New Computer Purchase Guidance Needed
 

We have Ipads, laptops and now are in need of <another> desktop - the one we have is over 10 years old.

Looking for recommendations on where and what to purchase.

I still have a Dell account from my business, but don't know if that is overkill for what we are looking for.

TIA

I always buy from their business side, you don't even need a business account. Those machines are usually better built and less loaded with bloatware.

I bought a new desktop at MMD on 441 in Feb 2017 and am very happy with it. The price then was $750. I also bought separately MS Office and Norton Anti-Virus. My biggest recommendation would be to get a PC with a solid-state drive. Standard hard drives, regardless of capacity, have a life of 3 to 5 years before they crash. I had already been through 3 drive replacements by last Feb and each one was very painful. Here's what I got:
i3 6100 cpu, 2 cores, 3 gb cache, 3.7 ghz clock, 8 gb ram, 240 gb ssd drive, internal cd/dvd drive, 2 tb external disc drive (BestBuy) for backups.
I would also recommend a fast internet connection from your ISP. I have 20mb and at times that is not enough because I watch videos and occasionally movies on the web. I recommend using FireFox as your browser. Avoid MS's Internet Explorer as it crashes all the time. You can find cheaper PCs on the web at places like NewEgg, but you won't get the quick, local service that MMD or BestBuy can provide. Hope this helps.

Whenever I helped someone pick out a computer I would start out asking what they want to do with it. From there we picked the software. Then we discussed their budget. My advice always included where to store data so that it can easily/automatically be stored in 2 other places. Sometimes the laptop was turned into a "desktop" with a new monitor, keyboard and touchpad or mouse for very little money.

Someone finally asked the right question!! You cannot make recommendations without knowing what the user wants to do with it. For example: Is it just for email, browsing, paying bills, making purchases? Or are they editing pictures, videos, music, playing intense games? Then, like tomwed said, the budget question.

Feel free to post your needs and we can help advise you.

I've been pretty happy buying not "cutting edge" technology, but the just previous generation of processor at significantly lower cost. Twice, these processors have been up to the task 10 years after I bought them. Also buy plenty of RAM.

I'm curious about solid state drives. I have read that after a number of overwrites, some storage bits go bad. I personally have had pretty good luck with name brand hard drives. Hope I didn't jinx myself by saying this.

I bought my first PC way back in \1987 and since then I have gone through dozens of desktops, laptops, and tablets.

Just a few days while shopping for something new, I dediced to stick to my new desktop for photo editing, word processing, genealogy, etc. I have three web-based email addresses meaning I can access those emailboxes from anywhere that has wi-fi.

So I am keeping my desktop and am purchasing Microsoft Surface Pro m3 to use anywhere else for games (such as waiting in doctor's office, etc), emailing, books, and online shopping. The reason I chose the Surface is so that I can use it as a tablet and best of all to write on it.

I do not have a cell phone - too expensive when I am home 95% of the time.

One word...Costco.

Thank you all for your responses.

Following is what we do with our PC:
Quicken
MS Word and Excel
Photo editing
Email - we have gmail and find it easier to type (when we have long winded emails) on full size keyboard

We do backup to the cloud.

I beg to differ. I never buy from those box stores such as Walmart, Target, Costco, etc. because their clerks are not trained to answer complicated questions you may have. Also they don't provide repair services; instead they are shipped back to the factory. Finally they do not display their products well. Best Buy has wonderful displays where you can try them out.

I buy from either Best Buy (my fave) or Office Depot/Office Max.

It's certainly you're prerogative to pay more per feature and for less warranty...if you so choose.


Costco Concierge Services | Costco


Personally, I've already done my research and narrowed down my choices in minimum requirements and preferred manufacturers...by the time I walk in the store.


Call me cynical, but I'm not real big on depending on a sales person (who often gets a commission on their sales)...to make my mind up on how I'm going to spend my money. :shrug:

Probably a better answer is what not to buy.

