Cheap school build

[mrowland28]

Hello, I am looking to build a cheap Pc for use in a school. It will only really be used for basic tasks e.g. word/internet browsing and doesn't need much in the way of storage. I'm looking to spend under £300 and have been suggested the 13-8100 as as CPU and 128-256 gb hdd or ssd. Any thoughts?

 

[camieabz]

Here's a reasonably specced system for the budget: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FgQ229

CPU - 4 cores - Gfx included in CPU, other CPUs of similar performance are +50% in price or more. The i3-8100 will take around a third of the budget, so not likely to work.

Motherboard - reasonable quality at decent price.

Memory - Cheapest 2400Mhz or more at 8GB is £70 ish, so £88 isn't massively more, and Corsair's LPX tends to be well recommended. The 2400Mhz RAM is a penny cheaper than the 2666Mhz RAM in the list, so go for the faster RAM, and ensure system can run at 2400Mhz. Also, if the RAM is nice and fast, the gfx aspects of the APU system will be more responsive.

SSD - 240GB is really the minimum you want, to cope with OS, apps, updates, and potentially any future needs (presumably many users with folders / profiles for each). I'd prefer a Samsung 850 Evo, but it's double the price.

Zalman case - Dinky little case with minimal cost.

Corsair 450w Power Supply - I recommend minimum PSU quality of Bronze 80+, and if in the future different kit is added (e.g. gfx card), it should be more than enough, without being massively priced.

Optical drive - No idea if that's wanted, but at a tenner, it's fine.


Add to all this, a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, speakers and an operating system...no way you're going to get all that for £300. However, if you are very budget limited, and don't mind Linux as the operating system, how about:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/zyQDzY

That's a ready to go system with pretty much everything onboard, minus the operating system. For me, that's nothing more than a web-browsing, e-mail and basic system. Videos will be pretty euughh, as the resolution is half of 1080p, but it will achieve more than snail mail and telephone.

Only 4GB, but Linux should work fine with that, assuming you're keeping away from RAM / gfx hungry stuff (again, onboard gfx, with the gfx chip taking some of the RAM permanently). Linux also will need less disk space than Windows, and probably less in the way of background process hogging that Windows loves. Open source office software with spreadsheets, word processing, email and the like. All free.

If you must have Windows, and your budget is set in stone, consider contacting local businesses for some free advertising "Business donates PCs to school" type deals. You never know.