2012-12-28, 02:04 PM
I thought the deal sounded really expensive for those specs, but then I looked at the link. The discrete graphics card is pretty important to mention, as you wouldn't be able to run many games without it. Unfortunately, the other parts are all previous-gen (Intel 2xxx processor, H67 chipset), so you'd essentially be buying a PC from 2010~2011. The monitor is 1600x900, which is a little small. As far as brand goes, Acer products are typically a little on the cheaper side, and neither terrible nor very good. Overall, I'd say it's an okay deal, but you could do better.
You can definitely save some money and/or get better quality if you're interested in building your own PC, but you'll have to do some research to figure out your needs. Below is an example sub-$600 build that has current gen parts. It would be faster, and it comes out to about the same price if you buy a 23" 1920x1080 monitor to go with it (you'll still need to hunt down a copy of Windows if you don't want to pay extra, though). Assembly is pretty simple and takes an afternoon. The hard part is making sure the parts you buy are compatible and you're not wasting money on a particular part that doesn't boost performance by much.
You can definitely save some money and/or get better quality if you're interested in building your own PC, but you'll have to do some research to figure out your needs. Below is an example sub-$600 build that has current gen parts. It would be faster, and it comes out to about the same price if you buy a 23" 1920x1080 monitor to go with it (you'll still need to hunt down a copy of Windows if you don't want to pay extra, though). Assembly is pretty simple and takes an afternoon. The hard part is making sure the parts you buy are compatible and you're not wasting money on a particular part that doesn't boost performance by much.
Spoiler