New desk top advice

[fecmech]

Yes I know but my wife wants a desk top, we already have my Asus notebook and she has a Kindle Fire. The requirements for the machine aren't too strenuous. Mainly web surfing,slight amount of word processing, no gaming, little storage (currently have an 80 gb HD on a 10 yr old machine half full) and no video or photo editing. I don't mind spending for what I need but also don't want to overspend.
My primary desire is to have a computer that when surfing the pages load instantly and would like it to be that way for the next few years. My old Pentium4 with XP struggles a bit when surfing. My cable internet runs 12-15 MB/Sec and I have no trouble streaming on my Roku for the TV. Have looked at some Dell,Asus and Acer machines with I3and I5 processors and 8 gb of ddr3 ram in the $400-600 range. Is this where I need to be?? Does I3 or I5 processor matter in my situation? You ladies and gentlemen have guided me well in the past, I look forward to your advice.

[runfiverun]

memory speeds up the surfing.
storage holds more stuff.
that's about all I know, and it seems to work.

[Bookworm]

When I needed a new desktop a few years ago, my needs were similar to yours, but with more storage.
I just stayed with a big name, on the lower end of mid-price. It's worked out fine.

[Ken in Iowa]

It sounds like you are on the right track. Of the brands mentioned, Asus is my choice.

An i5 would help your anti-virus run faster. That is never a bad thing.

Solid state 'hard' drives are becoming quite popular. You will see a performance boost with one over a mechanical drive.

[kmw1954]

If not gaming then just about anything new will keep up. Find a price point that interests you and then look for the one with the fastest processor, most memory and the largest hard drive in that order.

The last desk top that I purchased was a refurb HP from Newegg. Came with an Intel I7 processor, 4gig of memory and a 500gig HD. Didn't worry about storage space as I've got more empty HD's I can add to it than there is space for. I've had it for about 2 years now and it runs w/o a hitch. I believe I paid less then $400.00 for it.

[DougGuy]

The good part about all this is that last years or 2 years ago cutting edge hardware runs as fast now as it did when it was new, only now it costs 20% as much :bigsmyl2:

I5 should do fine, I don't think I would buy a Dell or HP, you get all this proprietary junk that comes preinstalled and lots of times their drivers are proprietary and a pita to do a clean install with, I think I would build one or get a local shop to do the build. This is how I do mine, usually Asus mb, Intel cpu, Nvidia GeForce video card, decent 24bit sound card, IBM "preferred" keyboard and a Logitech M317 mouse. Get a LOT of the fastest ram you can get, and a Samsung Pro 850 SSD drive to boot from, 10yr warranty on the SSD! I just got a new Samsung Pro 850 128gb SSD from best buy, they are on clearance at $77 and change..

Now.. As far as the OS, if you get a built tower, somebody has to install an OS to it to give birth to it, I have had issues with Windows 10 upgrades, and they want to antiquate good hardware that's a few years old so you will go spend your money on new hardware. They keep the hardware makers in business, so they have a constant market to sell their warez. It's a big money conspiracy. Why else does stuff quit working when they do their forced updates? Are you following me now? They just systematically drop support for older hardware and don't even include the drivers in new builds of windows. Sucks.

I had two systems, quad cores, fast ddr3, and windows installed a new version of itself and basically wrecked the whole thing, had to revert back to a cloned copy on a different drive to recover from it, and you couldn't turn this mess off! Rather than let the fuse do a slow burn until the next Microsoft installed crash, I went to linux on both machines, have been very happy with it since. So no matter what hardware you buy now, you can believe in the fairly near future, it will be too obsolete for Windows updates to support.

With this said, I would urge you to try out a copy of Linux Mint Cinnamon edition, it is as easy as pie to run it, comes with all of the office stuff installed, comes with firefox installed, you can browse their software repositories and choose things you want to add in, FOR FREE of course, and no stupid forced updates, and it will run on your hardware until the cows come home. I am officially done with windows OSes and anyone who has wanted to get away from Microshaft can do so now with ease. Linux FLIES because it's not nearly as bloated and doesn't have all this cr@p running in the background like windows. Something to think about..

[RogerDat]

I do photo editing in photoshop on a laptop with an i5 so an i3 should have no problem as far as processor speed goes. Ram matters a lot for performance.

Computer instructions (programs) are stored on hard drive. Data as in files is also stored on hard drive. BUT the processor can only "do" anything with these instructions and data when it is in ram. Ram is accessed 100 times faster than hard drive. So amount of ram determines both how much can be loaded for use and how much can be "on deck" ready for rapid access. SSD hard drive won't help web browsing but it will load applications from disk into ram faster.

