Sears/Mirus $199 Celeron 420/1GB/80GB

dougz · Post by **dougz** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:49 pm

Don't know how quiet it is, but at US$199 (plus shipping, after MIR) one could afford to work on the noise. A real competitor for the Wal-Mart/Everex/gOS $199 Via C7 PC. Better than the D201GLYx for Linux folks because it has Via chipset, rather than SiS, as well as more expandability.

Celeron D 420 (1.6GHz) Processor with 800MHz FSB, 512 KB Cache
Ethernet â€“ 10Base-T/100Base-TX Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)
Memory â€“ 1024MB (expandable to 2048MB)
Hard Drive â€“ 80GB 7200RPM
Graphics â€“ VIA Chrome 9, 2D/3D engine, DirectX 9
Case Form factor â€“ uATX, Mini Tower
Ethernet â€“ 10Base-T/100Base-TX Fast Ethernet (RJ-45)

Comes with CD-RW drive, kbd, mouse, speakers, modem, 15-1 memory card reader, 6 USB ports, 1 PCI Express open, 1 PCI Express 16X open, one PCI open, 1 5.25" open, six internal 3.5" open.

Comes with Freespire Linux (free version of Linspire, rather than Windows) & Open Office (rather than MS Office), 1 year warranty.

Sears catalog page -- http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1260 ... Carex00010

Specs -- http://download.sears.com/misc/SITLC420.pdf

As one reviewer said in the Sears comments, "Recomendation: Scrap linspire, load ubuntu, replace CD/RW drive with a DVD RW drive, enjoy." Cost: the DVD RW plus some download time. Improvement: huge.

Jay_S · Post by **Jay_S** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:16 pm

Interesting. Too bad about the mail-in rebate nonsense.

Quickly assembling something (slightly more powerful) on Newegg I arrive at $275:

Enlight PM2F0103 MicroATX Case, 300W Power Supply, 120mm Fan
Model #: PM2F0103
Item #: N82E16811116031
$52.99

GIGABYTE GA-G31M-S2L Intel G31 Micro ATX Motherboard
Model #: GA-G31M-S2L
Item #: N82E16813128078
$66.99

Intel Celeron 420 Conroe-L 1.6GHz Processor
Model #: BX80557420
Item #: N82E16819116040
$43.99

Transcend 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800
Model #: JM2GDDR2-8K
Item #: N82E16820208283
$41.99

Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Model #: WD800JD
Item #: N82E16822135106
$41.99

SAMSUNG 20X DVDÂ±R DVD Burner
Model #: SH-S203B
Item #: N82E16827151153
$26.99

But no KB / mouse / speakers either.

I guess it would come down to the hassle of the $100 rebate. For $300, I don't think this is a good deal. But for $200 it is. In my case, I hate mail in rebates and I'd gladly pay another $75 for the newegg system with DVD burner, 2GB ram, better IGP, and no rebate risk.

dougz · Post by **dougz** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:07 pm

Jay_S wrote:Interesting. Too bad about the mail-in rebate nonsense.

Quickly assembling something (slightly more powerful) on Newegg I arrive at $275:

...

Intel Celeron 420 Conroe-L 1.6GHz Processor
Model #: BX80557420
Item #: N82E16819116040
$43.99

...

In my case, I hate mail in rebates and I'd gladly pay another $75 for the newegg system with DVD burner, 2GB ram, better IGP, and no rebate risk.

Nice analysis. Agree about the undesirability of the rebate and I'd expect that a Gigabyte mobo would likely be of significantly higher quality.

I'm looking to do an inexpensive upgrade to support Virtualbox on Linux and this CPU/mobo/memory config would have adequate power for my needs. Intel chipset is a plus for me.

Would the Intel-supplied HSF be "reasonably" quiet? Need not be silent, but I hope it wouldn't be a noisy as the Spire 60mm HSF buzzing away next to me.

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Fri Feb 15, 2008 4:26 pm

The Intel HSF is good out of the box. Not sure of the long-term reliability of the fan (e.g. how soon does the bearing start sounding like a random orbit sander), though. I used the stock Intel C2Duo fan in a build for my brother-in-law and it is plenty quiet.

-D