mtn
MegaDork
3/20/20 1:37 p.m.
I need a new home computer. This will be used for excel (or the libreoffice equivalent), email, youtube, GRM, and that is about it. Maybe some netflix, but it does not have to have great video quality. I have an old computer that I built back in 2004 or so. I could use the bones of that to build a new one... the bones would be the case, power supply, and dvd drives, which, if memory serves correctly, would leave me needing a processor, board, memory, and hard drive.
So, with that in mind, I'm open to anything. Mac, PC, Linux, Raspberry... As long as it can run Excel (or OpenLibre), GRM, Youtube, and in an ideal world, netflix, AND use 2 monitors, I'm good. Would you build something using the bones that I have, build something completely new, or buy a cheap desktop/laptop at wherever they're on sale today? Don't want to spend more than $250 on this, and as close to $0 is preferred.
My standard go to recommendation is to take a look at Dellrefurbished.com. They usually have coupons on the site, and desktops can be very cheap. Plus you get a 100 day warranty. The are refurbed off-lease systems.
My dad recently bought a HP refurbished desktop off amazon with an ssd and 8 gb or ram. Pretty good system that was in the 200-250 range.
It is tough to build your own for cheap and have an OS and beat the prebuilt systems today.
I'd look for anything with an i5 or i7, 3000 or 4000 series, 8gb of memory, and bare minimum 256gb ssd, 512 would be significantly better. If it came down to 16gb or memory or a 512gb ssd, I would take the ssd. The lower the capacity, the fewer chips in use on the drive, which means the drive controller is only working on 1-2 channels, limiting performance.
Keep in mind you may not be able to reuse the power supply - there have a been a couple of changes over the years and depending on what motherboard and possible graphics card you end up with, you'll probably need a new PSU.
For your purposes, would a tablet with a keyboard make more sense, like Microsoft Surface or Dell equivalent (I forget what they call them)?
I use a Chuwi 10.1" tablet with keyboard running windows 10 as my daily web surfing & classroom computer, and it works well. It cost me $100 used. I'd spend all of your budget on the newest Surface or dell thing that comes with a keyboard.. Then you can surf on the couch, use it in the kitchen, etc..
02Pilot
UltraDork
3/20/20 3:37 p.m.
Being that you are willing to run Linux means that you can be a little lax with the hardware, as just about any Linux distro will be a lot faster than Windows. If you can find something with an SSD response will be damn near instant.
Wxdude10 - Mike said:
My standard go to recommendation is to take a look at Dellrefurbished.com. They usually have coupons on the site, and desktops can be very cheap. Plus you get a 100 day warranty. The are refurbed off-lease systems.
My dad recently bought a HP refurbished desktop off amazon with an ssd and 8 gb or ram. Pretty good system that was in the 200-250 range.
It is tough to build your own for cheap and have an OS and beat the prebuilt systems today.
I'd look for anything with an i5 or i7, 3000 or 4000 series, 8gb of memory, and bare minimum 256gb ssd, 512 would be significantly better. If it came down to 16gb or memory or a 512gb ssd, I would take the ssd. The lower the capacity, the fewer chips in use on the drive, which means the drive controller is only working on 1-2 channels, limiting performance.
This comment- and 02pilot- are completely right here. Look for a local (as best you can with COVID going on) a local computer recycler and see how much Dell Optiplex stations go for and stat one to your liking. I'd also consider finding a small Video card just for HDMI outputs like a 1030/1040 of some stripe. For what you're saying here, you won't need anymore than an i3-2100 or something super common like that.