Web browser is very ram dependent, getting off of XP is mandatory, you are a totally unprotect able target. In addition you will find the current versions of Windows are both faster and more stable. It will also intelligently use as much ram as there is available, good at managing it.

At least 8 Gig of ram, more is better. i3 processor will do fine. Current versions of Windows are larger so more disk space is needed, when you make changes to the system there is an automatic "restore point" created so you can roll back the changes. Those restore points use disk space. I would say 500 gig min. hard drive.

If you don't do pictures or video your not going to go use up lots of hard drive space. But if you have anything of value an external drive for backup is good.

For strictly online use you might consider a chrome book. I don't consider them a good value compared to a desktop of decent laptop BUT they do make a good portable web surfer and word processor for not much money. About like a tablet with a keyboard. No real hard drive and not super fast but decent speed. Worth considering as an additional item to replace the Asus laptop. The Chrome books are very network dependent. Their software is stored online.

[Garyshome]

Look on Newegg get a shell shocker. They usually have some pretty good deals if you can wait a week or so

[rond]

Buy one without the monitor and get a larger screen tv, say 32" or so, that has a computer hookup. And you can use it as a tv.

[mold maker]

Acer gives more bang for the buck. All the technical advice above seems to match my experience or that of folks I trust.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

my laptop (i3) crashed a few months ago, I still haven't done anything with it yet :(
I use a computer about the same as your wife, It was plenty fast with win 8.1pro.
So, after the crash, I went out and bought the most economical computer, to get me by, as the laptop was the only one in the house. I bought a Acer "All-in-one" with a Quad-core processor with 4meg ram and Win 10. while it's a step down in speed/specs, and it was kinda slow at first, it has seemingly ramped up in speed after a week or so of use. I did remove a couple of the options on win10 that are said to be memory hogs. But I also think once a bunch of cookies are stored up from the several website/services I use, I think the speeds things up too. the only real drag I have is Photobucket with the site's advertising is loading. I finally have come to terms with that, as it's usually a 30 second to 60 second delay during login. I just open the webpage and go do other things while all the advertising is loading, once that's done, I just close the advertising and login, it's quick after that little dance.
Good Luck.

[fecmech]

Thanks to all who responded. I am in no hurry so maybe as the January slowdowns occur there may be some better prices. I think I'll go with theI5 and plenty of ram, it's only a few bucks more than the I3. I did have the crazy thought of building one and had even looked at the 125GB SSD mentioned by Doug guy. Maybe I'll get the book Building Computers for Dummies and see if that pushes me over the edge. Again Thank you all, the knowledge and willingness of the members on this board to help others warms my heart.

[Electric88]

You would probably be better off buying a cheaper desktop and adding to it based on your needs. I'm no computer whiz, but I've heard adding in hard drives, SSDs, graphics cards, etc is easier than actually putting the whole thing together yourself.

But that's based on word of mouth, not experience.

[cuzinbruce]

Hi,
I just got a new laptop, mostly because the web was so slow loading. The old one was maybe 6 years old. The web is only a little faster now. I have a cable tv deal with phone, tv and internet. Cablevision. New laptop is Acer ES1-572-37X2. Cost $250 just before Christmas. So it is not cutting edge or anything like that. Came with Windows 10 which is a pain, lots different than Windows 7. Also came with a different web browser, Microsoft Edge, which may have replaced Internet Explorer. I have been using Firefox for years and I think that is a large part of the problem. The Edge browser seems much faster than Firefox. Also the add-ons and the **** sites put on your machine slow it way down. And very difficult to get rid of. I have cleared the cookies, then watched as some of them repopulated in the cookie file in seconds. So you probably don't need a real fast machine for the web. But the browser can really affect things, plus the garbage some sites put on your system, cookies, scripts adware...
That is my experience. Good Luck!

[kmw1954]

It's not the computer getting slow it's the apps and OS that are getting slow. Web pages and advertisements. Bloatware, scripts, Flash.

Also the fact that desktops are becoming obsolete and everything and everyone moving to hand held devices. Todays OS's aren't written for desktops they are written to be used with touchscreens; phones, tablets, notebooks, laptops. Almost to the point that one needs an app for their app. Then add in "the cloud".
These touchscreen apps are what's driving the market.

[Freightman]

Had a system crater went to have it repaired , well I bought a new Lonovo 500 g HD for less than I could have the other fixed. At Office Depot $199. I use a 19" flat screen TV for a monitor paid $85 for at Wally World. Has a fast processor 4g memory with Windows 10, you will get use to it.

