Your advice please re new computer
| # | Post |
|---|---|
| 1 | Morning, we are needing to update our computer, we have had an Acer for a few years now, It is a desktop style, we run a small business but computer is generally used for day to day, have been advised of two types that would be suitable but we are unsure.... an all in one and another desk top, what are your thoughts/recommendations ?? Cheers mackenzie2 - 2021-09-20 07:23:00 |
| 2 | DON'T buy an 'all in one'. These are not anywhere near as easy to fix or upgrade, (adding such as expansion cards is basically impossible), as a desktop 'tower' box. They also often are not great in the specs. I would suggest any desktop computer with an intel i5 cpu, 8GB or more Ram, and an SSD hard drive as a basic start. Your current computer is possibly getting older as you say - why do you think you need to replace it ? Upgrading the internals is quite often very easy and not expensive. Letting us know your budget might be of help also. Edited by nice_lady at 7:31 am, Mon 20 Sep nice_lady - 2021-09-20 07:30:00 |
| 3 | One advantage of just buying desktop 'box' is that you don't have to replace the screen unless you want to. Also with the All in one computers if the screen has a fail the whole device has to be sent away for repair - your standard desktop box - if the screen fails you just pop out, buy a new screen and plug it in ! nice_lady - 2021-09-20 07:45:00 |
| 4 | Why does it need replacing? Could you not just upgrade it? The parts in it are more important than the box, and the name on that box anyway. All in ones, never. lythande1 - 2021-09-20 08:08:00 |
| 5 | Look for a "Home & Office" PC. Computer lounge have some prebuilts: Dell: A small tower PC can be upgraded easier than all-in-ones or the mini-form-factor PCs. Or if you want something simple that just works - have a look at Apple: pcle - 2021-09-20 09:17:00 |
| 6 | pcle wrote:
Seriously ? What an odd comment. Any Windows computer is NOT any less 'simple' nor does it not 'just work' any less than Apple. nice_lady - 2021-09-20 09:22:00 |
| 7 | Fantastic, thank you so much, the current computer is around 10 - 12 years old, we are not great computer people, but this one is slowing down and starting to shut its self off etc, so we thought we would just replace.. Our budget I guess is around the 4k mark I have never used Apple so not keen on going there, your advice is much appreciated so thank you mackenzie2 - 2021-09-20 09:30:00 |
| 8 | If it's 'slowing down and Shutting off' it would be possible to repair it but more than likely not worth bothering to be honest. 10-12 years old is OLD. $4,000 would buy you a VERY flash computer. If you're managing on a 10-12 yr old computer now then that would be overkill almost certainly. Edited by nice_lady at 10:03 am, Mon 20 Sep nice_lady - 2021-09-20 10:01:00 |
| 9 | Heres a selection from PbTech. It's just half a dozen I looked up for you but of course you could buy anything. I'd suggest a new monitor also as you'll find these are not particularly expensive now. I've set the sort order from highest price to low on this particular list: https://www.pbtech.co.nz/category/computers/pcs/business-pcs Even the cheapest in that list will be FAR superior to your current machine. Ps: I've included a dvd drive in the requirements as you will have one on your current pc and might still require one. They are going out of fashion fast though. Also do NOT buy any antivirus program as Windows has a pretty good built in one now which is free. Do NOT buy any extended warranty the CGA will cover that for you. And do NOT buy Microsoft office unless you specifically need Microsoft office. If you already have a version of Ms office you can transfer that to your new machine if you want. Or you could download and install Libre Office which is a FREE office program with some very very good functions. More than likely all that you'd ever need. And it is 99% compatible with Microsofts office documents etc. Edited by nice_lady at 10:17 am, Mon 20 Sep nice_lady - 2021-09-20 10:14:00 |
