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:

· Ebuyer Extra Value Black/Silver Cube Case with 650W PSU and LCD – £48.93

· Celeron Dual Core E1200 – £36.91

· ABIT I-945V socket 775 motherboard – £25.53

· 2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM – £15.99

· 500GB hard disk – £38.10

· Radeon HD 4350 – £29.61

· Blu-ray ROM drive – £67.46

That adds up to £262.53 – a mite over twelve pounds too expensive. I’m aware that I could drop to 1GB of RAM and reduce the size of the hard disk to save cash, but it still feels awfully close to the bone.

Other issues present themselves when putting together a media centre rig, too. I’ve not included an operating system because shelling out for XP or Vista – even an OEM version – is just too big a chunk of my budget. Whatever PC I decide to build, then, will be using Ubuntu, which is the only version of Linux I’ve had any experience with. I’ll have to check whether legal Blu-ray playback is possible with Ubuntu – a couple of quick searches reveal that the issue has certainly had a murky past, and it doesn’t seem that the question of Open Source Blu-ray hasn’t been resolved yet. More searching is required – and, as usual, tips from anyone reading are more than welcome.

The other issue is cost. If anyone can find these components for less cash – bearing in mind that the cost of delivery has to be factored in, too – then I’d be absolutely delighted. If you know of any possible solutions, then please let me know.

And, if this doesn’t work out? I plan to ditch the monitor and speakers and build an overclocked, Open Source gaming rig with a ludicrous case and, hopefully, a few bells and whistles. Tomorrow, hopefully, is ordering day.

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.

Nevertheless, I’ve been asked to put together a serviceable and usable PC for £250. It didn’t initially sound too challenging, but the more I explored the challenge the more I discovered that huge corners would have to be cut and I’d have to be extremely canny with my purchasing.

However, I do also think that I have an instant advantage over some of my colleagues. For one, I don’t have to include a profit margin in my rig’s spec-list and, for another, I can indulge in some enthusiastic overclocking. I can also seek out parts from big-name manufacturers rather than relying on the lesser-quality, proprietary components that may be used elsewhere. To that end, I spent some time seeking out some of the cheap parts that I’d need for my PC, and came up with several possibilities:

· The processor would be an Intel Pentium Dual Core E2200, costing £57.60

· An Nvidia GeForce 9500 GT is a budget card, and would set me back £44.72

· 2GB of RAM at £16.43

· A 250GB hard disk that I’d found for £31.99

· A 17in monitor for £65.23

After a busy morning’s surfing, my shopping list already totalled £215.97, and I hadn’t factored in a case, keyboard, mouse, optical drive or even a motherboard. It looks as if my ambitions are going to have to be severely reigned in if I’m going to cram everything into this machine.

However, a bit more time on some of the big shopping websites reveal that there are some bargains to be had. I’ve managed to find an Intel Celeron E1200 processor for £36.91 – it may not be a Pentium Dual Core, but it’s still dual core and still very, very overclockable. I’ve paired this with a £32 ABIT motherboard, but I’m still furiously searching for plenty else to install into this super-cheap machine.

And that, dear reader, is where you come in: at the moment, my vision for this PC is as wide and open as the Windows XP default wallpaper, and as malleable as putty. I’m open to any suggestions as to how I can make this rig the best on offer come the end of the £250 challenge – so whether you envisage it being a budget gaming beast or a tiny, silent media centre, please let me know what’s on your mind.

I’m also open to suggestions as to where I can find the multitude of components that I need for this machine – so the cheaper and more reliable the supplier the better. With emphasis on the cheaper, of course, given the stringent budget that’s been laid down by our supreme Editor.

So, if you have any comments or suggestions regarding my machine – any tips on component choices, where to buy them or any building advice – then I’m happy to hear them. I’m looking forward to reading your feedback and proving that you can build a PC on a £250 budget – and get a better rig that can be found anywhere else.

]]> http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2009/01/20/a-complete-pc-package-for-250-no-problem/feed/ 28 http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2008/06/05/just-in-asus-nova-lite/ http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2008/06/05/just-in-asus-nova-lite/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:43:59 +0000 David Bayon http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/?p=1446 No, it’s not the desktop version of the Eee PC, not yet anyway, but this little system is about as close as Asus has yet come to putting out a true low-cost mini-PC.

