Dell Inspiron 530, bought in October '08, refurbished from May '08. I was 10 at the time of purchase, I could no more build my own computer than I could PAY for it myself. Given its specs, it was a deal at only $300 for the thing, especially at the time.
Specs at time of purchase:
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 @ 2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 64-bit
2 GB DDR2 PC6400 800 MHz RAM
Intel G31 Express Chipset, On-board Video, 128 MB VRAM
Realtek High Definition Audio (also on-board)
Western Digital WD2500 Caviar 250 GB Primary SATA HDD
Generic DVD-RW SATA Secondary
TEAC Card Reader (does fuckin' everything, man)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 32-bit (Yeah, not gonna lie, I eventually slapped XP onto this sumbitch)
So yeah, not bad for 2008 and $300.
Not many things have changed since then, it works just fine for what I use it for.
Current Specs:
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 @ 2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 64-bit
2 GB DDR2 PC6400 800 MHz RAM
Intel G31 Express Chipset, unused on-board video, 128 MB VRAM
nVidia GEForce 610 GX w/ 2 GB VRAM, PCI Express
Realtek High Definition Audio (on-board)
Western Digital WD2500 Caviar 250 GB Primary SATA HDD
Generic DVD-RW SATA Secondary
TEAC Card Reader
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (runs faster than Vista or XP, 32-bit because I have 16-bit programs that I use)
Not bad, but the RAM could use an upgrade to 8 GB, and I also want to put an SSD in there for booting purposes. I also want to get a better heatsink and some of that thermal paste, and overclock my processor to 3.0 GHz. It runs Skyrim EXTREMELY smooth, shocking considering all of my specs except for my graphics card is bare minimum, or close to it.
I am probably going to be using this computer for another 5 or so years, even more if I get the upgrades I am hoping for. The upgrades will probably cost a total of $300-$350, on top of the cost of the computer and the current graphics card equals some $730 dollars, this is a high estimate. I haven't included the monitor or mouse/keyboard into it yet, or speakers. So the TOTAL cost of all this is $980 or so, the monitor was $200 at the time, the mouse and keyboard were $50 total as they were both high end wireless models, and the speakers, being generic, were like $10. Again, a high estimate. But almost $1000 dollars for 10+ years of use sounds more than fair, much less than a dollar a day. So, it's worth it.
As of right now the entire computer, including the graphics card, mouse/keyboard, monitor, and speakers totals out to approximately $630. Not bad, considering I've been using it for 5 years as it is.
