Posted: 10/16/2014 9:46:44 PM EDT
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One of my computers died (the desktop "tower"). I need a new one and want it to be fast (no gaming, but watching movies, downloading photos, etc.) with good graphics, multiple ports, etc. I still have the keyboard and monitor. Any recommendations on where to get one, and if so, which model? Looking to spend around $500-700. Thanks!  |
| I would probably go with a lower end dell and add a solid state drive to hold the operating system. The SSD will make a noticeable difference in opening apps and just general responsiveness. They have come down in price a lot, so they shouldn't break the bank, either. Almost all modern processors and video chipsets should be able to handle your needs, so the SSD would be a better upgrade than the processor. |
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I don't mind building something. I've installed motherboards, memory and drives before into existing systems. My constraint is time. I'm not sure how much building cuts down the cost...25%? Also, what operating system would you recommend? I have Vista and like it. The new Microsoft 8.1 is  |
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Quoted: I don't mind building something. I've installed motherboards, memory and drives before into existing systems. My constraint is time. I'm not sure how much building cuts down the cost...25%? Also, what operating system would you recommend? I have Vista and like it. The new Microsoft 8.1 is In your price range my favorite for performance vs cost is the Alienware X51 series. Check outlet.dell.com, they are normally available starting at $500, i5 with a bunch of RAM and video card upgrade for around $600. |
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Building might cut down of the cost a little but for the most part off the shelf PCs will be cheaper. I look at building a PC the same way as an AR15: You get the parts you want, exactly how you want, and, depending on budget, higher quality parts.
I'm one of the few it seems who likes Win 8 (with classic shell installed). Under the hood it's better than previous OS's and you can fix the interface. |
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Quoted:
Building might cut down of the cost a little but for the most part off the shelf PCs will be cheaper. I look at building a PC the same way as an AR15: You get the parts you want, exactly how you want, and, depending on budget, higher quality parts. I'm one of the few it seems who likes Win 8 (with classic shell installed). Under the hood it's better than previous OS's and you can fix the interface. That right there makes 8 a pretty good OS. I still like 7 more but 8s not bad. |
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Quoted:
One of my computers died (the desktop "tower"). I need a new one and want it to be fast (no gaming, but watching movies, downloading photos, etc.) with good graphics, multiple ports, etc. I still have the keyboard and monitor. Any recommendations on where to get one, and if so, which model? Looking to spend around $500-700. Thanks! http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-3020-desktop/pd?oc=smo3020mtw7021&model_id=optiplex-3020-desktop $689 config. |
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Decided on this and will give Windows 8.1 a second look based on your recommendations: http://www.costco.com/HP-ENVY-700qe-Desktop-%7C-Intel-Core-i7--.product.100139263.html  |
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You will have to shop around to find Windows 7, but it's a good upgrade from Windows 8 and worth the extra time to find it. Quoted:
You will have to shop around to find Windows 7, but it's a good upgrade from Windows 8 and worth the extra time to find it. Quoted:
Decided on this and will give Windows 8.1 a second look based on your recommendations: http://www.costco.com/HP-ENVY-700qe-Desktop-%7C-Intel-Core-i7--.product.100139263.html If you buy an HP or a Dell, you can just dump the OEM version of Windows 7 on them and then reinstall Win8 at a later date if you'd like. Just d/l "Dell Windows X" or "HP Windows X" from your favorite torrent site. No serial or activation needed. All legal! It's called "Royalty BIOS." Your serial and Windows license is actually on the motherboard, and downgrades are permissible under the MS license. A buddy of mine bought this cheap laptop and I'm wiping Win8 and installing Win7 on it for him this weekend. He really needs compatibility mode and really hates Win8. I found a copy of "Dell Alienware Windows 7 Ultimate" on IPTorrents and thought I'd give that one a try. |
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Quoted:
One of my computers died (the desktop "tower"). I need a new one and want it to be fast (no gaming, but watching movies, downloading photos, etc.) with good graphics, multiple ports, etc. I still have the keyboard and monitor. Any recommendations on where to get one, and if so, which model? Looking to spend around $500-700. Thanks! Your statements of "no gaming" and "with good graphics" are contradictory. The only thing you need a better-than-dogshit graphics card for these days is either gaming or industrial 3d applications. If you're not gaming, the graphics card/chipset won't matter. 1. Figure out how much drive space you need. Best way to do this is just look at your existing machine(s) and go from there. Most people are fine with 1TB, but there are some things that may make a 2TB drive make sense (such as lots of video...the PC I'm typing this on is also a DVR). 2. For processor, get a 4th generation i5. Unless you're doing lots of graphics processing (photoshop) all day, the hyperthreading on an i7 isn't worth the $100 to $200 extra you'd have to pay for an i7. Avoid the i3's due to the lower number of cores. In the ads, this should be listed as "i5-4xxx" where the higher 'xxx' number is indicates a better processor. Don't spend extra money for the 'K' series (i5-4xxxK). Pretty much any 4th gen i5 will be fine. 3. For ram, get at least 4GB. 8GB would be better for future-proofing. Having too much RAM doesn't help anything. RAM is like a whiteboard. You don't need a shitload of whiteboard space to add 1+1, so having lots of ram (that you never use) doesn't really get you much. Having too little will hurt bad though. 4. An SSD drive is extremely variable. You're not going to buy an SSD that's so big you don't need a HDD for storage, but running some applications off an SSD will speed them up a lot. For instance: - Boot times go down to about 20% if you use a SSD. - Load times in Star Trek Online go down to about 35% if you use and SSD. - Load times in Star Wars: The Old Republic are exactly the same if you use and SSD. - Load times in Mechwarrior Online are exactly the same if you use an SSD. - Load times of most small applications (web browser, MS Word, etc.) aren't noticeably changed. When it comes to pre-built machines, you probably won't find anything with an SSD in your price range, but buying a $500 machine and installing a $100 SSD would be an option. That's what I ended up doing with my current machine. You need to do a little more research if you want to go that route to make sure the machine you want has drive bays, power, etc., that can handle adding an SSD. Normally you only see SSD's stock on high end machines; getting something that comes with one out of the box will probably mean you also spend an extra $100 on a processor you'll never use, an extra $100 on piles of RAM you'll never use, etc.. If you add an SSD, make sure you get one with AT LEAST 200GB of space; 250GB would be better, and you NEED to re-install the OS onto the SSD (and wipe the HDD) if you go this route. Disk read/write times are so horribly slow that programmers try to avoid doing disk read/writes while the user is waiting (do all the disk work in the background while the user is doing something else). As a result, switching from a slow HDD to a faster SSD only helps performance in situations where the user is stuck waiting for disk read/writes to happen. 5. You can buy computers on Amazon, and the prices aren't bad. With just a quick 30 second search http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i3847-4617BK-Desktop-Processor/dp/B00K0HMT2K/ looks like it would probably fit your needs. 6. Get something that comes stock with windows 8.1. The upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 is free, but I've seen about 30% of the upgrades fail horribly. My last machine would BSOD kernel failure and reboot every 8-12 minutes after I did the 8.1 upgrade, and that was after dealing with the fact that my headset wouldn't connect and the drivers for my mouse/keyboard weren't compatible unless I switched to a buggy-as-fuck beta version. Just get something that comes with 8.1 right out of the box so that you know it's all going to work. 7. For ports, pretty much everything these days is USB, and pretty much all machines have too few USB ports if you're running a pile of peripherals. Just buy yourself a decent USB hub. I've got one of these sitting on top of my home gaming system, and one of these hooked up to my work laptop. Figure out how many ports you need, add two because shit happens, and buy a USB hub. |
