System Buyers Guide: PCs for Under $1000

Final Words

The problem with systems under $1000 is that they aren't normally sexy or groundbreaking. Lower end PCs are therefore completely devoid of any of the glitz and excitement associated with the midrange to high-end market. Most consider low-end PCS to be just the Dell or HP special of the week - hardly worthy of consideration as a "real" PC. That perception is really a shame, because the sub-$1000 market is where many PC buyers choose to buy - or are forced to buy because of budget constraints. Today, more than ever, you will get a lot for your money in this market segment. When dual-core CPUs can be choices in Entry PCs, 4GB of DDR2-800 can be bought for $40 or less, and the starter hard drive is a $59 500GB 7200RPM, there truly is value to be had at these price points.

Our entry systems, complete with a 1440x900 monitor and decent integrated graphics, are just $538 for either Intel or AMD. These are prices for a complete system with LCD monitor, keyboard and mouse, and Vista Home Premium OEM Operating System. We can't recall a time where you received better value for your $500. Indeed, the Intel/AMD wars in the CPU space and the NVIDIA/ATI wars in GPUs have created some truly excellent values in the market. This value has been further enhanced by the worldwide recession. It is ironic that the best prices coincide with the scariest economic times, but that is how economies work. If you are in the market for a PC, though, even an entry model, you will be pleased with the values you can find.

A year ago, the entry-level PC cost around $750 and the budget or value PC cost over $1000. Today that $750 price point is the beginning of the budget category. Both our budget PCs are complete systems  at less than $850. Both include a Radeon HD 4830 GPU at that price, a 1680x1050 LCD, 4GB of DDR2-800 memory, a 500GB 7200RPM hard drive, and a tri-core Phenom Black Edition or dual-core Intel 1066FSB CPU, Microsoft keyboard and mouse, Vista OS, and a Logitech 2.1 speaker system. Either system will provide excellent performance in general use - much better than you would expect for a system at this price level.

If your budget interests extend to gaming you can substitute a full HD 1080P monitor in a 21.5" 1920x1080 LCD and upgrade to the well-regarded ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB video card to bring your new system up to current gaming PC standards. This would only add $165 to your system price. That means you can build a 4870 gaming rig with a 1080P 1920x1080 HDMI LCD for just $998. That kind of value did not exist until recently, and that is why it is such a good time to buy and build a new PC.

Finally, who would have thought that an AMD and Intel HTPC could be built with so many features for so little money? You can get 4GB of memory, a reasonable CPU, and graphics fast enough to provide stutter-free and tear-free Blu-Ray playback for a song! Add in 1TB of quiet hard drive storage, a combo 6X Blu-Ray player/DVD burner, and HDMI capable onboard graphics, all wrapped in a Lian Li aluminum case with a PC Power & Cooling 500W Silencer power supply for around $750, including the Vista OS and a wireless keyboard and mouse. The result is tremendous value for the money spent.

As has been pointed out many times in the last few months, AMD and Intel performance are almost price par for low-end to midrange systems. That is to say, a $120 AMD CPU is pretty comparable in performance to a $120 Intel CPU today - and the same goes for $70 and $100 options. Intel still owns the top of the CPU market, but that may be subject to revision in a few days when the AMD Phenom II launches.

This price parity in the sub-$1000 segment is part of the reason so much value is available at such relatively low prices, but CPUs aren't the only values. You can buy what we consider a top ATI HD 4870 1GB GPU for $220 if you shop around, and it will perform as well as or better than yesterday's $500 video card. 500GB is now and entry-level hard drive and 1TB drives offer storage at $0.105 per GB; 1TB at around $100 is now a reality. Memory has also reached commodity pricing levels when we can recommend 4GB of high-speed DDR2-800 for less than $40.

Put it all together and you can buy an excellent entry, budget, or HTPC computer for well under $1000. You can even deck it out with a 1080P monitor and a 4870 video card and still barely reach $1000. It is a good time to be shopping for a new PC. Value is the rule of the day as competition, a mature market, and a lackluster world economy have created great deals in every computer component category… except perhaps when it comes to operating systems (excepting Linux, naturally).

Next week we will take a closer look at midrange systems, recommending system configurations with a broad price range of $1000 to $2000. Many of you will find you can even meet your high-end computer dreams in this price range that was once reserved for the middle of the road PC and the beginning of computer gaming.