Who wants to build me a computer?

[gunnerhorn]

and can do it for less than Dell with the same configuration and a 15" LCD flat panel?

the configuration from dell

 

[Bob Wills]

Dell has pretty damn good deals on entry level systems. When you consider the software, warranty, and time saved, a lot of those deals are well worth it. If you're looking for something more powerful, such as a gaming system, then you'll quickly start losing the bang for the buck with a pre-ordered Dell.

 

[CaptainObvious]

It's gonna be hard to do it for less. Even if you could, the labor cost would be something along $10 and it would be too time consuming for the builder at that price.

 

[TexasOwnzYou]

if you watch out for special deals for each part, you probably could. that's extremely tedious and could take a while.

 

[horngirl]

Look a little closer at that system it is a piece of crap if u don’t upgrade the hell out of it the memory will hardly run xp much less the on board video and audio if you need a full system instead of up grading yours look at the 4600. That screen is piss poor it is not the ultra sharp you can get better deals from Dell through the UT student discount.

 

[Bob Wills]

I still think that's a pretty good system, but only if you just use it for web browsing, checking email, listening to music, medium-range gaming, and typical productivity tools like Word and Excel.

 

[gunnerhorn]

Yeah, I basically chose that configuration cause it's going to be our home computer -- for my mom and dad, and whenever I go home. It's going to be used exactly for what Bob Wills said. I'm no gamer, either so it's not that important.

 

[hellbunny]

If it's just for minimal home use I'd add at least another 256MB stick (not from Dell). It's about impossible to beat that price (with the rebate) unless you have the software for free and have some components already lying around.

Here's what I came up with just off of pricewatch:
-------
You can get the monitor online for $99.

That leaves $400 (rebate).

P4 2.66 / 533 = $157
Motherboard w/ Audio + LAN = $48
40 GB 7200 rpm HD = $46
128 MB RAM ~= $30
48X CDROM = $15
ATX 530W Case+PS = $40

= $336

Plus Speakers (~$20), Modem (~$20), KB + Mouse (~$20), OS (?)

total ~= $396

This more or less confirms that going bargain basement isn't that good a way to save money. I would interject that for a few bucks more per component you could get significantly more value. AMD fans would also note that you can get about the same amount of performance for about $80 less.

 

[Hornin NYC]

You really only save money building comp configurations that don't already suck.

 

[Quagmire]

128MB Shared DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (Performs at 266MHz for 400FSB systems)

This is the part that mainly really sucks, shared memory