New Computer

[Tinhack]

I got a new PC late last year. It's about 4x4x2, hangs on the back of my monitor and is faster than the old home-built tower at about 1/4 the price. The new Mini-PC came preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. I've added a few external accessories like disk drives (backup and file history), a CD drive and a cassette tape player/recorder. I also use thumb drives I can swap in and out. I don't like the TB drives because they're slow. Both my printers are WIFI as well as my Brother Scan-N-Cut.

I don't use the "cloud" for anything except the Scan-N-Cut and have disabled OneDrive and Cortana.

 

[scootr]

I upgraded right before Xmas I got a Corsair Vengenace 7300i for a new gaming PC, to replace my old one I built in 2015. But I've had so many problems with it, the RAM sticks keeps working themselves out, they are heavy and bulky DDR5 RAM sticks. I'm gonna open a support case with Corsair, I've been in IT for 30 years. And when you're an IT Manager you HATE to talk to other customer support.

Please keep us posted on this - I have bought the same PC

VENGEANCE a7300 Gaming PC, R7 7700X, RTX 3070 Ti, 2TB M.2, 16GB DDR5-5200​

 

[MossRoad]

Please keep us posted on this - I have bought the same PC

VENGEANCE a7300 Gaming PC, R7 7700X, RTX 3070 Ti, 2TB M.2, 16GB DDR5-5200​

In my lifetime, I've purchased 5 cars that totaled less than the price of that one PC.

I also got into a bidding war and "won" 4 sticks of 64MB of Ram for something like $300 each! Man, time and relevance of cost are a killer!

 

[Oaktree]

You might give Linux a try. I prefer linux Mint with the cinnamon desktop. Not only is it free, it is better.

If so, be prepared for a steep learning curve. I've tried using it a few times and found it frustratingly non-intuitive. I suppose if all you want to do is web surf and do word processing it'd be OK but Windows is a lot easier to use for most people.

 

[Oaktree]

I was in I.T, for 25ish years. Always had the latest and greatest to keep up on the technologies. Since I got out of I.T., I can get by most days with just an iPad. I do have an older docked Surface Pro with keyboard, mouse, and larger monitor if I want to do some spreadsheet work or photo editing. But I just don't need a PC anymore.

Anytime friends or family would want recommendations on PCs, I'd recommend factory refurbs unless they were gamers or into video production. There's just not much need for a screaming fast PC for most people.

Agree with refurbs. The one I'm using now is a hand-me-down HP from a colleague who was upgrading the office PCs where he works. It was maybe 6 years old when I got it and it does everything I need it to.

Never got the appeal of tablets, but then I don't particularly like touchscreen gadgets. Not very convenient for those of us with big hands.

 

[WinterDeere]

In my lifetime, I've purchased 5 cars that totaled less than the price of that one PC.

I also got into a bidding war and "won" 4 sticks of 64MB of Ram for something like $300 each! Man, time and relevance of cost are a killer!

I can post some of my PC prices, if it'll make you feel better. I run simulation software that has very high hardware requirements, and usually get two new PC's every 2-4 years, cost ranging $10k - $20k each. My office usually sounds like a few airplanes preparing for take-off, as the various chassis and CPU fans cycle according to processor and memory activity.

But the hardware keeps getting cheaper. I can buy more PC today for $6k than I could four years ago for $20k. NVMe drives have been a game-changer, too, as even the best 15k RPM SCSI (SAS) drives would hold up the show between simulation iterations, and they were very expensive. Dedicated processing GPU's (eg. NVDIA Tesla) can also offer enormous gains (in some cases 100x speed over CPU), if the software, licensing, simulation type and your budget all permit it.

 

[MossRoad]

Budgets? We ain't got no budgets. We don't need no budgets. I don't have to show you any stinkin' budgets!"

 

[MossRoad]

Agree with refurbs. The one I'm using now is a hand-me-down HP from a colleague who was upgrading the office PCs where he works. It was maybe 6 years old when I got it and it does everything I need it to.

Never got the appeal of tablets, but then I don't particularly like touchscreen gadgets. Not very convenient for those of us with big hands.

The appeal to my former employer of tablets like the Surface Pro was that reporters and salespeople needed devices that would work in the field and at their desk in the office with bigger monitors, full keyboards, mice, etc. So they avoided having to have two machines for each person. I can't count how many broke that first year due to droppage.

Funny story. First week or two that the Surfaces were deployed, a reporter called us for assistance as it wouldn't dock. I tried sticking it in the dock, but it wouldn't seat. Looked it over and asked them if they had dropped it. "NO. I would have told you if I'd have dropped it."

I said "The docking port is full of chocolate."



"Well, I was sitting with it on my lap, dropped my candy bar on the carpet, reached to get it and the Surface slipped off my lap and landed on the candy bar."

 

[kenmbz]

My home machine is a Dell Inspiron. My work laptops are both thinkpads.
I have a 27" flat and a 27" curved in my small (very) home office.
I have another thinkpad on order and will send back at least one of the devices I have here since I have no room.

I wrote and did troubleshooting on major game software back in the early 80's. Since then I am not much into the game stuff.

We have surface books, macbooks and airs, and many types of windows laptops. Very few desktops anymore. Also not many IPads as most Mac users do video and other intense stuff.
I do mostly large spreadsheets, not very exciting.

Using Google or Onedrive makes it so much easier to move across machines, but some items still get left behind as Windows machines have less "rules" about where you can store files.

