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I need to get a new computer!
So here's the crack - i have 2 ageing laptops which just about allow me to write and do interweb stuff, they lock up with any site like FB or even just Outlook that gets a bit tech/vid happy. Its now driving me loopy, simple jobs take longer now than they did 20 years ago, something has to change and soon! I also have a refurbed Dell tower which i bought as a package last year which was great until the power (i think) died on me. I also have 3 flatscreens, a couple of kb's and several mice so i don't need more peripherals/input/video devices.
I need to get something quite soon that is, a) reliable, b) reasonably future proof and c) a reasonable price. My problem is that when i've looked at what is easily available its a total nightmare, tower, all in one, micro and thats just the basic form! Then is SSD okay or should it be HDD, is i5 that much better than i3? and so on, my head is spinning. What i need is some practical advice!
Here's what i need the machine to do:-
word processing inc spreadsheets
media processing but nothing professional
Internet streaming
It will also need to be ready to run a variety of scanners/printers, have a goodly supply of USB ports and a DVD read/write capability. I'm quite happy with Windows OS but it would need to be at least 10. I'm looking at 1TB memory for futureproofing. That's what i think i need, but open to advice on that.
And here's the elephant, the budget! Ideally sub £300, if its worth going higher i need to know why. Should i just go to one of the big retailers and take a stab? Or should i get something custom built? Before i get that far, what should i be looking at spec wise? And is it worth having the Dell looked at?
I'm blonde so be gentle
thanks in advance
Maddy
Comments
OS
If you wish to continue running windows and be "future proof" (no such thing), you need it able to run Windows 11. MS is shutting down 10 and 11 can only be installed on comps with special hardware.
SSD is better/faster than HDD and is quite safe (think thumb drive). For USB ports you want 3.0 and you can always get expanders.
My $0.02 worth.
Gumby - I'm flexible
"Imagination is more important, than knowledge" - Albert Einstein
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds
new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’, but ‘that’s funny…’” - Isaac Asimov
Win 11
Depending on the CPU she has in the Dell, Win 11 may not install on it.
I suspect she has a Skylake generation CPU or possibly older so Win 11 is a no-no.
Win 10 is her only choice.
The real issue is the power supply.
Yes it is likely replaceable but I distrust the reliability of those cheapo power supplies.
To Save Money
First, if the power supply died on a computer you bought last year, is it possible there is a warranty?
Second, the power supply should only cost $20-40. They are pretty simple to replace. If you pay someone, that will add $60 to the cost. If the power supply does not work you should be able to return it and get your money back.
When replacing the power supply, the store should be able to look up your computer and tell you the exact options to ensure you get a compatible power supply.
Once you have the supply, don't disconnect anything.
Open the new power supply and lay out the wires. There will be more than you need.
As you disconnect a wire from the old power supply, replace it immediately with one from the new supply. When all have been disconnected, there are only four screws that hold the power supply in.
Before removing the old supply, you can plug a power cord in and see if the new one works. If it does take out the old one and replace it with the new one.
Disk wise, you can get a two terabyte hard drive for $80 or less internal and about a hundred as an external that would connect using USB. Internal is better. You don't have to take out the old ones.
Static is better but not needed and they cost more.
If you need to get a new unit, look for used stores that sell units that have just come off lease. They are in most bigger cities and the box can cost as little as a few hundred.
DD
Power supply
I would not buy a 40 dollar power supply as they are pants and likely unreliable and can likely destroy the rest of the computer with it.
Dell power supplies in pre-builts tend to be non-ATX so are harder to find a match for it. I guess you can try to find a used equivalent on ebay as it is unlikely a new replacement may be had for a really old Dell.
It is funny you should ask that.
I recently bought one of these:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086VZD6L4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b...
the hard disk is a kind of dinky, but it seems to be a fairly decent machine.
