Inexpensive desktop pc recommendations?

[anthrax]

After 6 years, my old HP desktop finally took a shit.  I like using a desktop and I have the space, so I'm going to get another one.  Any suggestions?

I don't want to spend a ton of money because I don't use it for much.  I don't game at all nor do we watch movies on it.  All I really need the thing for is internet, light spreadsheet and Word work, and to download torrents and play music. 

I'm keeping the old monitor and all my files are on external hard drives.  I just want to make sure I don't get something too cheap that ends up breaking in 2 or 3 years.  Any recommendations or suggestions (including where to buy it) would be greatly appreciated!

[jasonsobel]

A few weeks ago, I bought a Intel NUC NUC5CPYH.

It's a low power device, which is good in terms of electricity usage.  While it's certainly not a powerhouse machine, it should be more than sufficient for your stated goals of "internet, light spreadsheet and Word work, and to download torrents and play music".

I use mine as a headless Ubuntu server and also as an always-on bit torrent machine.

I bought mine from newegg, hard to go wrong for $136.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856102140

Note that you'll need to purchase RAM and a 2.5" HD or SSD.  It looks like newegg has a deal right now where they'll throw in the 4gb of RAM for free.  They didn't have that when I bought mine.  In any case, should be no problem to keep total costs below $200.

If you don't get the free RAM deal, I'd suggest 4gb of Crucial RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148813
and a 60gb SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226677