£250 Challenge - the story so far

Posted on 30 Jan 2009 at 18:19

Can you really build a PC for only £250, let alone a good one? This was the challenge thrown down to our team of experts last week, and with ten days now past we roundup their blogs to find out how they've been getting on.

High street
David Fearon was tasked with hitting the high street to find out just how much he could haggle off the price of a machine in these troubled times. It's going to take a lot of confidence, knowledge, and no little cheek. Find out how he's getting on here.

London, a shop, a £250 computer and me

Self build
Mike Jennings loves machines so powerful that they melt whole icebergs when you turn them on. But with only £250 in his pocket, could he really build a machine that would fulfil his power-gaming ambitions, or would he finally be whittled down to something... sensible?

A complete PC package for £250? No problem!

How best to spend my £250?

Zero Hour approaches for my £250 build

The building begins in earnest

Second hand
Darien Graham-Smith is not really a second hand kind of guy. After all, who ever heard of a second-hand Cuban cigar, or second-hand port? However, his taste for fine things was put to the ultimate test when he was tasked with hunting down a second-hand system. His journey brought him face-to-face with scams and bare-faced lies galore. Read all about it below.

caveat manus secundae emptor

Second-hand? Several days-hand, more like

A hidden hazard of eBay

New build online
David Bayon was also relegated online, but while Darien had the dubious luxury of shopping second hand, our peripherals editor was tasked with finding something brand new for his 250 notes. Ever the perfectionist, he bartered, scratched around and eventually found a PC he wouldn't be ashamed to take home to his mum.

First stop: Dell's PC emporium

Vostro does the business. But where next?

The spec creeps slowly upwards

My pre-built PC: The final shortlist

Gratis
And finally, Stuart Turton was thrown out on his ear with nothing but a cheeky smile and cap-in-hand to see what can be found for nothing in this big bad world. The answer? Lots.

Help me build the Goodwill PC

The Goodwill PC grinds to a halt

The Goodwill PC won't be rubbish after all... unfortunately

Keep checking the blogs for further updates.

Author: Stuart Turton