Need a new desktop PC

[easysurfer]

Except for all those advantages I mentioned - built in UPS, the option of portability, and the ease of re-use. Since they take up so much less space, they are easy to repurpose, and for many of those uses, the built in keyboard, touch pad are sufficient. Makes a nice neat package.


-ERD50

Yeah. Guess there are pros and cons to each.

I really don't think there is much debate of either/or as folks who wish to have both a desktop and laptop probably do. Unlike the old days where the choice was more an either/or.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, you can have both. They don't cost that much. They only take up space.

I use my 14" laptop daily for surfin' and to run Quicken. For other things, I have 4 older desktops. My wife uses her Android tablet to surf the Web and to watch videos. She has her own desktop too, which she turns on once a month.

 

[tsturbo]

We have an iMac (desktop) plus 2 iPads and 2 iPhones. The iPads get the most use, then smartphones and then iMac.

 

[Sunset]

Except for all those advantages I mentioned - built in UPS, the option of portability, and the ease of re-use. Since they take up so much less space, they are easy to repurpose, and for many of those uses, the built in keyboard, touch pad are sufficient. Makes a nice neat package.

-ERD50

You make some very convincing reasons.
Maybe on my next computer, I'll get a laptop, and just plug into regular keyboard, mouse, and monitors for the desktop experience.

It will be easier to move, when we move in the future.

 

[Jerry1]

You make some very convincing reasons.
Maybe on my next computer, I'll get a laptop, and just plug into regular keyboard, mouse, and monitors for the desktop experience.

It will be easier to move, when we move in the future.

I've considered this, but I like a powerful computer and a quiet computer. I haven't done an exhaustive search, but I don't think they make a high powered fanless laptop. The compact nature of the machine is counter to heat distribution. Just my OCD, but I hate fan noise.

 

[stephenson]

My MacBook has a fan, but rarely hear it unless a website locks me up ... 99% silent.

I have large monitor, backup hard drive, speakers, multi format connection device, etc all hooked up. Getting ready to buy a 34” curved monitor ...

I can buy anything interesting ... or even liquid cooled .... giggling now ... but prefer simple transparency.

 

[NW-Bound]

You make some very convincing reasons.
Maybe on my next computer, I'll get a laptop, and just plug into regular keyboard, mouse, and monitors for the desktop experience.

It will be easier to move, when we move in the future.

The laptops meant for business use, such as my now old HP Elitebook, usually have a docking interface. You just drop the laptop onto the docking station, to which are attached the monitor, mouse, keyboard, peripherals, and AC adapter.

The new laptops may have the same function via just a USB-C connection, but I am not sure.

 

[zinger1457]

They make USB docking stations that should work with just about any laptop.

 

[NW-Bound]

They make USB docking stations that should work with just about any laptop.

Cool. I just looked into that, and it works with USB 3.0 to have sufficient speed.

Speaking of laptops, I also find out that for less than $100, I can swap out the CPU of my HP Elitebook to double the power, and get the same CPU power as a Dell laptop currently selling for $1000, or 2/3 the speed of a Dell desktop also selling for $1000. Put in another $100 for a 1-TB SSD, and I see no need to get a new laptop.

New laptops also no longer have a Firewire port, nor an RJ-11 port. Do people still use these? Well, I occasionally do.

 

[Qs Laptop]

If I was going to build a beast PC today I put in a Ryzen 9 3950x (list $750 if you can find one). It will chew though any problem. Overkill for most tasks.

My son is a gamer and built a machine using the Ryzen chip one step lower than that one with the top Nvidea graphics card (at the time, one year ago.) He ran his machine on that testing site (link upstream this thread) and scored 160.

 

[statsman]

I've considered this, but I like a powerful computer and a quiet computer. I haven't done an exhaustive search, but I don't think they make a high powered fanless laptop. The compact nature of the machine is counter to heat distribution. Just my OCD, but I hate fan noise.

I'm much the same way. Will be replacing my desktop PC, but I am seriously considering not getting a laptop. I rarely use it other than to remote desktop into my PC (primary reason why I went with Win 7 Pro almost 6 years ago). Maybe the need for a laptop would change should my DW and I decide to travel.

