebate (most states need to pay tax) you get:

2.53Ghz Pentium 4 Processor (533mhz system bus)
128MB 333Mhz DDR SDRAM
Intel 845PE chipset motherboard w/ 1 AGP & 4 PCI slots
6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front, 4 back)
48x24x48 CD-RW drive with buffer underrun protection
32MB ATI Rage Ultra AGP video
10/100 NIC
Windows XP Home
1 Year Parts & Labor warranty & tech support
Integrated Audio
6 months of internet access
Quietcase tool-less clamshell design chassis (no screws)

For $19 more, you can upgrade to a 2.66Mhz P4 processor. $19 will also buy you an upgrade to a 64mb nVidia GF4MX AGP card with TV output.

I'd definitely suggest that whatever you do, you get him something that gives him tech support. When I used to build computers for friends, I used to be their free, unlimited tech support. Now, I don't have much time for that.

I think the TigerDirect unit has 3 advantages over the Dell:

Case design looks prettier to me
It's less expensive
It has a modem (though you can order one with the Dell as well)

Lindows is a terrible operating system. . .

I like linux. . . that's a great operating system. . . but lindows defuncts it badley.

your friend can't run MS office on it as MS office only works on windows, not linux. however he can download a star office which is free off the net (don't buy into the subscription stuff as all linux stuff must be free).

anyway, I would go with the dell option as you get good support and a decent computer without problems.

I did a little looking and you can run MS Office on Linux. I thought maybe through Wine, but these guys have a different app.
http://www.codeweavers.com/products/office/

I did figure that through some means of emulation you could get windows based programs to run on linux. But I've always been wary about using computer emulators to emulate recent computers. . . emulating an MSX or C64 isn't too bad as the loss in power for emulating plus the power used by the programs won't come close to the full power of the main machine.

but. . . I don't see why it wouldn't work. . . would just be a bit slow.

You may also want to check resellerratings.com. The rating for Tigerdirect are very iffy. I was considering buying something there and got scared off by comments on another board and their resellerrating.

-Dave

From folk I know who have bought from them they are hit or miss, but I assume you know that from the tone of your initial post.

I would second the suggestion to watch for the exceptional deals that Dell has been offering. Far better computer for your friend than the TigerDirect. Well worth the extra @$150.
Unfortunately, the deal mentioned above has expired but new ones keep coming up.
Keep watching the HTP Deals area as well as a couple of others that regularly post the Dell specials:

http://216.131.96.76/
http://www.slcentral.com/c/deals/