Dell PSU
You can buy dell psu's for peanuts on amazon (or e-bay). I had a dell tower unit and the psu crapped out: fitted a replacement and it ran fine after that for several years. My Dell was 2008 vintage and its still running as a media box after I upgraded it to windows 10 from vista.
This is assuming the Dell could do all the stuff you need to be done; before it crapped out.
Be worthwhile getting someone to check if it is the psu needs fettling though. There is bound to be a local nerd close by who would check it for you and would fit a replacement if it was found t be required for pocket change.
I done it meself but then I'm a geek and have the tools: took 20 mins screws out to screws back in and powered up.
re the laptops how old are they if you wanted to keep them for writing on then suggest you wipe them and reinstall the operating systems. Be amazed at how fast they will run once more
with all the crap they have accumulated removed.
you say you need 1 terabyte for futureproofing: thats disk size I hope; not memory.
If you are going for the replacement Box then If your'e doing any media work and even spreadsheets; try for at least 8 Gigabytes of Memory; and 16 Gb would be better. Memory lack slows down everything.
If you already have the screens, kb's and meeces etc then if you plan on replacing all the boxes then you can get a reasonable refurb for well less than £300 which should keep you in business for some time to come.
hope this helps
My 2 Cent.
Hallo Maddy,
as said before a look at the Dell Power supply is a cheap and easy try.
Or you go for Something like this.
https://www.notebooksbilliger.de/pc+systeme/medion+akoya+s65...
Has no DVD but that can go extern.
1terrabyte ??? Maybe some thumpdrives will do.
Tschau Freggel Buster
One of the side effects
of a PSU going Phut is that the act of going 'Phut' can send a large voltage spike to the other components in the PC, especially the motherboard.
If that is the case and the HDD is ok then it generally means that said PC (minus HDD) is only fit for recycling.
I had that happen on one Dell Server that I had some years back. The spike took out almost everything bar the DVD drive.
Samantha
Power surge
I had a power surge when the power supply failed on my (former) desktop system several years ago. The hard disk and DVD were okay, but the CPU and system board were fried. I wanted to keep the software on the system, so I replaced the power supply, system board, and CPU. I could have purchased a new system for what it cost, but I didn't want to have to repurchase or reinstall all of my software. It lasted several years more.
My current desktop has a 2 TB hard drive and 16 GB of RAM, but the CPU doesn't support TPM (Trusted Platform Module) so I can't upgrade it to Windows 11. It came with Windows 7, so it's been upgraded once already. I don't see anything new in Windows 11 I want, so I'll keep using it until the software I use (e.g. TurboTax & Quicken) won't run on it. If you want to "future proof" your new system, make sure it can run Windows 11.
BTW, generally Intel i9 is better then i7, which is better than i5, which is better than i3. BUT the chip generation counts, too. A new i3 might outperform a five-year-old i7. My desktop has an i7, one of my laptops has an i5 and the other an i3, but all are too old to support TPM and, thus, Windows 11.
Not meeting all requirements
Not meeting all requirements but Amazon has the following refurbished laptop for £269.99
HP EliteBook 8470P, Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, WiFi, Webcam, 14.1 inch Display
On windows 7 and will not be windows 11 compatible but can be upgraded to windows 10
Refurbished Laptops
Maddy
Last year I got a refurbished laptop from Black Barn Computers , I use it for Final Draft 9, word and YouTube wandering, internet etc. I have Microsoft Office 2013 on it (15 euros) from Buy-Keys.com
I did spend just over £300,the laptop was £249, but I up graded the ram to 8GB and a new 240 GB SSD. All the laptops they have on the website are more powerful than mine (I got this one as it had a dvd writer onboard) and come with Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit installed.. You can get a new external dvd/writer new on amazon for under £20. Just make sure the laptop has two usb sockets close together as the dvd drive may require two usb's, one for power and one for input/output (I have a very old one I keep as a spare that requires that to use it).
