During discussion with colleagues, I also found the want for a low cost set up for children working from home (students), which got me thinking. Intent was to keep the cost very low, given that for many it was an additional PC for their kids, and for some cases, for the second child. I also realized the need for it to be compact (space saving), while providing connectivity with a reasonable size monitor, given that children would use for 5-6 hours every day.
I
decided to spend some time on it and revisiting PC build (a hobby I nurtured in
college) after about two decades. Here are some notes.
I fist decided on ‘going tiny’, in line with space constraints, and avoiding laptops to enable larger screens. The cost for a new system came to about 35-45K INR (550 USD) and not really in the affordable space and given that the need may end in a year or so. I then decided to look for refurbishing a used one. I also have been interested in repurposing and recycling and this suited what I wanted to do.
After trawling through a lot of online sires, I decided to look between Intel NUC, HP mini and Lenovo Tiny, basis small form factor and availability; and finally chose Lenovo for cost and availability and easier upgrades. I finally bought one Lenovo M93P Tiny (i5, 4GB RAM, no HDD; 12,000 INR) after looking online, but vising the dealer and testing one.
 |
| Lenovo M93P (vertically placed) |
 |
| Lenovo M93P (horizontally placed) |
There are many Lenovo Tiny models (Celeron, Pentium to i7), and ranging from INR 9000 to 16000 quotes. Do probe on the specifications and bargain. I added 4GB Ram and a 500 GB HDD (from a dead laptop I had). The machine does not have a Wi-Fi. I also wanted to add a Wi-Fi card from the laptop into the Tiny, but that was blocked by the BIOS, as ‘unauthorized’ Wi-Fi card. I instead added a TP-Link Archer T2U Nano AC600 Wireless USB Adapter, a Dell WK118 wireless keyboard and mouse, and used a existing monitor.
I have put down indicative costs below for you to
decide. Using a old machine does come with some risks (the seller provides 3
months warranty), but the cost benefit balances it.
|
|
My Build |
Budget Build |
New PC (similar specs) |
|
Lenovo M93P Tiny |
12000 (old) |
12000 (old) |
|
|
HDD |
3000 (SSD, new) |
1000 (500GB HDD, old) |
|
|
Added RAM (4GB) |
0 (repurposed) |
2000 |
|
|
Wi-Fi card |
1100 (dual band) |
500 (basic new) |
|
|
Keyboard and mouse |
1300 (wireless) |
250 (wired, old) |
|
|
Monitor |
8000 (22”, new) |
3000-5000 (old 14”-20”) |
|
|
Total Cost
(INR) |
25,400 |
19,750 |
55,000 |
I hope this is a useful guidance in these
times.
Comments