Hello guys, I came back to tell you that my family might buy a computer for my grandmother's birthday and I was wondering what my family should buy. Some specs that we need are...
- It needs to be a mini pc or at least a very small one
- 1 GB of ram should do the job nicely
- Windows Vista Home Premium (We definitely need this because it will be a media center pc)
- Doesn't overheat easily (It will be running for hours or even days)
- Needs a remote
- Needs a decent TV Tuner (preferably hardware encoding) (Can be bought and installed separately)
- RCA / S-Video Out (to plug into the tv
- Basic audio
- In the price range of $200-$300
- Must be purchased close by to Toronto or cheaply mailed to a us mailbox

Thanks in advance for your support!

Is this possible?

I would suggest a Mac Mini or something, for it's compactness, but.. you aren't flexible enough in order to get something in that calibration for that budget.

Maybe but I think she might be too confused by a Mac Mini.

P.S. by Mini PC I meant slim line

I know you meant a smaller PC, since the home premium thing came up. Either way, here is a suggestion

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/proddetai...0649&catid=

or..

http://www.dell.com/content/products/produ...;l=en&s=dhs

which has basic, but you can upgrade it.

My Components
Intel® Celeron ® Processor 440 (2.00GHz, 800 FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium
No Monitor
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
250GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
Hauppauge HVR1250 hybrid TV Tuner with Remote Control
Dell USB Keyboard and Dell Optical USB Mouse
No Floppy Drive Included
No Modem Option
My Software & Accessories
No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
McAfee SecurityCenter with anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, 30-Days
Microsoft Works 9.0
My Service
1Yr In-Home Service, Parts + Labor, 24x7 Phone Support
Included 3 GB DataSafe Online Backup for 1Yr

I really doubt that you can find something like that for 200-300.

$200-300? I can say that it's not happening with a new computer. A TV tuner would cost at least $40, and Windows Vista HP would cost $100. That leave us what? $60-160? A cheap processor, an open-box motherboard, and the cheapest stick 1GB of RAM would cost $100 at a good US e-tailer. A 250GB hard drive would run $60-70, a normal case $20, a reliable power supply $30. See what I'm getting at? And a TV Tuner doesn't have hardware encoding, either. Factor in how *bleep*ing expensive hardware is in $CAD, and you're REALLY not going to get anything. I'm all for budget computers--but getting together a basic computer for $300 is very hard. For the price and the hardware, look at WinXP MCE instead. Vista will be too straining on the system, and most really cheap TV tuners don't work with Vista yet.

Using the cheapest compatible components and open-box components, I was able to price a system at $350 WITHOUT an optical drive. Open-box motherboard and hard drive.


Open Box: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$52.99

ENCORE ENLTV-FM TV Tuner & Capture Card w/FM PCI Interface - Retail
$17.99

SUPER TALENT 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model T667UB1GV - Retail
$17.99

Open Box: BIOSTAR 945GC Micro 775 LGA 775 Intel 945GC Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
$34.99

Intel Celeron 430 Conroe-L 1.8GHz LGA 775 35W Single-Core Processor Model BX80557430 - Retail
$42.99

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/SP2B - OEM
$119.99

Linkworld Black body/ Silver strip Steel 6280-01 Micro ATX Media Center / HTPC Case - Retail
$34.99


Alternatively, drop the Intel Celeron 430 and that open-box Biostar motherboard...

JetWay JM26GT3-SVP AM2 NVIDIA NF6100-405 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$39.99

AMD Sempron LE-1150 Sparta 2.0GHz Socket AM2 45W Single-Core Processor Model SDH1150DEBOX - Retail
$36.00

Windows Vista Home Premium costs $226.79. That leaves you with $73.21 to build (or buy) your computer.

My suggestion: Get a bigger budget or lower your expectations. With $200 - $300, you could get a nice Pentium 4 / Windows XP machine on ebay or craigslist.

OEM edition is $99.99, but the hardware is not up to par. P4 is a waste of money, look for Core or Athlon 64.

The only reason I wanted HP was because of Media Center. Also sorry for the confusion, I meant new as in new for her as I was actually primarily looking at referbs.

A
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Radeon 9700+ Depending on your processor. ATI + NviDeA R da Bawmb

You could have specified that... but I still think that setup I posted would be "enough". Some parts are used/open-box. That Compaq (iirc) with a TV tuner should work too.

AMD 780G chipset would be great for a cheap media center PC Team that up with a amd 3800 X2 and you'll be able to play blu-ray . The only problem is budget, $300-400 is too tight, i think bob-sama's build would suit you a bit better. I really think you'll need to reassess this. Also you might be able to chuck in a nice HTPC case if you add a bit more to your budget . However, i think a "cheap PC" for grandma would be better suited.

edit: my bad

That's grandma, Acid.

Anyways--best bet really is a low-end build or a refurb and a cheap TV tuner. The problem is actually Vista--most tuners are not officially compatible with Vista, and thus you can have problems with generic drivers or it just won't work. I wouldn't recommend a TV Tuner that doesn't officially support Vista for a Vista HP system. A Vista-compatible TV tuner would run around $45+ USD.

I'm not an expert, but my friend got vista and he had 1gb of memory, and it went s l o w w w w w. You'll need more memory for doing much else than playing music. Vista hogs memory, from the experiences with it i have had (got a laptop with vista and 1gb of Ram, had to upgrade to 1.5gb cause it was slow)

Turn Aero off and it runs fine on 1GB of RAM.

Personally i don't see the point in spending $100 on a $300 system for vista, for the functionality Gentoo or ubuntu would run fine and use a lot less system resources.