If you break out of Apple OS, you will get a unix prompt, since that is what their OS is based on.

 

[WinterDeere]

"...the Surface slipped off my lap and landed on the candy bar."

Nurses hear a lot of stories like this about gerbils and anuses.

 

[JasperFrank]

I think the desktop is now a dead end technology. It was always only a small percentage of people that used these, for private creative reasons, at home. The true use of computers for most people, is now mobile information access. The Smart Phone provides this.

The last useful field for a desktop is in gaming. And this is mostly dependent on the video card, and if the platform can handle it, as the game is almost entirely written for the Video Card.
In any other use, an I3 dual core will render a text file, or redo a spread sheet as fast as you need it to be.
For heavy lifting, such as video compression, there are a plenty of used Xeon based work stations that are nearly free now. We have a Dell Precision 7400, made way back in 2008 for these tasks. Bought mine for $90 with dual, quad 2.4 ghz processors and 12 gigs of ECC ram. An a 2 gig SSD was added later. I just see no reason to buy anything new in the desktop world, if you are not a gamer. If you are a gamer, then the ONLY important thing is the PCIe interface and what level it is. The rest of the computer doesn't matter.

 

[cqaigy2]

My last 2 or maybe 3 computers were demo units from costco and purchased them after Christmas, so got a pretty good discount on them. I would blow off the installed OS and reinstall to get rid of all the bloatware. Prior PC type computers were hand built. I've done IT for the last 25 years though PCs haven't been my main support responsibilities for the last 20 years, though you can't really get away from them, if you do IT. I mostly upgrade a few things in the PC before getting to the point of replacing it. Funny, my main home puter is win11 and i run vm on it with a couple linux servers that i goof with. My last "retired" PC has a couple spinning disk and a 500MB SSD that im using for a vsphere host, running a few things on it. I don't game though, so don't need a high end video card. I am impressed with the video qualities of games, it's pretty amazing what they can do now. I also have a smartphone and iPad that i used to test running against virtual desktops. I'm retired now though so probably won't replace any of my tech stuff, who knows.

 

[deserteagle71]

I think the desktop is now a dead end technology. It was always only a small percentage of people that used these, for private creative reasons, at home.

^ That's me. And why I recently updated my desktop computer to the latest and greatest, running 32 gb of RAM. Do a lot of photo and video editing...kind of hard to do that without a powerful processor and a big monitor to work on. At my age, this one might last me the rest of my life.

Never gamed in my life and never will!

 

[2manyrocks]

I can see the perspective that the desktop for home use isn't the preferred choice for many, other than gamers and people doing video editing.

When it comes to laptops, the line between tablets and laptops is a bit blurred with some laptops having touchscreens and keyboards that can be removed.

I particularly wonder how much longer Apple will continue to offer the Ipad with the Ios system instead of just running their MacOs system, especially since you can get an Ipad Pro with an M2 chip that sort of looks like what they are putting in their newer Macbooks and Mac Mini systems. Some photographers would prefer to work with an Ipad pro if it coud be spec'd the same as a Macbook because they mainly care about the retina screen and not so much about the keyboard. If the Ipad pro could run the same video and photo editing software as Mac computers, I suspect Apple would sell more Ipad pros, especially since you can touch the screen to enlarge details, but Apple doesn't make any touchscreen Macbooks that I know of.

 

[MossRoad]

I think the desktop is now a dead end technology. It was always only a small percentage of people that used these, for private creative reasons, at home. ...

What? Desktop PCs/Macs were the most popular form of home computing for years. Only until affordable laptops came out did desktop computers start declining. In the 3rd quarter of 2008, laptop sales overtook desktop sales. At that time, over 30% of homes had computers in them.

 

[MossRoad]

^ That's me. And why I recently updated my desktop computer to the latest and greatest, running 32 gb of RAM. Do a lot of photo and video editing...kind of hard to do that without a powerful processor and a big monitor to work on. At my age, this one might last me the rest of my life.

Never gamed in my life and never will!

You don't know what you're missing.

 

[JasperFrank]

"It was always only a small percentage of people that used these, for private creative reasons, at home. .." I will standby that observation. Its only a very small market that wants a desk top now. Most everyone wanted just connectivity. This is served by the mobile devices we have now. Also 4K is silly as a domestic video resolution. The human eye can't tell the difference unless you are making huge projections.

 

[MossRoad]

"It was always only a small percentage of people that used these, for private creative reasons, at home. .." I will standby that observation. Its only a very small market that wants a desk top now. Most everyone wanted just connectivity. This is served by the mobile devices we have now.

Yes, it's only a small market now. When they first came out, however, it was the only game in town. I don't think I knew a family that didn't have a desktop PC in either of my kids' classes in grade school. That would be late 90s/early 2000s. I was inundated with repair/help requests from them until they got out of high school.

 

[JasperFrank]

Never tell anyone that you repair computers. First rule of computer repair, is you don't tell any one you are in computer repair. Its like "Fight Club." I tell people I don't know about that. I'm in waste management. Which is actually true.

 

[scootr]

The Gaming you never have never will do is not the same experience offered today. We play with and against real people from around the world. We use discord chat channels where many people converse and squad up to play any different levels using many different nations to replicate WWII battles using authentic vehicles and ammunitions. I chat with people from all over the world on any evening. My group is mostly old American guys like you but it includes Aussies, Scots, Brits, Asians, Serbs, Argentinians and more. It's socially fascinating. The competition is real. It's a kick in the pants. It's keeping a nearly 70 yr old man sharp