I am going to bite the bullet and get a Win 10 Pro desktop PC. I will leave my existing Win 7 Pro desktop PC untouched except I will disconnect it from the Internet on January 14th, 2020. With a spare desktop PC, I am going to install some flavor of Linux and connect it to the Internet (browser and email client).

I think my long-term preference would be to go with Linux, but I really need to play around with it to see. I used UNIX a lot at work for 30+ years, so I will be somewhat familiar. I've also used some PC firewall software in the past that was built from Linux (Smoothwall), so I have a little Linux experience, but not with any GUI.

 

[easysurfer]

I'm much the same way. Will be replacing my desktop PC, but I am seriously considering not getting a laptop. I rarely use it other than to remote desktop into my PC (primary reason why I went with Win 7 Pro almost 6 years ago). Maybe the need for a laptop would change should my DW and I decide to travel.

I am going to bite the bullet and get a Win 10 Pro desktop PC. I will leave my existing Win 7 Pro desktop PC untouched except I will disconnect it from the Internet on January 14th, 2020. With a spare desktop PC, I am going to install some flavor of Linux and connect it to the Internet (browser and email client).

I think my long-term preference would be to go with Linux, but I really need to play around with it to see. I used UNIX a lot at work for 30+ years, so I will be somewhat familiar. I've also used some PC firewall software in the past that was built from Linux (Smoothwall), so I have a little Linux experience, but not with any GUI.

I primarily use two computers. My main computer is a desktop with Win Pro as the OS. I'm not crazy at all with the Win 10 tiles of the Start menu so have a program (costed under $5) called Start 10 that makes the Start menu more familiar to Win 7.

I also have a laptop with Linux. The Linux I don't use often but have that to remote into my desktop when traveling and also run some programs do a better job on Linux than Win. A big advantage I see of having Linux rather than Win 10 on the laptop that because I don't use the laptop often, I won't have to suffer through forced updates with Linux vs Win 10.

I don't mind having an extra laptop around ready when needed for the added flexibility and not losing the familiarity and some Win programs I depend on.

Oh, I did say primarily as I have another laptop that I use to test other Linux distros on (when I'm in the mood) and have some older desktops with no OS in the closet .

 

[sdtech]

Like some others posted I had to live in corporate world for years with PC's. Had both Mac's and PC's at home. Now I have two mac computers and no issues. I spend my repair computer time working on PC problems of friends and relatives - the mac's just work. I did recently abandoned Excel when my versions wouldn't work on the new systems and had to pick up Numbers which took some adjustments. I do like that I can seamlessly use my spreadsheets across computers, Ipad and phone from the cloud.


Still get a kick of the "my computer is starting so I have to wait 10 minutes" and the android phone users struggling to share photos over the tv.

 

[ERD50]

The laptops meant for business use, such as my now old HP Elitebook, usually have a docking interface. You just drop the laptop onto the docking station, to which are attached the monitor, mouse, keyboard, peripherals, and AC adapter.

The new laptops may have the same function via just a USB-C connection, but I am not sure.

Made me look. The new laptops have USB-C port(s), and I'm seeing these cheap USB-C hubs ($33 for this highly rated one), that provide USB-3, hdmi, Ethernet, SD-card, and a USB-C charging port, all in one.


Nice - though I don't move my laptop from my desk often, it would be nice to just unplug one cable to do it.

https://www.amazon.com/AUKEY-Ethernet-Delivery-Charging-Chromebook/dp/B07Z7H3GJK

I'll probably upgrade with a new laptop when the next Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Long Term Support) release comes out. My current laptop will be 6 years old then.

-ERD50

 

[jim584672]

For those running Linux remember you can always run Win 10 in Virtualbox, that way you get the best of both worlds.

 

[statsman]

It used to be that if you wanted to use Remote Desktop with Windows 7 you needed to install Windows 7 Pro, which is what I did for our desktops and my laptop years ago. Is the same true for Windows 10 (Pro vs Home)?

