$40 Dell Optiplex 790 i3. $20-30 extra to get to 8Gb (only two slots for RAM). $40-60 for a pair of 22" monitors off craigslist.
Seriously ask them. Unless they are a weirdo they will be happy to hook you up. Tell them what you were going to spend on a Core 2 Duo and their eyes will look like saucers.
Is your current machine able to handle doing everything at once, RAM wise? Could you get by with an external monitor and running off of one machine, just with more screen space? This is what I do most of the time.
yeah, I'm not completely computer stupid although you wouldn't know that from the way I presented myself in this thread, lol. My laptop is a low-end gaming laptop with an SSD etc. And I'm super happy with how it performs. But I know I'm missing out on stuff just because I have to open/close windows and not being able to do stuff while in Inquist and all that. Plus having a ton of windows open is annoying.
You know, that's an excellent idea. It is able to handle it. Why didn't I think of that...
Not only that but when ToysR'us closed, they put almost 25000 Optiplex 790 i3 4gb machines back into circulation(refurbed and sold everywhere), as that was their main pos machine. They had a few XE2's, which was what they replaced any machine that died with, which were the ones I got. The 790's were going for $20-$25 depending on how many you bought, the XE2's I got 3 for 60 on a package deal with some other stuff.
| Title: Demographics survey | Accept Requester: Panos Ipeirotis [A3DL93QTPE513P] Contact TV: [Hrly=$22.45] [Pay=4.08] [Fast=5.00] [Comm=null] [Rej=0] [ToS=0] [Blk=0] TO: [Pay=4.40] [Fast=4.68] [Comm=5.00] [Fair=4.92] [Reviews=64] [ToS=1] TO2: [Hrly=9.87] [Pen=0.19 days] [Res=null] [Rec=100%] [Rej=0] [ToS=0] [Brk=0] Reward: 0.10 Duration: 1:00:00 Available: 1 Description: Demographics survey Qualifications: None [tr][td] HIT exported from Mturk Suite v2.4.6 |
| Title: Play a game | Accept Requester: AMT Surveys [A2AKA780E0K7FS] Contact TV: [Hrly=$15.53] [Pay=4.18] [Fast=5.00] [Comm=2.00] [Rej=0] [ToS=0] [Blk=0] TO: [Pay=4.19] [Fast=4.91] [Comm=4.82] [Fair=4.97] [Reviews=98] [ToS=1] TO2: [Hrly=5.83] [Pen=0.02 days] [Res=null] [Rec=17%] [Rej=0] [ToS=0] [Brk=3] Reward: 1.00 Duration: 9:00 Available: 1 Description: Play a game Qualifications: gu_pilot1 DoesNotExist ; HIT approval rate (%) GreaterThanOrEqualTo 80; Location EqualTo US [tr][td] HIT exported from Mturk Suite v2.4.6 |
If your laptop is relatively new, and has a DisplayPort output for a monitor, and your monitors are relatively new - DisplayPort 2.0 supports "chaining" and you can chain up to four monitors (probably three on a laptop) off your machine.
| Title: Evaluate simple visual images | Accept Requester: Eytan Zweig [A102RSQTFCWRSP] Contact TV: No Reviews TO: No Reviews TO2: No Reviews Reward: 3.00 Duration: 20:00 Available: 1 Description: This is a research project about how people evaluate statements about simple images Qualifications: None [tr][td] HIT exported from Mturk Suite v2.4.6 |
Yeah that's the new "cheap PC" standard, I would not pay money for anything older (except as a collectible, that' a thing).Not only that but when ToysR'us closed, they put almost 25000 Optiplex 790 i3 4gb machines back into circulation(refurbed and sold everywhere), as that was their main pos machine. They had a few XE2's, which was what they replaced any machine that died with, which were the ones I got. The 790's were going for $20-$25 depending on how many you bought, the XE2's I got 3 for 60 on a package deal with some other stuff.
That's the place to start. Then you can add a machine just for doing HITs that does only that later. It's good for Inquisit and things that take over your pc. I started with a shit laptop, added a monitor, got a second shit pc and was fine for a year. Only started upgrading more to get fancy but, 3 monitors and 2 ok business pc's should get you there without being gaming machines.
