>I'm trying to price a good desktop for a student of mine with a limited budget. Trying to find a machine with 4 GB or more of memory, preferably a Core 2 Duo or better, 7200 rpm drive (which seems to be a desktop standard), at least 100 GB drive, plus a monitor. 64-bit would be great, though not a requirement.
>
>From the major brands, it seems that $500 is the lowest. Has anyone seen a machine like this for less than $500?
>
>Thanks

Well, for $509 he can get this....

http://www.gateway.com/systems/series/529598086.php

Gateway® DX4200-09
Available at Select Retailers
$50999
AMD Phenom™ X4 9100e 64-bit Quad-Core Processor (1.80GHz, 2MB L2 Cache) with AMD64 Technology
Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit) with SP1
4096MB 800MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM (2-2048MB modules)
Modern System Design with Red Chrome Branding Strip
640GB 7200rpm Serial ATA II/300 hard drive with 16MB Cache1

I bought the similar Gateway DX4720-03 for the same price. This does not include the monitor... but maybe he could pick up one cheap and get at least a powerhouse PC for that amount....