Build WalMart’s $199 PC
Last month, WalMart began selling a PC for under $200. This made me wonder, can you build it yourself for cheaper. I did a little bit of research and here is a breakdown of the cost:
- Motherboard – $59.99
- Case – $29.99
- Kingston 512 MB Memory – $14.99
- Seagate 80 GB Hard Drive – $43.99
- DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive – $24.99
- gOS – free
- Logitech Keyboard – $9.25
- Logitech Mouse – $7.29
- Creative Speakers – $9.99
- Total – $200.48
As you can see, it costs about the same to build the PC yourself. However, you are getting better quality hardware from major brands such as Kingston, Seagate, Logitech, and Creative. When buying a PC off the shelf, you don’t usually know what hardware you are getting. Also, if you think WalMart is evil, as many people do, then you don’t have to support them. But above anything else, it is simply more fun to build it yourself than buy one off the shelf.
20. November 2007 at 4:42 am :
ooops, you forget added proccessor
20. November 2007 at 1:25 pm :
I think I might actually do this. My girlfriend is always complaining about how she never uses her computer because it is too slow to boot up. I’ve also always wanted to try building my own computer. So building an inexpensive computer for my girlfriend for Christmas might be a great idea.
20. November 2007 at 1:56 pm :
Lelono, one of the things that makes this PC so cheap is that the motherboard includes a VIA processor soldered directly to it. It isn’t the best processor available, but it is one less thing anyone building this PC has to buy. Thanks for the comment.
20. November 2007 at 3:45 pm :
You did not include shipping, which is going to be a substantial expense.
21. November 2007 at 8:42 am :
Nice to see someone put the list together. One thing about the VIA CPUs are that they are extremely low on power consumption. Generally about 5 watts I think. This computer would save a good bit on power bills.