Suggestions for small office build

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris
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Chris

My question: If you were to buy a motherboard (w/integrated video,
lan, sound)for your semi-computer literate grandmother, is there a
manufacturer/model you would suggest? She would need to be able to
locate and download the drivers herself, so a good web site and decent
support options are crucial. This includes drivers for the built-in
components.

Actually, these computers would not be for my grandmother. Instead,
they would be for a small non-profit with a single tech support person
who was drafted to the position by default. They'd only use them for
MS Office and email, but still want speeds up around the 2 Ghz range.

Thanks in advance.
 
Aopen
Most retailed MB's come with a CD with ALL the drivers
Still they are local(ca) and have a extensive website.
They are reasonable and loaded with everything.
Whenever possible I use them for commercial builds.
2g's is allot of power to run word and email, but


MB-BA19647 -BA20628-BA13301 -BA02598 - AOPEN MK77M-8XN BUNDLE W/
COOLING FAN & Details (AMD SEMPRON 2200+; MWAVE 256MB DDR333; NO
TESTING) $136.00 $136.00
 
Chris said:
My question: If you were to buy a motherboard (w/integrated video,
lan, sound)for your semi-computer literate grandmother, is there a
manufacturer/model you would suggest? She would need to be able to
locate and download the drivers herself, so a good web site and decent
support options are crucial. This includes drivers for the built-in
components.
Click to expand...

Probably Dell would be the choice here. Pick one of their standard packages
that meets your specs in price/performance.
 
Lower spec MSI boards have built in sound, lan and video and come with all
the drivers on a cd

PT
 
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I will check out AOpen and
MSI boards. Dell was actually my first suggestion to them, and I will
encourage them to follow that route if the prices (compared to
home-built) are even close to comparable. Having one number to call
(not mine) for tech support would be very valuable to them. Still,
this is a project I would be happy to do, and I appreciate your advice
on well-supported motherboards.
 
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I will check out AOpen and
MSI boards. Dell was actually my first suggestion to them, and I will
encourage them to follow that route if the prices (compared to
home-built) are even close to comparable. Having one number to call
(not mine) for tech support would be very valuable to them. Still,
this is a project I would be happy to do, and I appreciate your advice
on well-supported motherboards.
Click to expand...

Look for nForce2 boards with integrated devices (I've
used an Asus A7N8X Deluxe). Usually pretty cheap, and
the AthlonXP chips are pretty cheap now. Biggest
problem with early revs of the nForce2 boards is trouble
with multiple RAM modules (very very picky about
make/model of RAM unless you just use a single stick).

Biggest advantage of Dell is the warranty/service.

Biggest advantage of build-it-yourself assumes that you
have spare motherboards, power-supplies, hard drives,
etc. laying around along with the time needed to futz
with things.
 
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