Buying a pc for a SOHO
Nov 17 '00
Building a computer from scratch is a lot of fun. I'm in the business of selling and servicing printers and computers. I've been doing it now for 15 years, and putting one together is a treat for me; even though I'm not going to enjoy it once I'm done: my client gets to play with it.
Most of my clients are small businesses. My larger clients have their own Information Services (I.S.) department and don't need, or don't think they need my services. The small business doesn't have the resources to hire a full time IS person, so they rely on my judgement to steer them in the right direction, and if all goes well, they'll end up with a pretty nice pc.
Let's pretend a doctor's office calls me and says their old pc is going to be donated to a charity. They need a new one. It was a good month, and they have $1,500 to $2,000 to spend; although, in the same breath they add, “we would prefer the pc was closer to $1,500 than to $2,000”. In this case, since the price has been established, now I would establish the use to determine where to put the money.
The computer is going to be used by the office manager. She plans to run Microsoft Office, a program for accounting, personal information mgmt., and one for a patient mgmt.; in addition, the computer will have to interface with the local NT server, so a network interface card will be included. The question now is how much to spend on what.
When piecing a computer, the bulk of the money should be spent on the most important parts of the computer: the motherboard/chipset, the CPU, and the memory chips, with the hard drive close behind- in that order. This computer is going to be used in an office environment, so the processing demands will be minimal-to-nominal. The CPU doesn’t need lots of processing power, the video card doesn't need to handle complex graphics, and hard drive space demands will be low so I’ll probably get a 20Gb HDD or less.
In contrast, if this computer was going to be used for drafting, such as a CAD system. I would push the CPU speed to maximum available, increase memory, double the hard drive size, and get a very fast graphics card.
Now let's go shopping. I always get a little jittery feeling when shopping for a new pc. In any case, I should mention shopping on the internet. My favorite place to find good prices is www.pricewatch.com. It's a good source for computer parts. The thing to keep in mind when buying on the net is warranty. If, for some reason, the component you purchase becomes defective, or arrives defective, there will be a delay getting a replacement. If I'm building a computer for a demanding client or I have a tight deadline, I will favor buying locally- an exchange is quicker and easier. However, if time is not an issue, I’d recommend shopping the net, prices and availability are better.
Here’s what I put in my basket:
-ASUS CUBX motherboard $145 (great motherboard, reliable chipset- 440BX)
-INTEL CPU PIII-700 boxed $212 (nice middle of the road cpu)
-Siemens sdram pc-133 128mb $95 (got 133 so I can over-clock the bus)
-Seagate 15Gb Barracuda $99 (good size for this job)
-3dfx voodoo3 2000 16mb AGP $99 (nice graphics for the price)
-cooling system: (essential part, keeping the system cool)
-CPU fan $20
-case fan $15
-300w mini-tower case/power supply $79 (can power additional hardware)
-Linksys 10/100TX network card $25 (don’t need to spend $50 on 3com)
-Sony 48x cdrom $40 (good speed)
-MS Intelli-trackball mouse $40 (hate MS, but great mouse)
-MS Natural Pro keyboard $49 (ditto)
-17" Iiyama Visionmaster Pro $385 (love their bright colors)
-Optional:
-Soundblaster Live! MP3 box $85
-Cambridge Pcworks 4-point surround sound $85
The total cost $1,473.00 plus tax and my hourly fee, well under the $2,000 limit- not bad.
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Epinions.com ID:
pgtech
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Member: peter gonzalez
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 18
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Provide Computer Service & Support in San Diego area.
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