I am looking at the following Dell XPS desktop from Costco. I saw several of them available at our local warehouse:

https://www.costco.com/dell-xps-tower---intel-core-i7----geforce-gtx-1650.product.100513790.html

9th Gen Intel Core i7-9700
16GB memory
250GB SSD + 1TB HDD
NVidia GTX 1650 (4 GB)
DVD-RW drive
Windows 10 Home
$949.99, several hundred less than the equivalent I can get directly from Dell

I am not a gamer, so the graphics card should be more than sufficient (my current PC has onboard video). The system has room for two more internal hard drives and two more memory modules. Along with the i7-9700 processor, I should be set for a long time.

What are my options to upgrade from Windows 10 Home to Pro? If it is a full license @ $200, then this Costco deal would end up being not much of one after such an upgrade.

 

[Qs Laptop]

It used to be that if you wanted to use Remote Desktop with Windows 7 you needed to install Windows 7 Pro, which is what I did for our desktops and my laptop years ago. Is the same true for Windows 10 (Pro vs Home)?

I am looking at the following Dell XPS desktop from Costco. I saw several of them available at our local warehouse:

https://www.costco.com/dell-xps-tower---intel-core-i7----geforce-gtx-1650.product.100513790.html

9th Gen Intel Core i7-9700
16GB memory
250GB SSD + 1TB HDD
NVidia GTX 1650 (4 GB)
DVD-RW drive
Windows 10 Home
$949.99, several hundred less than the equivalent I can get directly from Dell

That is a pretty good deal. You could build a similar machine for about $800 but then you'd need to buy Windows 10.

Kind of surprised they are still putting DVD-RW drives in machines nowadays.

 

[statsman]

That is a pretty good deal. You could build a similar machine for about $800 but then you'd need to buy Windows 10.

Kind of surprised they are still putting DVD-RW drives in machines nowadays.

So was I. When I went to our local warehouse, I saw DVD-RW listed on the shipping box. I do use mine for music CD processing and, in some cases, I only have software licenses on DVD that are not available online. Not sure whether I will be able to transfer these from my Win 7 desktop to any Win 10 desktop.

It looks like the "official" Win 10 Home to Pro license upgrade is $99, while the full Win 10 license is $199. It might be cheaper to build my own, but it's been about 10 years since I last built our PCs. I was just too busy at work to have the time to research the project. Now retired, I have the time.

 

[Qs Laptop]

So was I. When I went to our local warehouse, I saw DVD-RW listed on the shipping box. I do use mine for music CD processing and, in some cases, I only have software licenses on DVD that are not available online. Not sure whether I will be able to transfer these from my Win 7 desktop to any Win 10 desktop.

It looks like the "official" Win 10 Home to Pro license upgrade is $99, while the full Win 10 license is $199. It might be cheaper to build my own, but it's been about 10 years since I last built our PCs. I was just too busy at work to have the time to research the project. Now retired, I have the time.

If you get the urge to build yourself, this site is invaluable for selecting parts:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/

 

[easysurfer]

So was I. When I went to our local warehouse, I saw DVD-RW listed on the shipping box. I do use mine for music CD processing and, in some cases, I only have software licenses on DVD that are not available online. Not sure whether I will be able to transfer these from my Win 7 desktop to any Win 10 desktop.

It looks like the "official" Win 10 Home to Pro license upgrade is $99, while the full Win 10 license is $199. It might be cheaper to build my own, but it's been about 10 years since I last built our PCs. I was just too busy at work to have the time to research the project. Now retired, I have the time.

Don't know if I'm understanding correctly. You are not sure if you can transfer from programs from Win 7 to Win 10 because of possible incompatibility, license or because of no DVD-RW reader?

If the new PC doesn't have a DVD-RW, there's always the option to get an external USB powered DVD-RW. That's an inexpensive option.

 

[24601NoMore]

The new HP Omen just arrived yesterday. i7-9700K (Liquid Cooled), 16 GB, 256 GB SSD + 1 TB SATA and RTX 2070 graphics. Got an amazing deal at $1,234 during Black Friday/Ciber Monday.

Never had a HP box before (always Dell and before that, Micron or Gateway), but so far have been impressed by the speed of shipping (full week early), packaging, case (LED lighting with glass side panel), super quiet and boots < 30 sec. Nice box so far..still have to get everything loaded but like what I see to this point..

PS: for those who don't like fan noises, liquid cooling might be worth looking at..you can only get that on the higher end CPUs (that I know of), but so far the 9700K is whisper quiet.