re: Mini Tower Work Computer Build

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Plus I would imagine when you start cutting corners that much to hit a price point that low you start getting some real hit-or-miss hardware.

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Yeah, that can be a problem. It takes a lot more experience to wade through the low-budget components. I still can't recommend dirt cheap motherboards and cases with 100% confidence because I rarely did those types of builds for clients. A big chunk of the savings comes when you pirate Windows.

However, I did just do some rough pricing on a similarly spec'd build to that Dell. Basically, it can be built for $300, but that doesn't include the cost of Windows if you're going legit. And I suppose it doesn't include the cost of $4 mouse and keyboard combo it comes with.

Here's what I'd call a "solid" build with parts that I can actually confidently recommend, including Windows, for a bit over $400: LINK

Use that as a baseline when shopping for off-the-shelf, to determine whether it might be worth it to build -- I'll leave that "worth it" threshold up to you. Personally, I'll build even if it costs more because I fricking love it, but for more practical people, a $50 price difference isn't enough to make it worth the time. Although, SSD... always awesome....