another novice question

sixtysix

i am thinking of building a HTPC, however the separate parts cost considerably in excess of the cost of an off the shelf Dell for example.
Is there any reason why you could not buy a dell for €349-take it apart and stick the components into a HTPC box?

SouperComputer

can you link to some prospective machines?

sixtysix

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/desktops

the latest dell weekly offer includes a box with windows vista basic, Intel celeron d 3.06hz, 512 ddr2 ram, 160hd and dvdrw for €349.

if i attempted to sources these separately it would cost about €550,

adrian.s

sixtysix wrote:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/desktops

the latest dell weekly offer includes a box with windows vista basic, Intel celeron d 3.06hz, 512 ddr2 ram, 160hd and dvdrw for €349.

if i attempted to sources these separately it would cost about €550,

Jeez, and I remember haggling with ICL a good few years ago for a 486 DX with, wait for it, 16 MB of RAM and an enormous hard disk of 40MB. All for the princely sum of 1400 quid. OK, reminiscing over, back to case in hand!

So I've built a home entertainment system using Linux & Myth, completely from components. It's cost a fair bit, but I'm well impressed with what I've done. You can do it cheap and there's no reason the above system can't do what you need. But, there's few things to bear in mind, firstly the Dell machine might not be easily de-composed into parts, network / graphics can be built onto the motherboard etc. Upgrading it down the road might be a problem as well with lack of space, or different RAM. Finally if you're keeping the case, it's not the most attractive (or quietest) to be hanging out in your sitting room. Dell make good machines that just work (most of the times!), but if you're the hobbiest or enthusiast, maybe you're better off building your own.

If you reckon you'll get bitten by the bug and would like to keep tinkering, you should check out the kits that the likes of Komplett generally offer. The plus to this is that you can do this with very standard components, so popping in extra drives, RAM, capture cards etc is generally a straightforward task.

My 0.2c worth.

A.

SouperComputer

sixtysix wrote:

http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/features.aspx/desktops

the latest dell weekly offer includes a box with windows vista basic, Intel celeron d 3.06hz, 512 ddr2 ram, 160hd and dvdrw for €349.

if i attempted to sources these separately it would cost about €550,

The links isnt working for me In any case, Vista basic does not have Media Centre, also you will still need to purchase a TV card of some description.

Secondly, if you build your own you have some sort of assurance that you wont be dealing with bottom of the barrel parts which are used often on the bottom end Dell comptuters. This doesnt just apply to Dell though.

if youi are looking to save money, you could buy a used computer with a superior spec.

Where are you sourcing your parts?

sixtysix

Adrian S you make it sound fascinating, whether I would have the patience though, I wonder.
Souper Computer, it was really just the general point I was making that buying an assembled box works out cheaper than buying the parts individually.
thanks for the replies