Are you looking for a discount pc? Stretching the budget to afford the next step in computers? If you're buying a pc on a budget then these five tips should help you buy that discount pc.

Do I care what the case looks like?
When looking for a discount pc a great place to save money is on the case, you can pick up a case with power supply for under $35 these days. They may not be the highest quality products on the market, but they will do exactly the same job. The cases are generally made from steel, of lower build quality and don't look great. Then again does this matter at all? Are you going to be using your case as an axel stand in the garage? Are you going to hang it on the wall in your living room? Then really who cares what the case looks like, it's a case.

Hard Drive size
Often computer systems boast huge hard drive space, honestly for one it's not that big and two are you ever going to use it? Identify what you are going to be using the computer for and look at how much space everything takes up on your current computer. You can pick up an 80 GB hard drive for under $45, which will be enough space for most people. However you can double you hard disk space to 160 GB for around another $25. So it really depends how tight your budget is and how much space you think you're going to use. If in doubt, I would suggest buying the 80 GB hard drive. If you fill it up you can just buy another... simple.

Optical Drives
A large majority of computer systems have two optical drives, whether DVD burners, CD burners or combo drives. Really the second drive is unnecessary, the only time you can take advantage of the second drive is when you are 'burning on the fly' straight from one drive to another. For a start I would not recommend this practise anyway and secondly, how often do you burn a CD or DVD? One is enough.

Monitor
LCD monitors a great; they put less stress on your eyes, take up less desk space, produce less heat and are more portable than conventional CRT monitors. However they come at a price. For those on a tight budget an LCD monitor is a big expense in the overall computer system. There is a huge number of CRT monitors second hand, basically without a market. If you want to save money this is definitely somewhere to do it.

47 GB of Memory!
Memory can be crucial for some processes and applications, such as Photoshop and gaming. However in day to day computer use 512mb of memory (RAM) is more than enough. For about $40 you can buy another 512mb of memory if you’re finding that the initial 512mb wasn't quite enough. Again just go with the basic when you buy it, there will always be the ability to upgrade later. If you're into gaming, photo editing or another memory intensive process then you'll probably want some serious memory, not really in the area of discount pc's.