Need computer recommendation

braumeister

braumeister

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A friend is asking for help getting a new computer, and since it's Windows-based, my Apple expertise is no help. I think Geek Squad handles things like this (but I don't know if it's more than they want to do). Since they're part of Best Buy, I imagine they could find a good machine at a good price.

Are there any other options for advice and setup of a new system? He wants someone to not only recommend the new system but to set it up and transfer all his current files to it so he can just sit down and start using it.

Current machine is a maxed out Dell Pentium desktop.
His need is for a faster machine with more memory and storage and the ability to handle his peripherals:
  • two color printers, HP and Epson, both online at same time
  • Epson scanner
  • headphones and camera for Zoom meetings
and software:
all the Microsoft stuff (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc.)
  • Family Tree genealogy software for many thousands of records
  • something to burn CDs (do computers even come with those any more?)
  • etc.

I'm totally out of my comfort zone with this, so any suggestions are welcome.
 
Last edited:
There are better options but in your situation, I’d just send him to Best Buy. They’ll sell him a machine. They sell Dell. Then let Geek Squad get him set up.

I can tell you that setting him up will be no big deal even for you (with a Mac framework) if you were inclined. But you may run into a glitch or two that would require you to do research and spend more time than you want.

As for a recommendation on the machine, he’s not really looking at a high end machine. Any modern machine with at least 16GB of ram and a SSD will suffice. More than that and you can help him with your knowledge. Whether he needs more disk space or more than one drive in his set up is not a Windows dependent decision. And, yes, they still sell computers with optical drives.
 
Go to Dell dot com and get exactly what he wants.

The first decision is go to personal or business. Whichever you select you'll find standard deals that are increasing in cost and capability. Middle-of-the pack is a better default than value model (unless it's a screaming buy).

Whatever he picks will be light years ahead of a pentium. You may have to add a CD/DVD burner.

When you set up the old peripherals with new machine, it's a good idea to internet search the specific printer, and find the correct driver package to install in Windows 11. Yes, Windows can set up the printer with a driver automatically, but it may not be the full-featured driver you want. Also, printers usually have auxiliary features, scanning and so on, that may not be fully supported when Windows takes over.
 
Jerry1 said:
There are better options but in your situation, I’d just send him to Best Buy. They’ll sell him a machine. They sell Dell. Then let Geek Squad get him set up.
Click to expand...

+1 If he is asking you for advice and looking for help setting it up, he should not be buying anything online. That will not help him in terms of getting it set up with his files and applications as his current one (been there for family/friends, done that). He needs to go somewhere in person for this and Best Buy is a good option.

Another place, if one is nearby, is Microcenter.

Does he know what his current machine specs are (CPU type/model, memory, storage)? That is going to be the starting point in terms of what he should move to.
 
jollystomper said:
+1 If he is asking you for advice and looking for help setting it up, he should not be buying anything online.
Click to expand...

I agree completely. And thanks much for the Microcenter idea; I had forgotten all about them, and we do have one locally. So probably either Best Buy/Geek Squad or Microcenter will be the recommendation.
 
Jerry1 said:
There are better options but in your situation, I’d just send him to Best Buy. They’ll sell him a machine. They sell Dell. Then let Geek Squad get him set up.

I can tell you that setting him up will be no big deal even for you (with a Mac framework) if you were inclined. But you may run into a glitch or two that would require you to do research and spend more time than you want.

As for a recommendation on the machine, he’s not really looking at a high end machine. Any modern machine with at least 16GB of ram and a SSD will suffice. More than that and you can help him with your knowledge. Whether he needs more disk space or more than one drive in his set up is not a Windows dependent decision. And, yes, they still sell computers with optical drives.
Click to expand...


I will second this recommendation. He's going to need some hand holding and that is where Geek Squad comes into the picture.

Best Buy is going to have HP and Dell PC's. I prefer Dell's. Yes, they still sell PC's with DVD/CD optical drives. I assume all of them nowadays write to disc and are not read only drives, but make sure the optical drive can burn discs.

I presume he will be getting a desktop, retain his current monitor and speakers? I also presume he's going to need a camera for zoom meetings. Most come with microphone(s) built in, so he won't actually need microphones and headphones. If he's going to be doing a lot of online meetings don't go cheap on the PC camera, I got a Logitech C920 and it's miles better than my wife's cheapo Amazon bought camera.

Since he wants to burn CD's it sounds like he likes listening to music. He might want to get a bluetooth option on the computer. In this way he can use wireless bluetooth headphones or bluetooth earbuds to listen to music or audiotracks of YouTube videos.
 
+3 Try to be supportive but shift him to Geek Squad or some similar external support, otherwise you'll be his PC support for the rest of time.

Don't ask me how I know this. :D
 
The problem with BestBuy is that a salesman will steer you to whatever they can, and get you out of the door with a sale. The add-on cost for setup will turn out to be more expensive than they say, as you have old peripherals. Heck, they will probably try to sell you on new peripherals.

Whatever you do is of course your choice. There's a cost for everything you can't do yourself. When you help a friend, of course you then might be his primary support. It actually is not as difficult as you think. Maybe there is another friend who is knowledgeable of Windows setup.
 