| 10 | I have just built a new computer for a family members office, who were coming from an old all-in one that was pathetically slow and had over stayed it's welcome. We went for a desktop this time around for the reasons mentioned above: the ability to easily repair if needed and not that it will likely be required, the ability to upgrade. She wanted a PC with great performance so we went with a Ryzen 7 5700G, which is 8 cores and 16 threads with very good integrated graphics, 16GB ram, 500GB NVMe Samsung SSD, motherboard, case, power supply, Windows OS and a Asus 27" monitor. All up these parts cost just under $2000. This is probably more than anyone will ever need for a small business or day to day system, but time is money and she was so frustrated by her old all in one, that she wanted to do it well and not have to worry about it again for years. *Edit* This was me purchasing the parts and building it myself, not buying a system off the shelf. Edited by cube_guy at 10:19 am, Mon 20 Sep cube_guy - 2021-09-20 10:17:00 |
| 11 | Win11 is being released at some stage. pcle - 2021-09-20 10:35:00 |
| 12 | Windows 11 releases in about 3 weeks. There is no CPU that you can buy right now off the shelf that does not support Windows 11. It shouldn't even be a factor when purchasing. cube_guy - 2021-09-20 10:39:00 |
| 13 | cube_guy wrote: Not gamers/ 4k viewers etc, just home stuff mrfxit - 2021-09-20 14:42:00 |
| 14 | mackenzie2 wrote: bitsnpieces2020 - 2021-09-20 15:12:00 |
| 15 | Well it can't be too fancy or demanding on the current computer as that's around 10-12 yrs old. So the low to average Priced list I linked to from PB Tech would cover those requirements I'd guess. Edited by nice_lady at 3:24 pm, Mon 20 Sep nice_lady - 2021-09-20 15:23:00 |
| 16 | mrfxit wrote:
Anywhere from $1000 to $2000? I listed the specs above of a PC that could easily do the tasks of a home/office user and quoted the price for it. Start from that and you could easy ways to save on that price. Get a smaller SSD than that, halve the ram, get a less powerful CPU, get a smaller screen. Again, the system I built would be at the higher end for an office/home user for sure, so start there and work backwards. cube_guy - 2021-09-20 15:52:00 |
| 17 | nice_lady wrote: no, not fancy or demanding, at that age. lol thats the opposite of what I was thinking. I walked into a PC Direct machine running a wheel alignment machine and lovely windows 98 last month. special 16 bit software, with a parallel port hardware lock. At least it wasn't on the internet. bitsnpieces2020 - 2021-09-20 16:26:00 |
| 18 | cube_guy wrote:
The OP said in Post #7 the budget was up to $4k I've linked them some reasonable options well below that price and also made it clear that even the cheapest of those would be FAR better than their current OLD machine. nice_lady - 2021-09-20 17:27:00 |
| 19 | I bought one of these a couple of months back. Same use as you, a mix of business and personal so had to be quick, reliable, and able to run accounting software securely. Edited by stevo2 at 5:52 pm, Mon 20 Sep stevo2 - 2021-09-20 17:51:00 |
| 20 | cube_guy wrote: mrfxit - 2021-09-20 18:24:00 |
| 21 | Yeah but you'd be doing it faster? Depending on hardware. nice_lady - 2021-09-20 18:33:00 |
| 22 | mrfxit wrote:
If you want to run Windows 11 you need to be on hardware supported by Windows 11. cube_guy - 2021-09-20 20:40:00 |
| 23 | cube_guy wrote: The "$800 to $2k" would suggest he knows that king1 - 2021-09-20 20:45:00 |
| 24 | king1 wrote:
It would seem so. And considering he has started threads on the topic before I guess he is just having a whinge. cube_guy - 2021-09-20 20:53:00 |
| 25 | cube_guy wrote: Reliability isn't any real issue with most computers made in the last 10-ish years, so why be forced to purchase a new computer when theres really no need apart from MS saying you have too. mrfxit - 2021-09-20 21:02:00 |
| 26 | cube_guy wrote: They really don't want you running it on hardware they don't think is suitable. mrfxit - 2021-09-20 21:04:00 |
| 27 | I upgraded my CPU to a 10 year old second generation i5 and it is extremely fast. Modern hardware doesn't get as old as fast as it used to. It isn't like running a machine from 1992 in 2002. tygertung - 2021-09-20 21:20:00 |
| 28 | mrfxit wrote:
Plenty of other alternatives, no one is forcing you to move to Windows 11. Stay on Windows 7. Upgrade to Windows 10. Ask Tygertung, he will tell you all about Linux. cube_guy - 2021-09-20 21:45:00 |
| 29 | nice_lady wrote: lythande1 - 2021-09-21 08:01:00 |
| 30 | lythande1 wrote:
What's the point in gutting this 10-12 yr old machine and rebuilding it ? A lot of p*ssing around for what ? You'd ideally have to replace the Mobo, PSU, Ram, Cpu, Hdd .......why bother. It's much easier and more practical to just buy a new computer with all that hardware already installed. Especially when the Op says " we are not great computer people" - s0 a rebuild would have to be done for them by a Tech which would cost them a lot also. It's not really a good idea especially for a business. They can buy a new machine and put it down as a business expense which they can depreciate by 40% P/a. It makes sense to me. Edited by nice_lady at 8:26 am, Tue 21 Sep nice_lady - 2021-09-21 08:23:00 |
