Patriot 300 Cyrix MII

Advantages: Go for small office or low end user needs
Disadvantages: Hard to get parts not Upgrade friendly

...too much from the little Patriot Booksize MII300. Why? Well lets look at the specifications as sold by PC World, Dixons and Currys.  Cyrix MII-300 Processor  32 MB SDRAM Memory  4.3 GB Samsung Hard Dive  52 Speed CDRom  ATI Trident Blade 3D Graphics with 4Mb Shared Memory  CMI 8738 PCI Onboard Sound  56k Onboard AMR Modem  Davicom 9102 Onboard Network Interface Card  ...
...seems to have everything. But it isn’t an all singing all dancing wonder. If gaming is your scene this machine isn’t for you. I don’t even recommend it for first time users. It is ideal if you want to build a little network and practice being a network manager. And it is ideal if you just want to connect to the net every now and then or use a word processor occasionally. It is ideal for building a small network cheaply in a school ... Read review

Advantages: Very cheap
Disadvantages: Little expansion

I bought one of these 12 months ago now, and I have had quite a few problems with it, this is probably because I use my machine to the full of it's capability (probably over) as some of my friends have them and they say that they are good. The first major problem is you only get 2.1gb HDD, this is not very much when you consider the size of a lot of games these days, such as Flight Simulators. The other major problem is that the graphics memory ...
...of your memory which makes your computer run very slow, especially when you consider you only get 32mb with it. I solved this by getting a Voodoo card from about £150. Other than this this computer has been very reliable, doesn't crash (often) and will do most thins asked of it. As far as I'm conserned, get this if you don't need very much proccesing power i.e. as a P.C. for a very small business, or if you only want a computer that will only be ... Read review

Advantages: cheap
Disadvantages: very cheerful

...getting anew one. Then my Patriot Cyrix II 300mhz PC fell into my hands and annoyed me from Day 1. Its slow, It takes forever to start up and frankly frustrates me to pieces. They were not designed for todays hi tech and processor hungry applications. Moving graphics and movies are a waste of time due to the lack of on chip calculator. Its definitely no P3. Then again, for £399, it does not pretend to be. Its ok for students needing to Word ... Read review