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How to win a very special PC...

Posted on 27 Mar 2009 at 17:46

In the current issue of the magazine, I challenged four members of the team to buy a dream PC writes PC Pro editor Tim Danton. In true Top Gear style, it wasn't only a battle of the wits but a battle of the ways and means.

One person was sent to buy second-hand, another from the high-street, another from online retailers and the fourth volunteer had to specify, buy and build the PC himself.

And there was just one more small problem - I only gave them £250 apiece. But even that seems generous compared to the task I set news reporter Stuart Turton: he had to get a working PC for nothing.

They all set off with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Darien Graham-Smith was first to call on the aid of the PC Pro audience, with his blog explaining "my personal quest is to obtain a dream machine on the second-hand market... 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."

Meanwhile, David Bayon's first stop on his challenge - to buy a new PC online - was to Dell's website, but fortunately a number of commenters were quick to point him in more interesting directions.

David Fearon's adventures on the high-street even ended up on film, while Mike Jennings' boundless enthusiasm in his quest to build the best possible PC for £250 earned him advice from dozens of build-your-own-PC experts.

And spare a thought for Stuart, who not only had to suffer from a complete lack of money but also damaged his knee halfway through the challenge so couldn't even walk to fetch the free PC he finally found.

I had my say in the issue of PC Pro that's out now, and if you want to see a side-by-side comparison of all the PCs we bought (and a few swipes at my dress sense from Stuart Turton) then pick it up in a newsagent this weekend - it's on sale until the 13th of May.

If you want to read everyone's blog entries, head over to The £250 Challenge section of our blogs.

But most importantly of all, if you want a chance to win one of the PCs, and decide exactly who wins, then VOTE NOW!.

Author: Tim Danton