I am looking around for a cheap computer to buy so that I can work on administering a system. I've looked around... I'm not sure what to do :stickout

I looked on E-Bay... Has anyone had good experience buying PCs on E-Bay before? There are some amazing offers... Like an XP 1800 with all the fixings for... what?... $200??? How is that possible? I am not sure whether to believe the price or not... :( The price is just too amazing to believe. There are several of them on there... no reserve, really low price...

The seller has a very good rating... so...

Any reccomendations or suggestions? Does anyone know of a place to find a really cheap, good quality PC? (I know, I know... just like hosting, you get what you pay for :stickout ).

Thanks in advance...

- James

Most of them wont include a monitor or os. And they usually use low quality parts so they may not work as long as buying from a brand name (EG Compaq).

I don't need a monitor... I can buy a KVM switch for $40 and use my current one...

Hmmm...

I have an hour and a half left. :)

- James

eh? did you just imply compaq is a good brand name (for home computer)? :eek:

Originally posted by zRedDice



I have an hour and a half left. :)

- James

that's like an eternity in ebay time :D

people wait until last minute to bid to get lower price ;)

I hope you must bought it till now. What price did you get it?

It's been my experience that name-brand computers are nothing but trouble. Build one or have one custom-built for you, if possible.

Also, the cheap computers you see on eBay don't always include everything you need such as a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, cables, operating system, or software, but as long as you realize that, then you're okay. Some people just don't realize what they're buying. Just make sure they have some kind of warranty so that if the computer explodes within a year or something, they'll replace it.

There was a time a couple years ago that I was the manager of a Central Valley Compaq repair facility, they freaking suck.

I decided that I'd better not go with that one.

After all... there will be good deals today and tomorrow and forever :)

I think I'll try E-Bay... if anything goes awry... I guess I can always find a lawyer :stickout

I just figure that it'll come with power cable, IDE cables, PSU, :)

- James

Good luck. I know someone that spent $1000 on a laptop and never saw it. Bought it through ebay and could never track down the person that sold it to her. And nobody, including ebay, helped her get the money back. So be careful when buying from auction sites like that.

Originally posted by zRedDice

There are some amazing offers... Like an XP 1800 with all the fixings for... what?... $200??? How is that possible? I am not sure whether to believe the price or not... :( The price is just too amazing to believe.

Usually, when something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Why not build one yourself?
CPU's have come way down in price along with motherboards. You can probably use an existing hard drive or optical drive, nic card,modem etc.... from your old computer and build something pretty fast for not much money.
Check out The AMD Motherboard Forums (http://www.amdmb.com)

From expierience, most companies like Compaq give you piece of crap computers. I recently purchased a laptop and a month after getting it the floppy drive broke. I took it in to the shop. 2 weeks after getting it back, my 56k modem started going out. Took it in and got a new one. I get home and the 56k doesnt work. In conclusion, make a custom pc!

I can vouch for compaq being crap, about 2-3 years ago I bought one of them to use as a second computer just to store documents and such things on, little did I know what trouble I was in for.

1.) The computer would not boot at first
2.) When it did boot, it took 5-10 minutes
3.) After rebooting 3-4 times, the hard drive died

Not typically what I expected, so I went for an HP, things got worse:

1.) This one booted, just as slow though
2.) Booted it up, kernal.dll was corupt, had to reinstall the OS
3.) Could not re-install the OS as the CD, fresh from the pack was cracked in half.
4.) Lastly, right as I was calling them up to file a complaint, the monitor blew out.


I can honestly say that both HP & Compaq computers are trash and I would not place another penny into them. I built my own computer from scratch and have only had to replace my monitor (so far, not to brag as I don't want anything to happen to this one).

Building your own, imo, is always best. E-Bay has some deals, but they also have a good deal of theifs.