Sounds to me like any more recent PC faster than a your friend's Pentium processor would be a big improvement.
 
I too would send him to BestBuy or elsewhere with this caveat. If he likes Office he might want to consider an Office365 subscription. For $70/year he gets up to date subscriptions to Office plus 1T of cloud storage. For $100 he can get a family plan with up to 6 users at 1T each. If he is a student or teacher $3/mth. If I were him, I would buy one of those plans, make sure all my critical stuff was in the standard places and safely stared online. Then I would buy my new PC and log back in to all my stuff.

I went with Office365 a couple of years ago just for the cloud storage. I recently bought a new PC (at Microcenter) to accommodate my resource intensive astrophotography pursuits and the file update process was easy. I converted the old PC to Linux to handle background AP chores.
 
Doesn’t sound like it, but if he wants a premium system, this is a good place. I’ve bought my computers from them since the 90’s. The guy I bought my first computer from, from that place, is still there. My current computer is going on 11 years and still working well. Only thing I’ve ever done to it was upgrade the SSD because I ran out of room (it was only a 120GB drive - seemed like a lot, for an SSD at the time.). Great phone level support, but obviously, they’re not going to come to your house and set things up.

https://silentpc.com/
 
Thanks to all for the suggestions.
I recommended he talk to both Best Buy and Micro Center and make his decision based on how he felt they would take care of him. He agreed this would be best.

He doesn't know anyone else with any real computer expertise who could help him, and I would have to spend so much time getting up to speed on his situation that he might as well go to the experts right away.
 
braumeister said:
Thanks to all for the suggestions.
I recommended he talk to both Best Buy and Micro Center and make his decision based on how he felt they would take care of him. He agreed this would be best....
Click to expand...

Where I live there's a shop that's been in business 20 years. I would go someplace local if he can. If you want a real expert.
 
Microcenter if it’s local, otherwise Best Buy. Microcenter has helpful staff - was there a few days ago. The deals are better also.
 
gwill1010 said:
If he's been using that machine for the last year he'd be delirious spending $200 on amazon. I'm a big fan of HP & Dell remanufactured PCs.

Needs nothing more than...
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-OptiPle...sprefix=dell+remanufactured+pc,aps,115&sr=8-4
Click to expand...

This is a great example, I'm astounded by the low price.
For OP's friend maybe not a good choice as it cannot upgrade to Windows 11.
But if it can run Linux, it would be a sweet upgrade over my 11 year old machine :flowers:
 
braumeister said:
Thanks to all for the suggestions.
I recommended he talk to both Best Buy and Micro Center and make his decision based on how he felt they would take care of him. He agreed this would be best.

He doesn't know anyone else with any real computer expertise who could help him, and I would have to spend so much time getting up to speed on his situation that he might as well go to the experts right away.
Click to expand...

Hmm, everything I read says he should shift to apple. Everything he needs to do is there, and apple stores with training and support are really well done. All the family tree goes online, as do so many other things. I also avoid Windows as that is getting really complicated especially for older folks. It always tries to get you to 365 and that FUBARs many folks (and half my company). Teams etc. is a mess for them. Sorry, but I think what he is asking for is better solved this way. Windows hardware is so simple now - almost anthing works. It's windows and network setup and the O365 stuff that might drive him crazy.
 
ah, just read the Win11 stuff...i forgot the ease of upgrades and long term support ease...apple wins here as well, hands down. It just works and the other software upgrades easily as well. Printer connections etc. are a breeze over many years.
 
I have bought four consecutive desktop machines from Cyberpower. You can still have Geek Squad assist with setup.
 
Most people dont want to buy apple due to pricing.
Pay once, pay once....
Im still running my macbook air laptop from 2009.
Still works fine!
Ive gone through many window systems over the years.
 
Slater said:
Most people dont want to buy apple due to pricing.
Pay once, pay once....
Im still running my macbook air laptop from 2009.
Still works fine!
Ive gone through many window systems over the years.
Click to expand...
I'm still running a >12 year old Windows computer that I built as my primary desktop system, still getting security updates, and it's fast and rock solid.
 
IMO, Windows PC's (particularly laptops) are throwaways these days. The last one I bought (~18 mos ago) was less than $300 and pre loaded with the latest OS and 1yr free MS Office. I'm super familiar with windows and Microsoft so the learning curve it almost zero (except for new features). Battery life is incredible, HD, RAM, Processor Speed, etc is way more than I need.

If/when something seriously starts to go bad (like the battery), I just buy a new one for a few hundred bucks and get the latest hardware, OS and MS Office suite and I'm good to go for another three or four years. Sort of like my iPhones.
 
Slater said:
Most people dont want to buy apple due to pricing.
Pay once, pay once....
Im still running my macbook air laptop from 2009.
Still works fine!
Ive gone through many window systems over the years.
Click to expand...

People like that should switch to Ubuntu.
Pay $0 or $32 once.
I'm still running my 2012 machine just fine !
And I'm on the latest and greatest version of the OS, having upgraded about 4 times !!
How much does Apple charge for new OS ?
 
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