Anyone planning on buying a PC?

[tom95521]

Since the forum seems to be slowing down (temporary situation I hope) I thought I might start a new topic.

I am planning on buying a desktop PC (my first 8 bit 4 Mhz Z80 16K ram computer was purchased in 1980). I already have a few older Dells that I have upgraded with cheap 256 GB SSDs and run Fedora Linux. Linux is great for web/email and less chance of malware. I don't buy or build a custom built PC, just off the shelf Dells because they are less expensive and reliable (for me at least).

Dell xps8900

Intel skylake i7 cpu 3.4 Ghz 14 nm

Windows 10 64 bit

16 GB DDR4 ram

512 GB SSD program (extra)

4 TB Hitachi HD data (extra)

ATI or Nvidia 4 GB graphics (although I think the newer integrated gpu works fine for PTE)

27" ips monitor (extra)

The price for PC plus extra storage and monitor would be about $/€1,400.

Anyone else buying a new PC?

Tom

[JudyKay]

Wow! That seems like a good price for all that. I just bought an HP Spectre--2 in 1 touchscreen, tiny little travel workhorse that I love. i7 512 SSD. I chose it over the Dell because at that time Dell didn't offer a 2 in 1 with 512 SSD or HDMI out which I wanted. I am VERY happy with the Spectre even though I am far more of a Dell fan than a HP fan. I sometimes travel with a mammoth Asus laptop, very high end. At home (wherever that is), is an Aging Desktop Dell XPS--like yours, but the 3 year old model. Half a dozen other computers sit around with various OS's including a couple with Linux. I don't play with them much and one day, when I get time, I'll toss them all. I had great fun tearing down an old iPhone 3 and video'd the whole process. Funny thing is, I don't even like computers, but for some odd reason sort of understand them.

[Lin Evans]

Hi Tom,

I bit the bullet last year and bought an ASUS G10AC also with an i7 4770 3.4 ghz GPU with 32 Gig RAM presently running Win 8.1. I have an nVidia GTX760 presently running 2 ghz RAM and pushing a 30" 2560x1600 display.

That said, I still much prefer working on my old Dell Inspiron 530 core 2 duo. (2.33 Ghz) Intel. I have the maximum usable system RAM (which I upgraded with a 750 watt power supply and an nVidia GTX 750 Ti video card with 2 Gb video RAM.

I just don't care for the new operating system. I absolutely "hate" the search feature on my new 8.1 system which often fails to cache files so doesn't find them. I have only one TB internal hard drives on eacfh system (no SSD) but literally dozens of external usb hard drives in capacities from 250 gig to 2 tb which I switch frequently and use primarily for backup storage.

Best regards,

Lin

[MUR]

Hello

I'm looking for a new PC, mainly for heavy PTE projects, with videos and sounds. I like Dell, I am using a Inspiron laptop "17.3 " screen, but is about 8 years old. I want something similar, with better characteristics. But Dell is no longer what it used to be, to "design" my dream machine.

I am open to advice.

MUR

[tom95521]

I was in my early 20s during the start of the personal computer revolution and enjoyed assembling computers. The internet has changed everything. All my computer hardware purchases are now from Costco or Amazon. I have noticed that cpu performance in general has improved so much that upgrading every 3 years is no longer necessary unless you play the latest games. I have no favorite operating system. Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Linux all work great. Many of my computers run 24/7 doing video encoding, security cameras, etc. They have all been very reliable. Replacing HDs with SSDs have extended the life of my oldest computers. Boot up time has decreased to almost nothing.

Dell, HP, and Lenovo seem to be the largest manufacturer of Windows personal computers. They are probably assembled in the same factory in China. Not much difference in quality. I do have a preference for Hitachi hard drives for data storage compared to Seagate and WD (any color). I don't have a favorite graphics card vendor. Either Nvidia or ATI/AMD seem to work fine.

Tom