Cheap PC's
 

So recently, my laptop broke. I thought about getting it fixed, and while I was thinking about it, I found that what I really need is a PC. The problem is, I don't have NEAR enough money for a proper good one. My dad told me that I should try getting into the engineering side of things. Construction and fixing PC's and all that. Apparently, theres a lot of money to be made in those areas. He's right, I really would like to get into that stuff, but I have little to no knowladge of PC's whatsoever, I only just really found out what RAM is. I don't know where to start, but the first step is getting a PC. So if anyone could help with any of these things, I'd really appreciate it.

So are you looking to buy a whole rig; or components and then build them yourself?

At the moment I'm just looking for the whole thing, already built. I was looking around PC wolrld but thats a bit expensive. Eventually, when I get the know how, I hope to be able to build my own PC. But thats way in the future.

Start with a decent rig, and replace individual components when they become obsolete. That's a good introduction into assembling a PC.

That sounds like a good plan. But thats the problem, I don't have the money for a decent rig.

So get a job to pay for what you need? You could do an computer engineering course, buy text books or pikey some PDF's, send emails to local companies and arrange work experience.

Well the only advice is to save up i guess. Also I've heard building your own PC had become just as expensive then just buying a ready made one. It used to be a lot cheaper apparently.

It was, a friend of mine built his PC with custom parts and everything that was "the bomb", back in 2009 and he saved almost 600 euros. AND the rig he built was better than the ones being sold.

But with building your own PC you at least get a choice in what components you want, and that can work out a lot cheaper than buying a ready-made PC since you won't get parts with it that you won't need. Although you need some technical knowledge - Some parts aren't compatible with others.

www.aria.co.uk is where I get most of my components from, they sometimes offer daily deals to shift excess stock.

If you're looking for a cheap PC, maybe think about looking for a refurbished model online. It's a pretty simple process: Someone orders a PC, they open it up, call back and say "It's broken". The "unfit" PC gets sent back to the manufacturer, who then pass it on to a refurbisher who just replaces the broken component, restoring it to factory quality. Then they sell it on.

For some reason, this makes it a lot cheaper. It's like manufacturers seal the original box with solid gold or something.

Apparently Dell Outlet is quite good, but I was told that in 2006...

Get a Mac.

Good one.

What, is he serious?

No. So I guess I'm gonna save up some doh and then get a refurbished one, like MM said. Then as I gain more knowladge, replace parts so its basically a custom PC. Then maybe build my own. This is all way in the future though. I'll have to learn tonnes of stuff about components and different parts and how shit works an all that. Anyway thanks for the help, guys, I really appreciate it!

Only a Mac user would recommend a Mac. Tch.

EDIT: I keep reading your name as Nesoptic which led to me giving you the nickname 'Soap Dick' in my head.

Thats very nice, but you should of told me via PM.
I talked to my mate who built his own PC. Apparently, its fool-proof. Its hard to get it wrong because you can't plug anything in in the wrong hole, if you know what I mean. So it would be easier to build my own PC and shaping it into what I want, rather than getting a ready-built rig and customising it. Its also cheaper. But I'll neep to buy all the components. Man, people are telling me so many different things, I don't know who to listen to!

Yep, building a computer is easy. It's like lego. Just slap it in there.

EDIT: To clarify, if you only recently figured out what RAM is then maybe I'd hold off building your own just yet.

My my how sober, Nepsotic, have you by any chance been warned for your off-topic antics? ;)

I would like to repeat that there are books that teach this sort of thing, in case you overlooked that. Perhaps there's something in the '______ for Dummies' series that could help? Their format is very simple and great to get a basic understanding of the topic(s) you want to cover, I suggest you hit them up.

And let's be honest, it's not exactly hard to find a PDF of the book you want, should you confirm its existence...purely hypothetically of course, I'd never advocate piracy here.

Please don't mention that. I got infracted if you must know.

Anyway, the for dummies was my second choice. I just wanted to ask you guys first to get me off on a head start.

You should get some work experience too, trust me, by your age I'm relatively certain I'd be correct to say you have the attention span of a pebble would I not? Thus, getting some hands on, or at least, visible, tangible, work experience or shadowing, would benefit you quite hugely.

You are correct. But I wouldn't know where to start with work experience, I suppose I'll have a look around.

A toaster. Believe me, it's a good start.

Any local IT or techy companies? Check your parent's connections, ask your school as well. If you want this, you're going to have to work hard for it, I only realised this golden life lesson about five or sixth month ago and I've been paying for it subsequently for years.

Yeah, I know work and qualifications aren't going to come to me, I have to go out and find them.

Good. That way you can ignore my post below.

Bzzzt! Wrong answer, butt-for-brains!

http://unrealitymag.com/wp-content/u...1/garrison.jpg

If you want to get work experience, don't "look around", you'll achieve nothing. You need to pick a target beforehand; think of a job, think of places that could give you that job, think of local places that fit that description; and then pester them mercilessly.

Speaking as someone who is currently going through the process of assembling a new PC: If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it. Even with years of computing experience and lots of geeky friends ready to share advice, it's a freaking complicated dealio. There are so many options and the process of comparing prices is so time-consuming. You're probably best either getting a refurbished box or going to a local computer store and seeing what setups they sell.

I got out of building PCs because I thought it was getting so easy to slap some components together and call yourself a PC builder. It's certainly not what it was yesterday; the real challenge used to be in having to 'program' the computer to work before plug-and-play.

Nate, because I've been out of the loop for a couple of years, I'm curious how PCs have changed from a component standpoint which is making them challenging to build.

I assembled my current PC around this time last year - And before that, I assembled my previous PC back in '03 & rebuilt it in '04. I found that newer components are slightly easier to put together than they were 9 years ago if you know what you're doing - Although it hasn't changed a lot in that time.

AMD processors are still a pain in the arse to clip the CPU fan to as they always have been - You still need a bloody screwdriver to lever it into place and risk buggering up your mobo. They added a lever to decrease and increase the tension to make it easier but it's still difficult. I really don't look forward to the day where I'll have to change the thermal paste in a couple of years time or so. I think I'll be getting a Pentium next time I buy a new PC, unless AMD change their design.

Anyway, as I said earlier, the hard part of PC building is finding out if the components your buying will be compatible with each other and knowing what you need - Otherwise it's as simple as screwing the motherboard into the case, slotting or clipping your components in, then sticking the cable plugs into the right sockets.

EDIT: I have one piece of advice for Nepsotic or for anyone planning to build their own PC any time soon - I know it's obvious, but don't buy cheap, bad quality cases or PSUs if you go down the "build your own" route, it's worth splashing out on a little extra for those even though the cheaper options may look tempting.

For example you don't want a cheap PSU dying on you and frying all your components. Neither do you want a cheap, badly designed case like the one I bought which is hard to take apart if say, the front USB cables in the front panel come lose and start interfering with the front fan.

I ended up spending 3 hours getting the front panel off 'cause the screws were in hard-to-reach places and couldn't be undone with a normal screw driver, so I simply duct-taped it back in place when I was done fixing it. There's no way I'm doing that ever again. Learn from my fail.

I solved why he wants you to get a mac.

Rearrange his name from "manco" to "no mac".

Obviously he was trying to send us a secret message that he wants a mac.

So what hes going to do is when you buy a mac hell kill you and steal it.

This is the only way i could think of that justifies someone wanting a mac.

I always look on eBay for cheap laptops and stuff. I got a reasonable XP capable machine for around £25. Came with all the manuals and the box as well. I usually use it if my main laptop is having issues.