Whats the catch?

[Tom743]

http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/H...df75a1c50c5107

So this desktop is £400, but it looks too good to be £400. Its got a 500GB hard drive comes with windows vista Business and it has 4GB ram installed.

Whats the catch with it? I can't see them selling a desktop like that for £400.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

http://www.pcwb.com/catalogue/item/H...df75a1c50c5107

So this desktop is £400, but it looks too good to be £400. Its got a 500GB hard drive comes with windows vista Business and it has 4GB ram installed.

Whats the catch with it? I can't see them selling a desktop like that for £400.

my guess is that that 4GB is generic type and its only good for when u have servers and etc. that also is bc of an AMD Phenom instead of the usual Intel Core 2 Do

[Zangetsu]

Processor - AMD Phenom X4 9550 (2.2 GHz, 2 MB Dedicated L2 cache, 2 MB Shared L3 cache, HT bus 3.0)
Memory - 4 GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM (800-MHz) Non-ECC < medium speed
Hard Drive - 500 GB 7200 rpm SATA 3.0 Gb/s NCQ, Smart IV
Optical Drive - SATA SuperMulti LightScribe DVD Writer
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT (256 MB DH) PCIe x16 < old
Genuine Windows Vista® Business 32
Networking -Integrated Realtek RTL8211B Gigabit Ethernet
Monitor Not Included < bad
no keyboard or mouse present
and you probably cant even overclock it due to a retail BIOS
which means it has been stripped down to the essentials

[Nathan H]

Well, it's AMDwhich means no OC, the business 32bit means you won't be able to properly utilise all the ram, theoretically you should, but you won't. The RAM isnt high-end it's mid spec.
Seems like a good deal overall though. but its worth going for a slightly more expensive Intel chip rather than AMD.

[Uchiha Sasuke]

Well, it's AMDwhich means no OC, the business 32bit means you won't be able to properly utilise all the ram, theoretically you should, but you won't. The RAM isnt high-end it's mid spec.
Seems like a good deal overall though. but its worth going for a slightly more expensive Intel chip rather than AMD.

well if you dont care about money id go for the core 2 Extreme Black Edition the best model is the QX9777 which will have really good OC results but its best to use it on motherboards that are designed for the Core 2 extreme. also if you want speedy overclockable memory get a pair of corsair dominator extreme and you can do it really good to them

[Nathan H]

The thing about things like computers etc at the moment in the UK is there is a large credit crunch. Most people cannot afford to spend a lot on computers because they were stupid and relied on credit cards too much. The only way for companies to still make sales and profits is to lower the prices. Which means for those of us smart enough to avoid credit, we are basking in cheap technology.

[vol7ron]

I'm not sure any of the above know exactly what they're talking about - I'm not trying to insult, I just think there's a big misconception. Intel is the leader in manufacturing at the moment, but it doesn't mean you have to buy one. Just to let it be known I'm an Intel-owner, but you should know that AMD price matches Intel based on performance of their chips and in many cases AMD is cheaper for the same performance. AMD isn't the leader anymore, but they still make procs from the mid-to-lower market that provide very similar performance.

The site listed the computer at 329 pounds, not 400, so it may be better than you expected. As others have said these are mid-low line parts. Intel is getting ready to release a new proc, which means sales are starting. Not to mention SSD hard drives are gaining interest in the enthusiast community with Intel's nicer random-write capabilities; prices for Hard Drives in general are coming down - especially with the new production economies. Throw in the fact that HP is what DELL used to be for cheap computers and you have low prices.

I think the biggest reason this is *cheap* - I say it loosely because that's still almost $700 USD - is because it's a business machine with NO MONITOR and monitors take up a big portion of the price. Go to ibuypower.com and see how cheap a top of the line computer can be at the moment - it's amazing.

Remember, a computer is made of:
- Processor
- Video card
- RAM
- Motherboard
- Case+Fans
- Power Supply

I tried to price the list from high to low price, but each category fluctuates based on what you're buying. Business machines use cheap, mass produced cases. Usually, basic motherboards, decent ram, mid-level video cards, but decent procs.