They will put Open Office on for free if you want, but I hate the thing and with Microsoft Office 2013 for only 15 euros, why bother.
You do not need to have 1TB memory to start with, Just get an external ssd drive in a couple of months to add to your memory. An external one has the advantage of when in time whatever PC/laptop your using goes up the creek, your info is safe on the external drive.
Hope this helps
Sophie
Darn!
UK only. :-(
They know they can survive
Ryzen mini PC
As you're in the UK, I did a quick search on Amazon.co.uk for Ryzen mini PCs, this one is 288 pounds:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/NiPoGi-Graphics-Business-Computer-D...
That meets your price point, though performance isn't the greatest. It comes with a single 8GB memory module, add another 8GB and it will be faster with dual channel memory. SSD 128GB storage, and will run Windows 11. Both the SSD and RAM can be expanded quite a bit.
For 120 pounds over your budget, I'd recommend this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Beelink-Graphics-Support-Business-C...
Twice the SSD storage, Ryzen 7 CPU with 4 cores / 8 threads for twice the performance, will run Windows 11 and includes a Windows 10 pro license. If you add another 80 pounds, you can get it with 16 GB of RAM and 500 GB of storage.
Why
Why do you need Windows 10? To feel cool or are there some OS requirements?
i
Don't need it however pretty much all the Web sites I use and software no longer support 7 (my bank for example) that's part of the issue with the laptops which both run 7.
Mads
Madeline Anafrid Bell
That may be a little
That may be a little different. You connect to your bank through browser, and if there is a problem with that browser, it has to be an old Internet Explorer. Which one is no more supported. But you can install Microsoft Edge instead or Firefox (even better). With Firefox you can connect even with windows xp btw.
You have mentioned scanning. What type? Documents, photographs, lineart? Do you have a scanner or do you plan to buy it. If you have, what os is supported?
just to point out
Firefox is the bane of my life, it doesn't work, i will never have it on another machine. It is not the browser that is the issue.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
If not this
then Chrome. Not my favorite but much better than ms production.
You didn't say about scanning. This is important. Especially when the budget is limited.
Hi Maddy, before you spend
Hi Maddy, before you spend anything. You could try making a live linux distro boot USB. Linux Mint or similar .This would cost you nothing
Often our laptops/PC's slow down due to bloated updates. My laptop, which was only 4 months old kept crashing on some sites. I used CCleaner every day, which helped. Eventually I just backed up everything and re-installed windows.
My point is , if you try a live linux USB you can see if the problem is hardware or software.
I do like Linux mint it is very windows like, and free.
https://linuxmint.com/screenshots.php
https://linuxmint.com/
Leeanna
Maddy won't be spending anything
I'm donating a tower to her that will see her through a few years. Some brief specs
Intel i7 6 core @ 4.5Ghz, 48Gb Ram, 5+ TB of HDD (inc 1TB M2 SSD, 1TB Sata SSD and some assorting rotating rust). This is all mounted in a Fractal Design chassis that makes it pretty quiet. It will run Linux pretty well but TBH, I don't think Maddy can be bothered with the faffing about that making it work to her requirements would need.
Don't get me wrong, I've been a Linux user since Slackware 1.1 and run it on my wordpess servers (intel Nuc system). That server had just passed 300 days since the last reboot. I'm building a second server at the moment that will run Almalinux.
Samantha
Samantha
For ~€350 you'll get a new
For ~€350 you'll get a new Lenovo V15-IGL (8 GB RAM, 1 TB HD, no OS, no optical drive).
A laptop with what you stated is much more expensive: TOSHIBA Satellite P50-C-18N (8 GB RAM (expandable to 16 GB), 1 TB HD, GPU: nVidia GeForce GTX 950M, DVD burner, Core i7 2x, Windows 10 Home, 3x USB 3.1 Typ-A (Gen.1)) for ~€1186 (new).
