Best 'Office/Uni' type prebuilt PC for $600?

Grazz989 on 15/10/2021 - 13:11

Hi all,

I'm asking on behalf of a friend that needs a desktop for remote Uni work. Normally I would build a custom machine myself, so I'm not sure where to look for cheap prebuilts.

He says he'd like to have the option to throw in a GPU + extra RAM and game on it one day, so I suppose the focus would be on a decent CPU, but an overspecced PSU would also be nice.

This is what he's looking at, which seems okay - But it'd be nice to find an upgrade for the same cost: https://www.pcbyte.com.au/p/intel-i5-11400-4-4ghz-8gb-240gb-…

Cheers!

Computing

Comments

  • jdawg7 on 15/10/2021 - 13:15

    Get a new AMD APU

    • Grazz989 on 15/10/2021 - 13:16

      From … Where?

      • jdawg7 on 15/10/2021 - 13:17

        Sorry I didn't realised you said prebuilt. Start your google search with the APU of your choice

        • AndyC1 on 15/10/2021 - 13:28

          Probably cheaper to get a second hand PC with an AMD Ryzen series 3000 APU in it.

  • scrimshaw on 15/10/2021 - 13:35
    • 1x Besta B28 Mid Tower ATX Case with 550W PSU

    I'd consider these Besta / generic PSU's 'disposable', in the sense that they are generally replaced with something superior the moment you want to convert your office PC to a gaming one.

    It'll make more sense — and generate less e-waste, if you specced a PC yourself and selected the exact parts you want. Some stores will charge you maybe $80~100 in labour fees to put it together for you.

    • Grazz989 on 15/10/2021 - 14:02

      As mentioned, this machine is for a friend. If it were me, again I would do a custom build, but I don't want to spend my time and effort to build someone a PC only to become their free tech support for life.

      On a $600 budget machine, $50-100 is a massive chunk of the budget, and I imagine the specs would end up significantly worse as a result.

      • scrimshaw on 15/10/2021 - 14:06
        +2

        If that's the case I would tell your friend to buy the PCbyte build and roll with that, and not have to worry about being responsible for tech support down the line. You can give him tips on what parts to select when he does decide to upgrade. I don't think your friend will be buying a GPU any time soon anyway, given the current hardware drought.

  • bazingaa on 15/10/2021 - 14:24

    techfast deals ?

    • scrimshaw on 15/10/2021 - 14:30

      Techfast is being slammed by orders of higher end gaming PC's which have way more profit margin, so they are very unlikely to be doing any deals on lower end systems as the profits on these are much lower.

      They do have a $799 system but this is inferior to the PC Byte deal.

  • Switchblade88 on 15/10/2021 - 16:31
    +1

    Probably better to get a refurb Optiplex now for $200, and when they can afford it go for a full new PC.

    $600 is a very middling budget and a prebuilt for that price will be both average now, and not very upgradeable later. It's the shortcuts on cheap parts (like 2 RAM slots instead of 4) that will fit a $600 budget, but make the whole effort worthless for futureproofing.

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