Looking for an affordable PC? Something you can get the basics done on – word processing, maybe a little photo editing here and there, no gaming or anything. Just something you can surf the web on and check email, maybe watch a few Web videos with? Well, you certainly don’t need to head over to Alienware’s site for something like that, or start pricing out expensive components to build a water-cooled system. There are several budget computers on the market right now that match your usage profile perfectly, and they aren’t necessarily all ugly beige or black desktops, either.
Companies from Acer to ASUS to Dell are in the game of providing affordable, low-power (as in power consumption) PCs that pack enough horsepower and storage for the average user in a small package that comes complete with accessories that complete the package (goodies like a nice widescreen monitor and media keyboard). The most expensive PC in PC Mag’s list is $599, and the least expensive is $298 USD. For that spread, I’m sure you can find something that’ll get you online and get you surfing. But when it comes time that you get the itch to start loading up games, you might consider some beefier hardware, okay?