On another matter: someone stated in another reply that you have to open the power supply. DO NOT OPEN THE POWER SUPPLY, unless you have a degree in electrical engeneering and know what you're doing. If you open that thing you run the risk of dieing.
Try Lenovo
I've been using them for years and quite satisfied. Lenovo.com, scroll to the bottom of the page to OUTLET. These are the computers their people have used for a year or so and are substantially cheaper than new.
Future proofing
Just some general advice, The most future proof pc is a tower. You can change anything in a tower. Worst case is an all in one or a laptop. Must be Window 11 compatible. Definitely an SSD for drive C. Needs room for an extra drive or two, you can add more drives as prices come down. Backup could be an external mechanical drive as it won’t be working hard but an extra internal drive would be good. Probably cheapest to buy a 250gb or 500gb for drive C and add further drives as needed, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. On components, never buy cheapo power supplies.
Glenda Ericsson
This might be a little out of your price range but...
Good gaming graphic cards are very expensive and very hard to get right now. Because of this many people are buying a Dell Alienware gaming computer, pulling out the graphics card, then selling what is left for a small amount of money, considering just how top notch the hardware is.
Go onto some local buy and sell sites and see what is for sale. Look for the cheapest systems available (because the cheapest hardware is still far more than you need) and see if anyone will put in an old graphics card, demonstrate it works and sell it to you as a complete working system. If the system is less than a year old you can even get the one year warranty of hardware and technical support transferred to you.
I also like the idea of seeing if replacing your power supply in your desktop will fix your problem. See if you can find someone local that fixes computers out of their house that could test this out for you. They would charge for their time to temporarily swap power supplies and, if it works, charge for the new power supply. This type of person frequently has older equipment on hand that customers didn't want anymore. So it is likely that they could fix you up with a new-to-you system that is good enough for now at a relatively inexpensive price.
Good luck.
Computers
Hi Maddy!
I'm sorry you're having computer problems. Are you at all comfortable with electronic things; opening up a computer, taking it apart, installing disk drives and operating systems?
As far as the tower goes I'm assuming that you press the power button and nothing happens. You might have already tried these things but... does another electrical device (lamp, fan, etc) work if you plug it into the outlet you've got your tower plugged into? Is the power cord firmly plugged into both your house's electrical outlet and the connector on the back of the tower's power supply? Have you tried another power cord for the tower? What is the model number of the tower? That will allow us to proceed more from the general to specific recommendations. Fixing the tower will probably be the least expensive way to resolve this problem.
If you're really thinking that a laptop would work better in your life you might take a look at the lower end Dell Inspiron line (you might have something equivalent or better that's manufactured over there and might be available at a lower cost that's just what I'm used to over here). Your expected application needs don't call for a lot of computer. The only thing on your list that has the potential to require anything more than minimum computer power is "media processing" which I'm assuming means some kind of video. Video is one of the "power" applications but if you don't mind it taking a while, lower end computers can handle simple video applications. If your video requirements are editing, storage, and production of 4k video that's probably going to be a different problem and will require more computer. I saw a couple of Dell Inspiron laptops listed on the Dell UK site (https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/scc/sr/laptops/inspiron-laptops) the lowest end one at £278 and a more powerful (and "future resistant") processor and graphics for £319. Both only come with 128GB of storage and will need their SSD upgraded to meet your requirements. A 1 TB SSD of the type needed will be somewhere between £80-100 from Amazon UK if you install it yourself. Do you need a TB of storage? Probably not but you'll probably use it eventually. You'd almost certainly be able to start using a new laptop with 128GB immediately. If you have external storage you could leave the operating system and the applications on the 128 GB drive and keep everything else on external storage. Neither these, nor pretty much any other new laptop I've seen come with a DVD drive built in. I was going to suggest you use an external USB DVD drive but a brief scan of Amazon didn't turn up nearly as many options as I had expected. Most people use the little USB "Thumb" drives these days and it looks like DVD capability is going away.
I’m blond too!!