Little barebones systems vs Laptop

[pcg79]

Hi

im going to uni in october (grades pending) and I want a new computer. it has to be portable (manageable by myself whilst carrying several other large bags). i dont care much for games, just music, DVDs, surfing pr0n and working.

clearly, a laptop is a good choice for what i need.

but while perusing a simply brochure whilst riding the porcelain horse, i wondered if one of the little barebones systems might be a better alternative? easier to upgrade, and the monitor can be changed if something goes wrong

i have a tiny budget though, £750-800, but i can snaffle speakers, keyboard, mouse from my existing setup. these little barebones i THINK just need monitor, cpu, memory and hdd so i had a look; i could possibly get one of these little systems for around that mark with this rough price guideline

box of tricks - £200
monitor - £250 (450) - 15" TFT
cpu - £110 (560) - AMD something or other
memory - £100 (660) - 512 ddr + a little bit more
hdd - £70 (730) - 60 gigs?

so would you lot say this would be a good idea? or no? bearing in mind again, that it needs to be portable (i dont know if i will always have the luxury of a car to transport me home) and just general value for money (im thinking; laptops dont seem to be long term machines).

i await some sort of response.

 

[Clown]

SN45G, AMD Athlon XP 2500+, 1GB ram, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 80GB hard drive = £450 or so
Then you have lots of money for food.

 

[pcg79]

are you having a giggle buddy? thats like, peanuts. where are you getting this from

 

[TdC]

nope, I guess it's reasonably true. you could go lower and get 512mb and a 9700pro. even a slower proc I guess, but that would be a shame.

 

[Cask]

Clown wasn't including the monitor in that.

SN45G - £140
Athlon 2500+ - £55
512MB Crucial - £60
80mb Seagate - £45
Radeon 9600 Pro - £80
Samsung CD-RW/DVD-R - £30
Floppy - £6

Just depends whether you want a monitor with DVI interface after that I spose. Buy from Dabs

 

[pcg79]

cool; ok so this sounds good

i can pinch a floppy drive from this pc

im guessing i still need a heatsink/fan though, right?

so the monitor; does it need any special stuff to protect it while transporting? (this will add to cost i guess)

also, just how small are these things? is there a comparison image somewhere out there?

 

[Clown]

You don't need a heatsink or fan if you are getting a Shuttle.
Jonty has a picture of his shuttle next to his monitor in another thread somewhere.

 

[TdC]

here are Jonty's pics:










(yes, they're links to larger ones )

 

[Ch3tan]

Get the 9800 pro not the 9600 though, only £50 or so difference between them now.

 

[pcg79]

ok ive come to £670 which seems damn good.
that is

Shuttle XPC Spacewalker SN45G V2
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 512Kb SoA 333FSB
Crucial Technology 512MB 184Pin DIMM PC2700 DDR RAM Non-Parity CL2.5
MAXTOR PLUS9 6Y120L0 120GB 7200RPM 2MB UDMA133
Sony SDM-S53B 15" TFT LCD BLACK
Samsung 16xDVD 52r52w32rw Int IDE OEM

im not too bothered about the radeon 9800 or whatever; i have an 8500, and like i said- i dont play games all that much.

i will steal from my other computer
-floppy drive
-radeon
-speakers
-keyboard/mouse
have i forgotten anything?

also could someone tell me if anything ive selected doesnt work together or if any of my bits could be substited for something better (around the same price band please)

also, are there any other places (apart from tekheads) that sell the shuttle?

 

[smurkin]

well....you can get carrying cases for the shuttle...£16.39

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=5977&GroupID=88

MD do loads of shuttles....but they are nowhere near London & mail order can be problematic if theres a component problem

 

[Clown]

www.microdirect.co.uk
www.ebuyer.co.uk

Get the Athlon XP 2500+ Barton, it will use the same settings as the one you picked out up there, and it's cheaper. Get the LG1710B 17" TFT monitor. It's one of the cheaper ones, but there's nothing wrong with it. Couldn't you get a DVD-RW for 35 quid too?

 

[Ch3tan]

Dont worry about a floppy drive either, it will just ruin the looks of your shuttle. Dont know how much difference it will really make but HD's with 8mb caches aren't pricey.