No need for AntiVirus software - Win 10 Defender is more than adequate.
No need for MS Office - Free Libre Office does the same job. (As help desk for small companies I only found one document or spreadsheet that it was unable to open.)
For quick and easy photo editing I've installed Faststone free on over 100 PC's. For more detail use The Gimp a Photoshop clone that uses photoshop plugins.
Don't buy an AIO hardware.
Stay away from off brands. Stick to Dell/Toshiba/ HP

(35 years PC repair/ help desk experience)

Turn your aging pc into a Linux Mint desktop. Typing this on a 15 yr old dell dimension. Current Mint OS, 2 gig ram, 320 gig HD. Sweet!

What program do you use for photo editing? If you are just re framing the photo or making it a little lighter you don't need a more powerful computer. What size monitor would you like? Do you prefer a touchpad or a mouse? How about speakers? What do you want to spend?

Backing to the cloud is good but you should also back to another hard drive or usb stick too. You can probably do that automatically with a $20 usb stick [they go by many names, thumb drive, dongle.]

I had mint on a thumb drive.

I did tech support too but I also had a hand on what the district bought. I wanted my job as easy as possible and down time to a half hour so I tried to limit the make and models purchased, not the amount. I had a hard drive duplicator and all the computers data was saved in 2 other locations. I used ghost too for upgrades twice a year. I got to a point where I didn't fix computers software problems anymore. I could swap out a hard drive that was all set to go and only needed to rename the machine in 10 minutes or less.

This also means that there is a lot I don't know.

General Infomation
 

A couple of points. It is a "general observation" that technology makes huge leaps about every 5 years. Once a new technology comes out it must recover its Development, et al expenses and that may take around 5+ years. Also, in few cases does it make sense to purchase an extended warranty but in the case of a computer it does make some sense. Although the profits on extended warranties can run as high as 90% it does make sense to purchase one on Laptops, etc since the costs of one failure can far exceed the warranty cost. The parts can be expensive. The pricing is done like on cars. The parts are priced so if you tried to order the parts the sum of their expenses would far exceed you buying the computer. There are pretty good profits when doing a memory upgrade. Just some thinking on the subject.:)

Easiest - Walmart on Wedgewood has a HP Pavilion 570-p023w Desktop Tower for $559.00.
Don't like it, you can take it back. It has Intel Gen 7 Core i5, SSD plus 1TB HDD for file storage.

If you don't need a DVD drive, consider a small ZOTAC ZBOX-MI640 NANO Desktop...just add SSD and RAM.
It has latest Intel 8th Gen Core i5.

I use Photoshop Elements. We have a nice monitor 24" with integrated speakers.

Love my mouse!

Spend.....$600 to $700 is fine.

I also have an external hard drive that I use for backing up, as well as thumb drives.

I do appreciate all responses and guidance!

my son actually makes his own desktop computers. he buys the best components that way. maybe you can find a techy type to do that for you.

I'm just thinking out loud. If I had $650 to spend I might buy a new laptop that I use as a desktop. Once you turn it on you could close the lid, push it aside and use you favorite keyboard and mouse and the monitor you like. I am using a hp envy laptop 15" screen that is sitting on a coffee table. I have an external keyboard on my lap and got use to using a touch pad but I could use a mouse.



I agree with buying a name brand. Take a look at these desktop brands.
Best Desktop Computer Brands | Popular Desktop Computers

I believe in the advice and reviews I get form The Wirecutter.

Take a look at this.
The Best Mini Desktop PCs: Reviews by Wirecutter | A New York Times Company

and this
Lenovo ThinkCentre M710 Tiny | 1L Micro Desktop PC for Business | Lenovo US

chat with tech and tell him what you want to do

Well since you need Quicken, you need a PC, if you just used Mint then you could everything else on a Chromebook.
I've been using a Chromebook for about 6 years now. And before you poo poo it, I'll let you know that I was a MIS professional.

Window makes you life harder, keep it simple with a Chromebook.

I'll have workshop table set up for the Computer Club at La Hacienda on the 22nd 1pm ($5 yearly membership fee required), but I'll also be at Eisenhower for workshop on July 23rd 1pm (no fee).

Come by and see how the Chromebook really works.

I love my chromebook too. And if I need to provide technical support to someone I steer them towards a chromebook.
I use paint quite a bit. Do you have a good substitute that will work on my chromebook? I like wordpad too. If I cut and paste something with a lot of formatting I like how wordpad strips it away. Do you have a wordpad knockoff i can get to easily.
What I especially like is the price. I bought mine from the scratch and dent department for less then $200 directly from acer. So if I drop it or leave it someplace I'm not out a bunch and you need a password to make it work.

