[SYSTEM] Simple Comp for a Simple Girl

OK, so the girl's laptop, that she has been using for around 5 years now, is starting to give her serious problems. It recently received a new hard drive and her sister's boyfriend (a computer engineering student) put Windows 2k on it and it now runs slower than dirt. I decided that I'm going to be putting together a custom system for her and wanted everyone's opinion/advice as to what should go into it.

I'd like to spend in the $500-600 US range, and I already have a case. She basically just uses her laptop as a desktop (it isn't stable enough to be taken anywhere really), and she mainly just uses it to surf the net, do emails, write up some stuff (she's a school teacher). She has never even known the luxury of having a cd-burner, let alone a dvd-burner which I've thought about throwing into it just to give her a serious jaw-dropping effect. My main problem is that I tend to look at higher end stuff and always think more = more. I'm worried that if I configure something for her myself I'll give her a system that she may only utilize to about 10% of it's capacity, so I'm depending on the OCForums to keep me grounded.

So, budget is $500-$600US, I have a case (atx form factor), what are everyone's opinions?

I have a suggestion. Open her laptop up and apply thermal-paste to the CPU and blow all the dust out. Most laptops become unstable because of heat and not failing parts. No reason to spend $600 when you can just clean / provide maintence for free. That will most likely fix the problem

Barton/NForce2 combo at stock perhaps, perhaps an Nforce 2 board with the onboard video?

Or to have fun overclocking at the same time go XP-M/NForce2/PC3200 or Celly-D and a suitable board.

Mini-atx mobo or a cheap full atx, either the cheapest celeron or duron/xp you can find, if you have any old hard drives, use one, if not, get the cheapest seagate you can find...

Fortron 350w supply, lite-on cdrw, a 256 stick of ram, and I think thats it..

After reading david's post, make sure to get a board with onboard video, unless you happen to have an old unused card laying around.

Wow, thanks for the quick responses. As to the maintenance, I could do that now to her laptop which would be fine, but I had an entire system package in mind (i'll be mod'ing the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and case to suit her tastes).

As far as processors are concerned... what speed should I be looking at? Or is that kind of a moot point as anything will suffice?

mobo - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-185-033&depa=1

cpu - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-159&depa=1

ram - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-002&depa=1

hdd - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-148-013&depa=1

psu - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-966&depa=1

cdr - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-940&depa=1

That should easily come under $500.

A 5 year old laptop would be about 200-400MHz. The duron I linked to is 1.6. She'll be happy with even 1GHz.

Processor speeds, for an AXP, I'd say try to stay near the 2GHz mark, IMO.

Hah, I think that's pushing the $200 range.. amazing, thanks guys.

YoMatta said:

Wow, thanks for the quick responses. As to the maintenance, I could do that now to her laptop which would be fine, but I had an entire system package in mind (i'll be mod'ing the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and case to suit her tastes).

As far as processors are concerned... what speed should I be looking at? Or is that kind of a moot point as anything will suffice?

Click to expand...

Well if this is for the long term you might want to consider getting her a 64 bit Capable CPU. Right now Intel's offerings are expensive and I know you want a small mobo / case. Here's what I could find off of newegg <just a quick search>

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-452&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-123-225&depa=1

I'd avoid the older AXPs when Windows64 will be going retail in march

About $241 without shipping with all the stuff I linked to. Thats mostly what I built my sister's computer around, same board but with the 1.8 duron, a crucial stick of 256, same psu, and she already had a cdrom and floppy. She wanted 98 on it, which works flawlessly on it.

Sen, tell me when websurfing, emailing, and typing documents will take advantage of a 64 bit cpu. IMO thats just wasted money.

I'm going to put WinXP Pro on this one, (don't have to purchase), should I upgrade to 512 since I have quite a bit of leftover money with this system? Is your sister satisfied with hers? Agree on the 64, while a personal concern of mine when putting together my system (in sig), I'm not terribly worried about her pushing any limits. Her gaming experience is limited to solitaire and 3d pinball and the most intensive app she's probably ever opened was powerpoint once or twice.

I appreciate all advice though, I haven't seen 10 responses like this in a while. Thanks!

Sure, the more ram the better. Either 2 sticks of the stuff above, or if you want 1 stick,
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-145-005&depa=1

Random Q for you guys pertaining to the case I have... does anyone know where I can pick up some front bezel cover plate things? This case is 5-6 years old and i only have 1 left over, and this system will then be leaving 2 open holes which is entirely unacceptable to the whole thing. If i can't find more I'll just go ahead and pick up another case, which with this system I can afford, but I kinda wanted to stick with it as I'd already started painting it.

Thanks again, I threw in the crucial 512 as I don't want her to have any memory slow downs or anything.

SavageBasher said:

Sen, tell me when websurfing, emailing, and typing documents will take advantage of a 64 bit cpu. IMO thats just wasted money.

Click to expand...

Well for Windows64 and For CnC. If you were to get a large heatsink like an XP120 you could brind the dbl level to almost nothing. Plus AXPs are slow and outdated.

If you were to get this for her now you would be condeming her to buy a whole new PC....again.

Thats a hard thing to find, because all of the newer cases now have different ways of holding those covers on. The case that my computer is in now (1.2 celeron) is from 5 years ago, and now none of the newer cases have the same clips right in the middle.

If you are going to go the AXP route atleast buy a good board and a mobile. Atleast that way she can have the extra cache and ultra-low vcore.

That and get an SI97 for low noise. Most people hate loud *** PCs.

Yes, I was planning a large HS to balance the noise. I'm really liking the one in my sig and it fits all socket types.. bonus.

As far as upgradeability, she's using a laptop from around the early 2000's, so I'm venturing to guess (while not sure on the exact speed) that it's probably around a 600mhz, if she's lucky. The thing is, she's still completely satisfied with it, I'm doing this as a gift (she doesn't know about it, so it will be a pleasant surprise), and doing it more because I don't understand how she could live with it, not because she has requested anything. I'm sure she will have to purchase another computer at some point, but we all do, this will last her another several years at the very least.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-241&depa=0

Biostar mobo with 2200 Sempron. Cheapy board with everything onboard - I have used many of these with no problems. Great for a budget build. In my opinion go this route and spend more money on everyday use items, such as keyboard and mouse.