Buying in your price range:
Minimal
Buying in a minimal price range is usually difficult because everyone wants a really good, and more importantly really fast system of today. Unless you get a lot of really good deals, have a lot of the required parts, or buy everything really low-end and/or cheap you won’t get nearly what you want. Building a whole system on this kind of budget is eighty percent thought and wheeling-and-dealing and twenty percent building.
First thing you want to do, if you don’t have all of the requisite peripherals is try to make a few deals. Go on ebay! Yes, I wouldn’t even consider this myself because if I had this little money, I wouldn’t think about building a whole system. But if you have to resort to the ‘e-word’ watch very closely what you buy. I highly recommend that no one use ebay unless you positively can’t find any deals, period. Before you even consider that, look in the paper. People sell used computer equipment all the time. You just have to commit a half hour to look for an ad in the paper. Place an ad! ‘Looking for used monitor for cheap’ six words, won’t cost four dollars to put in the paper.
Be prepared to work small! Micro ATX items tend to cost far less than standard ATX items. Don’t expect a flashy computer case either. Normal aluminum case with a matte coat of beige or off white paint. Mini-towers(cases) cost far less than standard or spacious cases. Don’t buy anything you don’t absolutely need. Don’t buy a printer, a scanner and a webcam, they’re redundant products not imperative to the function of the computer. Don’t rule out retail stores, great deals can often be found at your local Office Max or Best Buy.
Moderate
On the higher end of this price range one could afford a new monitor, keyboard and a mouse. Finding deals in a local electronics store often come in this price range, so look in the Best Buy ad. You might find a stick of RAM for ten dollars after rebate, I certainly did.
Now if you do have all the peripherals you can make a wonderful computer in this price range. A fast processor, plenty of memory, a good hard drive, a classy case, a CD burner, a nice motherboard and a sound or graphics card. For four hundred dollars you can have real nice system. You’d want to buy from an Internet web site as opposed to a local store or buying used items because you’ve got the money for it and you can stretch this money quite a bit. Most general computing systems can be built within this range.
High
When buying in the High price range you’ve got plenty of money to throw around to get brand new peripherals and a great, fast system. To stretch your money further, look for deals or sales, but try not to buy anything used from people you don’t know. You should have stopped using ebay a price range ago. There’s no point in buying cheap products unless you want to stretch you money for a redundant item (printer, scanner, webcam, ect)
Great
When buying in this range you should still look for deals, because it saves money, but you really don’t need to settle on something. You have plenty of cash to throw around to build yourself a very, very good system. With a good monitor, a wireless optical mouse and a wireless keyboard. This should be your dream computer. Though to some people this just isn’t enough. No they just can’t settle on a great video and sound card, and super fast processor, a gig, or two of RAM and classy case decked out with LEDs and cold cathodes. No some people need more, some need that phenomenally fast three gigahertz processor and cooling system so they can overclock it to astronomical speeds.
Ideal
This is the computer of everyone’s dreams! As I said before, some just cannot settle. They want that motherboard that can accommodate four or five hard drives, and four gigs of RAM. They have to have the great monitor, and speakers. They also have a plethora of toys, redundant hardware. Webcam, super fast laserjet printer, spectacular scanner, super slick case with a fiberglass window and water cooling system for their overclocked three gigahertz processor. A person with this kind of money to throw into a computer will be the envy of every computer weenie and nerd on the net!
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