Many years ago I build my own desktop purchasing new parts, things have changed a lot since and I wonder if it is a good idea to do it again.

I am not against buying a ready-made desktop but I find the lies in the advertising are mind-boggling.
For example; one new Lenovo machine on which I had set my choice because it is described as having a DVD drive, clarifies when reading the fine print that this DVD drive is only on "some models" and you do not know what you buy unless you visit the shop and see the product.

My needs are no greater than those of a student and are 8 or 16GB memory, 1 or 2 x SSD drive sockets on Mobo, CPU not important, DVD drive, 5 or more USB ports, WIFI, no OS and preferably small form factor case. My activities are word-processing and surfing the net in a small way, no games, no need for complex or fast graphics.

I already have the other components like monitor, mouse etc.
I am also trying to avoid anything that is proprietary or not standard.
I am also looking for components of reasonable quality and probably a total cost around $AU1,500 and preferably purchasing the lot from the same shop.

Any suggestion welcome.

Thank you for your help.

So it's a 'lie' if they have add-ons that you don't specify, or if you don't order the one with the specs you want??? Do you consider auto manufacturers 'liars' too, when they say a price starts at $xxxx, then charge you for different options???
If you're going to purchase from a shop, then why don't you go there and tell them what you want??? Seems simple enough, even though you say you've got numerous machines laying around, and just purchased a new one a few months ago:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ve-4175725760/

rblampain,

Have a look at the PC Part Picker builds for a Budget Home/Office PC:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/guide/7x...meoffice-build

I built something similar last year:
https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...5-5600g-38826/

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is an excellent CPU with decent onboard graphics.

Make sure you get a quality PSU and decent memory such as Corsair.

For the motherboard I would go for a B550 from MSI or Gigabyte.

1 members found this post helpful.

Both word processing & surfing the internet can be done on (almost) any old computer, you certainly don't need 8~16GB ram! Also, why so many drives(?) if you'll only be word processing, even journalists & writers don't need more than one. 5 USB ports could be taken care of by a hub, wifi by a USB stick, & DVD drive could also be a USB one.

I can do what you say you want, on a thin client.....save your money, just buy a pre used machine, I do.

2 members found this post helpful.

My desktop was built by this company. That may not look like useful information, but if you browse their options for custom PCs you'll get a good idea of what's currently popular with their clients. For what it's worth, I have

AMD A6-9500 processor with integrated Radeon 5 graphics
Gigabite motherboard
4 GB RAM
120 GB SSD
8 USB ports
DVD drive

1 members found this post helpful.