Called the Nova Lite PX24, it takes the design first used in the original Nova P20, and strips it down to a much more affordable level.

Cramming in a 160GB hard disk, DVD writer, 2GB of RAM and even an ATI RV620 graphics card – complete with HDMI and DVI ports – we were expecting a price higher than the provisional SRP of £300 inc VAT. An Asus rep also hinted that there may be an even cheaper version on the way, with an 80GB hard disk and with integrated graphics.

The one corner we can see that’s been cut is in the use of a Celeron processor, but for its intended use – a Media Center or basic workhorse PC – that shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance. It should at least be quicker than recent rivals such as the MSI Titan 700 and the Tranquil T2e Atom PC.

It comes with an ugly black and white Media Center remote and a stand that doesn’t seem to quite fit the width of the PC properly – it’s a bit wobbly to touch so you may prefer to lie it flat on your desk. Other than that we like the design, and the front panel has been nicely resurfaced with a fabric not unlike that of a speaker grille.

Size-wise, it’s 231mm x 184mm and about 5cm thick, and Asus claims to have power-saving technology that should limit the CPU to just 5W when idle – we’ll be sure to run some power tests along with our usual benchmarks before we post a full review in the next few days.

The Asus Nova Lite PX24 will be available in the UK at the end of June.

My motivation is that while I’d like to work on the train, getting anything done at the moment requires more effort than I’d like. Which, ideally, is no effort at all. At the moment, hammering out a review on the journey home involves lugging a (relatively) heavy laptop in an extra bag, with the respective power cables in case I decide to use it when I get home, too. I’d like to condense this down somewhat, and some sort of smaller, lighter laptop stands out, as I’d be able to slip it into my backpack with everything else.

Given its runaway success, the Eee PC stands out, but there’s already two models to choose from – the original 701, and the newer, slightly bloated 900. However, both, while being undoubtedly brilliant little machines, come with caveats. The original Eee, for instance, has a screen that could be generously described as cramped and, while I use FireFox and OpenOffice at home, they’re both on Windows XP. The Eee’s custom Linux distribution doesn’t sound like it’ll co-operate with Football Manager, and Windows XP costs a bit more. The keyboard also looks a little cramp for my sausage-sized fingers – my colleague Sasha Muller has warned me away from the 701, as I’ll probably spend most of my time on the train deleting letters that I’ve inadvertently hit.

It’s fair to say that the 901 does address many of these problems. The screen, thankfully, is larger, supporting a resolution of 1,024 x 600. The hard disk can be up to 16GB in size – far better for Football Manager, as well as all that work I’ll be doing – and the Celeron processor now uses all of its 900MHz, as opposed to being clocked down to 630MHz, as it was in the 701. It runs XP comfortably thanks to the doubling of RAM – 512MB to 1GB – and weighs not far over a kilogram. It sounds like the ideal train companion, and one that I can slip into my bag with ease. It’s also a better performer than the original Eee.

However, these improvements come at a price – £280 excluding VAT, to be exact. Which is another sticking point – for not much more than that, I could invest in a genuine laptop with a 13in screen. Back in Issue 161’s Light Laptops Labs, nothing stretched beyond 2kg in weight, with 12 and 13in screens the norm. Almost all of these, though, were far more expensive than the little Eee that could, and benchmark scores indicate that virtually all of them are far more capable performers than the Eee.

And then there’s the raft of pretenders to the Eee’s ultra-cheap, ultraportable crown. MSI’s forthcoming Wind should be arriving in the PC Pro Labs pretty soon, and that is promising to be another contender for my cash. However, the top specifications of that model could cost up to £700 which, again, would buy me a very tasty laptop with a 13in screen and, no doubt, a better specification.

The battlelines have been drawn for my wallet’s affection – the Eee 900 will sate my train-working needs, sure, but the price could be a sticking point when better-specified laptops – I’m thinking larger screens, better processors, hard disks and optical drives – could almost as easily fill a niche in my bag, and be far more versatile and powerful for it.

So, any ideas or clues as to where my cash should go? What’s the best small, light and cheap laptop you’ve seen? I’m open to suggestions.