[ozarkhillbilly49]

look at tiger direct and newegg for a barebones kit. puters are snap together tech, well almost now a days. the are very easy to assemble and install a operating system on. a lot of times a kit will give you all you need to get up and rolling. you learn how one is put together and how to get yourself back up and running!! plus the components in a 4 to 500 dollar kit would be 1000 to 1200 dollar puter.thats my experience any way. best wishes to all.

[DougGuy]

fecmech, after I get back from Florida at the last week of January, if you want to get a bare bones kit from Newegg you can have it shipped here and I will load linux onto it if you want to try it out and it will up and run when you get it out of the box. I could do the same with windows but its just a bigger pita!

OR, there is the option of buying a combo kit, which is like a mb with cpu and fan, ram, and video card, and we find a case to put it in and match it up with a SSD. You usually don't get one of these cheaper, but you get top notch all name brand hardware at the best prices. You would have a better computer hardware wise than buying a cheaper already built one.

[mold maker]

My first laptop is over 14 years old and still able to navigate. My second and third LTs (4 Yr old) are great with the W10 upgraded systems. BTW all 3 are Acer, and the only problems have been mine and my grandchildren fixed them.
My first desk model was a DELL, never again. Second was an HP, disaster. My current 5 yr old is an Asus (sp?) and also has the W10 upgraded system. The W10 system uploads so called improvements several time a week and screws up everything I thought I knew. I would hope there was a flaw in the original W10 download that is at fault. If not they gave (forced ) this mess to/on us and don't deserve another chance.
The best processor and the most ram will best serve most of us that don't game on it.

[fecmech]

DougGuy--I have Linux Lite loaded in a partition on my XP machine. I'm posting this from LL now. I've been playing with it off and on for a week or so. The Firefox on it does not seem to surf any faster than the Firefox on XP. It's not bad but slower than FF on my Asus notebook with the Atom processor and 2 gb ram. Thanks for the offer, but I will probably go new now. I am intrigued by building a machine and may do one in the future.

[HeavyMetal]

The GF gave me a MacBook Air for Fathersday, what a dream for doing just what the OP wants surfing the net!

This thing is about a light year faster than my company supplied IBM clone, which I still use for E mails and such.

[Detroitdanm]

I'm a firm apple fan, it eliminates SO many headaches. A brand new Mac Mini is $499 w/4 gigs of ram and core I5, add $100 for 8 gigs ram if you want. Yeah you have to use your keyboard, mouse & moniter OR you can hook it to a TV and use it as a glorified Apple TV/terrific media center, and if you get the Apple wireless mouse/keyboard you can surf the net etc.. from your coach or recliner. I have Apple iPad, iPhone, MacBook Air and this is next. NO headaches from Apple, great stuff.

[sparky45]

I had the same problem with Photobucket until I installed and tweaked Adblock Plus. Didn't totally solve the problem with ads on PB, but it does seem to run faster.



my laptop (i3) crashed a few months ago, I still haven't done anything with it yet :(
I use a computer about the same as your wife, It was plenty fast with win 8.1pro.
So, after the crash, I went out and bought the most economical computer, to get me by, as the laptop was the only one in the house. I bought a Acer "All-in-one" with a Quad-core processor with 4meg ram and Win 10. while it's a step down in speed/specs, and it was kinda slow at first, it has seemingly ramped up in speed after a week or so of use. I did remove a couple of the options on win10 that are said to be memory hogs. But I also think once a bunch of cookies are stored up from the several website/services I use, I think the speeds things up too. the only real drag I have is Photobucket with the site's advertising is loading. I finally have come to terms with that, as it's usually a 30 second to 60 second delay during login. I just open the webpage and go do other things while all the advertising is loading, once that's done, I just close the advertising and login, it's quick after that little dance.
Good Luck.

[fecmech]

Well I thought I would follow up with what I actually decided to buy for our new desktop. I had a local fellow build me one with an i5-6400 CPU@270GHz and 8 GB ddr4 ram. It has a Samsung 250 GB ssd HD and running Widows 8.1 pro(I did not want W10). He has it set up with some sort of cloud base antivirus( webroot secure) for a year that reports to him if I get a virus. Most of the internals have 3 year warantees and I have home service for a year. He has it set up for remote access and if I have any questions turn that on and give him a call. Total cost with wireless mouse and keyboard was $685. He set everything up, email, printer and Linux Mint running in a virtual box to play with. This thing runs quick! I'm a happy camper.