comp peoples - what would be the shiznit?

[Mu Satach]

My hardware knowledge has fallen to the wayside (not that it ever was anything to brag about to begin with) but, I'm writing up a proposal for about 20 new comps for work and want to get the best bang for my buck. Looking to spend somewhere between $450 to $600. No need for monitors - got a gaggle of nice 22" acer's a few years ago that are still good for the next little while.

Since our budget is most likely going to be cut this next year by a mega chunk o'change I need these to last. So, basic business work is done on these machines - nothing fancy - Word, Excel, Outlook and web apps up the wazoo.

Any recommends? and what do I need to avoid like the plague?

I thank ye in advance. :)

[Darth Viscera]

If you just need them to run MS Office, you can do with pretty basic, cheap PCs. At that level, you're not going to save any money building them yourself, easier to buy a bunch of Dells or something.

Dell Inspiron 546 @ $249 (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?CS=19&kc=6VAFF&oc=DDCWTA1&dgc=CJ&cid=24471&lid=566643&acd=10495476-552179-1072679-2-0-ARTICLE-0)
add $50 for AMD dual-core if you want.

Dell Inspiron 537 Slim @ $249 (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bi1s8a0&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&kc=desktop-inspiron-537s)
add $40 for Intel dual-core if you want.

With both systems, you can add $30 for Windows 7 Home Premium instead of Windows Vista Home Basic if you choose, or $130 for Windows 7 Pro (on the 546 only). 2GB ram comes default. Upgrading to 3GB / 4GB costs $45 / $80, respectively.

[Yog]

Well, the good news is, because you intend to use it for office applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook and web apps, it's hard to go wrong. Even the most poorly selected computer can handle those tasks easily. Are you looking for individual computer components (which need to be assembled), or prebuilt / preconfigured computers?

The easiest and relatively cheap thing to do would probably be just buying a Dell, as the esteemed poster above suggests.

[Darth Turbogeek]

ANY Pc with decent memory (2Gb and up) will piss this in.

However, absolutly, completely and utterly DO NOT GET HOME EDITION Windows. EVER. Trust me on this, you want Win7 Professional at the least or you WILL run into networking issues.

[Mu Satach]

going for pre-built either through HP or Dell and definitely Win 7 pro - I don't have time to build 20 myself.

basically wondering whether to splurge on more than 2 gigs of ram and anything else to add into the mix

[Morgan Evanar]

Go dual core and 2gb or more, Win7 pro. The specifics don't matter much beyond that. Go with a vendor who you can get real support from (Dell or HP).