Very cheap low spec build - or just buy a chromebook?

Fian · 02-05-2022 1:04pm #1

My dad's (15 year old) PC is basically dead, he replaced it with a laptop which is also just becoming too slow.

Is it worth trying to use any components of the PC? It has old Ram with visible circuit cards, a pentium CPU. It has a 450w power supply. It even has an nvidia graphics card - geforce 8400gs with a whopping 256 mb ram.

Should I buy a new (cheap) motherboard, cpu, cooler, ram, SSD drive? can I reuse the PSU and smallish case? it only has one small output fan. Any recommendations? All he will use it for is word processing, gmail and I guess internet shopping/booking flights etc.

Or would it be cheaper to just buy a chromebook?

K.O.Kiki · 02-05-2022 2:44pm

Dell Optiplex 7010 (Intel Core i5-3470 / 256Gb SSD) - 105eur

4Gb DDR3-1600 - 8eur each (buy 1x or 3x)

Total: 113 / 137eur

Sure it's 10yrs old but it should be fine for daily use. And by buying form CEX you get 2 years warranty.

Don't bother with the 8400 GS.

CEX also have some machines with newer i5-8500 / i5-9500 / i7-6700T machines for under 300.

15-05-2022 7:57pm

Do a coplete wipe of the hard drive(format it) but backuo essential data first on a usb drive. Reinstall windows from scratch, its amazing how a fresh boot speeds things up.

Or even better install a linux os such as ubuntu, rarely an issue with drivers and i find linux is great for identifying and installing drivers for old hardware. For web browsing and office work it feels the same as windows

dougm1970 · 18-05-2022 2:41pm

try chrome os flex....i dont know the old pc specs or if any life on booting....but you'd be surprised how capable flex is on very old and low specs......free to try.

Jon Doe · 19-05-2022 10:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119067842#Comment_119067842

This. Do this to the laptop. Get yourself a copy of Windows OEM and install it. Laptops usually come factory loaded with loads of crapware. Reinstalling Windows OEM will speed up things. More so if you replace the SATA HDD with a SATA 2.5" SSD. Run CPUZ and GPUZ to figure out how old the laptop's parts are.

K.O.Kiki · 19-05-2022 1:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119084360#Comment_119084360

You don't need CPU-Z to know a laptop's specs - just run "msinfo32" to get System Information.

Also (informed opinion) laptops are not good for daily use. Screens are too small, and too low unless you use a riser. Leads to nothing but back & neck issues. Plus they're simply slow on account of having bad cooling & low TDP.

---

The Dell I linked above has dropped to 90eur, and the RAM sticks to 6eur.

So total cost for a small desktop is 96/108eur. Dell keyboard/mouse/monitor can be picked up for 0-25eur on Adverts if needed.

Jon Doe · 19-05-2022 5:52pm

You don't need CPU-Z to know a laptop's specs - just run "msinfo32" to get System Information.

Yeah, I know but in my experience CPUZ is far easier for those who don't know any better: start program, click tab X, take screenshot. :)

As for the laptop advice, that's true, but he's probably used to the machine by now and those issues can be mitigated with an external keyboard, mouse, an HDMI cable and a big TV screen... :)

Very cheap low spec build - or just buy a chromebook?

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