| 31 | mrfxit wrote: Personally I like to keep up with the Microsoft operating systems so that I can use my expertise for good purpose, such as giving advice. I can't keep up with every programming language so in the last 10 years I've concentrated on Visual Studio and C#, I'm not looking just to maintain just the same skills I used to have. And as I grew older I got less tolerant of slow response. When fibre became available I went with an unlimited plan purely to see what we could do with it without having to think about restrictions or limits. gyrogearloose - 2021-09-21 09:22:00 |
| 32 | cube_guy wrote:
Linux is good for certain applications, but not all applications. It depends on what you wish to do with your machine. It can for example, be ideal for any kind of media production, just install Ubuntu Studio, it has all the software installed for any kind of video, audio, graphic design, or photography production, and is optimised for it all. But if your machine needs to run certain Windows only software for a specific purpose, don't use Linux. Windows 7 is good, it boots real fast due to being an old OS when machine specs were lower than they are now. tygertung - 2021-09-21 10:21:00 |
| 33 | Contrary to my wording, I wasn't actually asking you to jump into one of your Linux spiels. Good for you for giving it a go though, all the while convincing no one as is the norm. cube_guy - 2021-09-21 10:42:00 |
| 34 | cube_guy wrote:
I think you should stick to Windows. tygertung - 2021-09-21 17:03:00 |
| 35 | tygertung wrote:
You think so? Excellent. Will do. cube_guy - 2021-09-21 20:13:00 |
| 36 | Thank you all so much for your excellent advice, I have decided NOT to buy an all in one, but have been to a local computer shop, and sorted a HP ProDesk 400 G7 SFF base
Intel Core i5-10500 Six-Core processor 8GB DDR4 2666MHz RAM 256GB M.2 Solid State Hard Drive Windows 10 Professional, which will be updated to Windows 11 mackenzie2 - 2021-09-22 07:40:00 |
| 37 | Excellent that'll really kick ass in the speed of operations etc compared to your old one. nice_lady - 2021-09-22 07:48:00 |
| 38 | Yep, a great decision, you won't know yourself! cube_guy - 2021-09-22 09:14:00 |
| 39 | nice_lady wrote:
While I understand where you are coming from I can't agree with the blanket dismissal of the AIO. They are perfectly suited to particular roles. For a start not everyone needs to add expansion cards to a pc, in fact, I'd go out on a limb to say most don't. Even modest cpus with built in graphics are more than adequate for the vast number of office type applications. Ram and disk upgrades are no more difficult than your average laptop and or the SFF above, same type of board. If you buy a modern one from a decent brand, they are nearly all tool less. If the power supply pops most of them use external bricks now. It's easier to replace than an ATX especially for a non-technical user. I think you must have had some bad formative experiences with Acers or some such ;) Don't get me wrong I love my workstation monster but the aio is also perfect for the role it fits. Edited by ronaldo8 at 6:20 pm, Wed 22 Sep ronaldo8 - 2021-09-22 18:16:00 |
| 40 | I agree to some extent with you. Anyway personally I wouldn't buy one. nice_lady - 2021-09-22 18:34:00 |
| 41 | Aye, If I had my way (when I'm FINALLY recognised as rightful president of the world) we would all have 128 core liquid nitrogen cooled snooper poopers. Too bad if you want it mobile, buy a longer extension cord ffs! But I recognise that day may be a while off yet, and others may have different needs...... probably. ronaldo8 - 2021-09-22 19:19:00 |
| 42 | I think you should put that bottle down about now lol. ???? nice_lady - 2021-09-22 20:07:00 |
| 43 | ronaldo8 wrote: meh you have too little ambition. king1 - 2021-09-22 20:28:00 |
| 44 | We had an all in one and after hard decision opted for a laptop with a monitor can plug into for big screen and usual desktop keyboard and mouse. It was a perfect choice and very happy with it. Means it is portable or use as desktop. Just a thought. Edited by pedulla at 10:00 pm, Thu 23 Sep pedulla - 2021-09-23 22:00:00 |
