The £250 challenge: vote for the good PC

Monday, March 16th, 2009

So, as you’ve doubtless already seen, the £250 Challenge is now in its final phase. If you haven’t seen it, drop everything and rush out and buy the latest issue of PC Pro right now.

Because on pages 102-9 of issue 175 you’ll find complete specs for each of the five PCs in the challenge, along with the sorry tales of how we obtained them. You’ll also find an assessment of how well we all fared, in the judgment of our estimable editor, Mr Tim Danton.

But screw him; because the real judge, dear readers, is your good selves. Yes, ultimately it’s down to you to decide who wins the challenge. Will it be David Fearon, proud purchaser of the world’s most mediocre laptop? Seriously, they should call it the Acer Uninspired. Ha ha. (more…)

The £250 Challenge: Vote for the internet PC

Monday, March 16th, 2009

I know, I know, it’s a bit bland. And it doesn’t have a monitor. And that chassis is mostly empty as it doesn’t really have much inside it. And it can’t keep up with the other PCs. And there’s actually nothing behind that little door on the front.

But my £250 PC – bought fully formed and totally new from Ebuyer.com – has at least TWO strengths that propel it past the garish nastiness of Mike’s monster, the ageing unreliability of Darien’s pile of tat and Mr Fearon’s little portable non-PC oddity.

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Second-hand? Several days-hand, more like

Monday, January 26th, 2009

Well, it’s done: over the weekend I bit the bullet and ordered my second-hand PC for the £250 Challenge. It’s a decent-looking machine, with a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM and a 19in TFT, which should make it a very viable desktop PC. Hopefully our dear editor Tim Danton will agree when he comes to judge our entries.

But getting to this stage has been a monumental hassle – far more so than I’d anticipated. When I volunteered for the £250 Challenge I thought buying second-hand would be easy: just scout around the various classified and auction sites, visit the local second-hand shops, draw up a shortlist, fire off a few emails, bish bash bosh, job done. (more…)

London, a shop, a £250 computer and me.

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

So I’m in a battle with my colleagues Mike Jennings and David Bayon. I’ve somehow to come up with a PC that beats both of their efforts for no more than £250 inc VAT. But I’m restricted to buying mine directly from one of the shops lining both sides of Tottenham Court Road in London, between the junction at Oxford St and Goodge St Tube.

I am confident of success. For lo! I have a secret weapon. (more…)

How best to spend my £250?

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

A blog comment from Sharpey made me think last night – every thought about my £250 PC has so far centred on a standard desktop machine. So why not ditch that and build a media centre instead?

The benefits seem numerous. Since the PC would be connected to a TV, I don’t have to bother with a monitor or speakers – which instantly frees almost £70 from my budget – and the motherboard I’d already picked out is mATX anyway, and so will fit into most of the cases I spent last night gazing at. It would also be full of Blu-ray technology to make movies look fantastic.

So, here’s my current shopping list:

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A complete PC package for £250? No problem!

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

I’m used to seeing all manner of PC systems turn up the PC Pro Labs. Some cost £3,000, others cost £600, and some choose to include a full range of peripherals – whereas others are simply towers of power that leave you to fork out for the extras afterwards. It really is a study in the sheer amount of variety that there is in the desktop PC market today.

Every machine that we review has two things in common, though: none of them cost £250, and not one of them has suffered the indignity of being thrown together by my unsubtle and leaden hands.

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First stop: Dell’s PC emporium

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

So my job this fortnight, as you may have discovered in Tim’s call to arms, is to spend £250 of his money on a brand new fully-built PC or laptop, using only the medium of this interweb thingy. All phones off the hook, face-to-face conversation on hold; this is just me, my surfing skills and his wallet. Heaven.

My first port of call was obvious: Dell. Where better to find a rock-bottom bargain PC to make this whole task as easy as a few quick clicks, feet up on the desk and a delivery in the post room? Well, as you ask, quite a lot of places actually.

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caveat manūs secundae emptor

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

So, as you’ll have seen, the PC Pro £250 Challenge is afoot. Over the next week or two my colleagues and I will be doing our best to find (or assemble) a killer PC for no more than half a monkey. And my personal quest is to obtain a dream machine on the second-hand market.

The precise source is up to me: I can scour classified ads, place bids on auction sites or even try to persuade David Fearon to sell me one of his cast-offs. But the PC I buy has to be pre-loved, and it has to come in at £250 or less.

I admit, it’s not an approach I’ve tried before. Being by nature an impatient sod, my usual purchasing strategy is simply to march into a shop and slap down a credit card. This will, I suspect, be a learning experience for me.

But that doesn’t mean I have to go into it completely blind. So, dear readers: what should I be looking out for? Share the benefits of your experience, and tell me your tips and warnings.

Otherwise, on my first foray into the second-hand arena, I’ve every chance of getting screwed around and ripped off. And you wouldn’t want to see that, would you?