And if you own a monitor, keyboard and mouse you could make it like a desktop too.

Actually, Quicken will work on a Linux box. There is a Windows emulator called WINE. Also, there are a few Linux accounting apps that will import quicken files.

I've successfully put Linux on a Chromebook. (Which is LINUX based like Apple.)

I use Clonezilla to clone hard drives.

If you are in need for a new computer, please check us out Computer Corner!

Computer Corner • Computer Repair, Sales & Service

(352) 460-1155 • 205 W. North Blvd • Leesburg, Fl 34748
Mon-Fri 9am-5pm

Click Here To Visit Our Website!

I was thinking of getting a Chromebook but learned that everything on it goes into the cloud which I am not ready for. Further it requires the user to use their Google Documents instead of letting him use Corel's Wordperfect of which I am a fan. In other words, it does not let the user use many programs that are not Google programs. But I am not all that fond of Windows either.

Buy a Dell

Since you have iPads, you are familiar with the Apple infrastructure. You might want to consider getting an iMac or a MacBook with an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. The best deals are refurbished systems from Apple's website. They carry the normal 1 year warranty and typically a 15% discount.

From the list of applications that you are using you would be well served by a solid general purpose system. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. The only item that would drive the price up is if you want and All-in-One with a touch screen. We also didn't discuss if you need a new monitor. There are good package deals. Contrary to other opinions, I don't find that the sales people at Best Buy nor most of the stores that sell PC's have any idea on how to determine the needs of a customer. They are 95% speeds and feeds people. (I should know, I've tried to train a lot of them :) ).

Here are a few recommendations:

Best Buy
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...?skuId=6111244

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...?skuId=6253600
(this one looks VERY good for $399)

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...?skuId=6203109
(2 disks, with one Solid State)

Costco
Lenovo IdeaCentre 720 Desktop - AMD Ryzen 5 - 1GB AMD Graphics

Hope this helps...

I too, like Dells; you can go onto their site and "custom build" what you want, very often they will have sales. They are also easy to repair. I must admit that this time I got a Toshiba Satellite laptop because a boss had one and I was impressed with it. Reasonable price, never any problems, and I've got 1 terabyte of memory. More than I will ever need!

I agree. Refurbished Mac - Apple ALSO Definitely get a SSD drive!

Yes, I agree. I recently opened up my iMac and replaced the original hard drive with an SSD - actually pretty easy to do with an extra set of hands. The boot time is now 15 seconds.

I have a high end Dell Alienware gaming computer, my second one. It is used for all of the other basic computer duties also. The striking difference is when I help my wife with something on her fairly new Sony computer and realize how much slower it is. Granted if you haven't been on a hi power computer you may not notice this difference in speed but I appreciate being able to fly around what i'm doing whether email, maps, nav, videos etc. I didn't get a SSD but backup continuously off site to Carbonite. Throughout the years I have had to change hard drives and getting my data back from them was seamless and accurate. My computer was purchased this year for just under $2000.00

I like my Dell 2-in-1 because I can use it as either a PC or tablet, depending on where I am.

I just learned that Chromebook requires Internet connection for most things. So it would be a good idea to go to the Computer Club to see how it works.

My granddaughter's sixth grade class was given Chromebooks by the school so they could learn how to compute - and so everything goes into the cloud, giving the school a way to monitor their activities and evaluate their progresses.

go to walmart, buy one, ask the last day you can return it for a complete refund and try it out
good luck

I've been using a Chromebook since they came out. I never get a virus or malware, the updates are seamless and the battery lasts 8-10 hours.
I've been a MIS professional since 1969, so I know a thing or two about computers.

I'll have a table setup at the Computer Club workshop on 6/22 at La Hacienda (1PM, note - there is a $5 annual charge for this group)

Also, I'll be at Eisenhower on July 23rd at 1PM (no charge for this club) for another workshop.

Please come by and let me show you the Chromebook.

:agree:


From...Costco. :D

Nice find Pinball wizard...Just replace HDD with SSD :)

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-pavi...?skuId=6253600
(this one looks VERY good for $399)