[damarble]

Today a friend of mine asked me what I thought about Dells. I snickered and then asked why. She needs a new PC, she's going back to school. She got a grant for it, $800 for a complete system, with a printer. So I told her I could put together something that fits her need, with more power for a better price. No gaming, but a lot office type programs.

She's not sure if she wants a laptop or desktop tho, but she's leaning towards the laptop. But most of her classes will be online, only 2x a week on campus. If she goes with a desktop she wants a LCD. If she goes with the laptop we'll try the a Dell with the 40% coupon, if it shows up in time.

So what would you reccomend? I havent put a lot of thought into it yet, but here's a rough idea of what I'm thinking:

Celly 2.4, OC'd to about 3.0-3.4 ~$65
Asus P4P800 ~$65 (there are so many versions of this mobo I'm confused, but this seems OK)
ATi 9600 ~$60 (refurb)
1GB value ram ~$80
120GB WD HDD ~$50
450w Fortron ~$50
Any case on sale localy ~$30-50

So right there I'm at about $400, leaving another $400 for LCD, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and 5-in-1 printer. And of course anything I'm missing. Maybe bump the CPU to 2.8 with HT? I also have to consider an AMD, maybe I might see a better price/performance ratio. That 3000+ Venice for ~$120 is tempting.

[David]

I think in this case you might want to spec a P4, a Celly, a Sempron and an A64. Just to see what sort of price differences you are looking at.

As regards the 9600, that might be a little overkill if she isn't gaming, no? I would say the best bet would be a board with integrated video but with an AGP slot so she can add a graphics card later if she needs to, but saves money at the current time.