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sneakypenguin

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Jul 31, 2008
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So looking to get my parents a replacement PC for about 400 all in. Kind of struggling to find something I like though. No gaming so integrated graphics are good, looking at quad core or fast dual core would like an ssd+HDD combo cause all they care about is if it boots and opens stuff fast.

Pre built stuff I haven't had the best luck with, and any barebones kit seems to be geared towards gaming. I know gaming PC's but wallowing around in this world of budget cpus and mobos is new to me. So anybody have a build or even a prebuilt find. Honestly I'd just get them a cheap dell for like 349 bucks but no option to add a SSD to it online and idk if i want to rely on hoping its easy to do after the fact.
 

EvilRoy

The face I make when I see unguarded pie.
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Jan 9, 2011
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The go-to is usually logical increments, because from there you can usually add/remove to strengthen or weaken in your preferred areas.
 

Frezzato

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Oct 17, 2012
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I bought a tower for my parents about 5 years ago on Black Friday for $500 (Best Buy). It has some sort of AMD quad core and 8 gigs of RAM. Came with a flat panel (no VESA holes) and a crap printer that I immediately returned for a $10 credit, which should tell you how much it was worth.

It boots up in about 20 seconds and is as reliable as any machine out there, but this has taken some doing on my part.

Also, have you considered a tablet? They're pretty badass nowadays, I've been thinking about getting one myself, but I can't justify the expense right now. Do your folks absolutely have to have a tower?
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Sep 1, 2010
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An AMD A-Series CPU/APU will be able to do everything as it does have a built-in GPU for some light gaming. There's some low wattage ones so you don't need a high wattage power supply and you won't have a video card either. You can easily build an AMD machine for less than $400. Even decent AMD gaming pre-builts are around $400.
 

Hoplon

Jabbering Fool
Mar 31, 2010
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Phoenixmgs said:
An AMD A-Series CPU/APU will be able to do everything as it does have a built-in GPU for some light gaming. There's some low wattage ones so you don't need a high wattage power supply and you won't have a video card either. You can easily build an AMD machine for less than $400. Even decent AMD gaming pre-builts are around $400.
Pretty much this, for web surfing and image viewing you don't need anything very top end, a quick look on new egg turned up a amd tower with 8gb of ram and a ssd/HDD combo for like $250 American.

So i guess it depends on where you are and what you need. shouldn't be difficult though.
 

Frezzato

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Oct 17, 2012
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Hoplon said:
Phoenixmgs said:
An AMD A-Series CPU/APU will be able to do everything as it does have a built-in GPU for some light gaming. There's some low wattage ones so you don't need a high wattage power supply and you won't have a video card either. You can easily build an AMD machine for less than $400. Even decent AMD gaming pre-builts are around $400.
Pretty much this, for web surfing and image viewing you don't need anything very top end, a quick look on new egg turned up a amd tower with 8gb of ram and a ssd/HDD combo for like $250 American.

So i guess it depends on where you are and what you need. shouldn't be difficult though.
Wow, that's a very good deal in my non-enthusiast opinion.
[hr]
sneakypenguin said:
I believe this [http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2434701] is the machine that Hoplon is talking about. Fair warning, it's a 'Shell Shocker' deal, so I expect it to disappear within 24 hours, so you'll have to decide rather quickly if you want it or not.