PC Choice advice

[Ma_Baker]

Hi all,

Long time been gone!

Anyhow does anyone here have advice on getting a new PC?

I am currently looking at spending $1700 ( 3 years savings) on a Dell OptiPlex 7780.

Any sensible advice or alternative machine would be welcome.

TIA

Luv and kisses to all.

[shred]

If money is tight, does the machine have to be new? Are you doing anything that pushes a computer hard, like gaming?

I recently replaced an 11 year old i7 machine with a new Xeon workstation. The old machine had previously been given a new lease of life by having an SSD installed. For 90% of what I do, the difference in performance is negligible. The new machine still suffers those annoying little “because… Microsoft” pauses when launching some apps and doing some things.

You might be better off buying a 3-4 year old machine that a business is getting rid of, putting some extra RAM and an SSD in it and running with that. I set one of my relatives up with an 8 year old Dell + SSD + Windows 10 Pro a while back and it does everything they need. Don’t forget that Windows 7 Pro (and Win 8 Pro) can still be upgraded to Windows 10 at no charge.

[mtv]

As shred has mentioned, what is your intended use?

There's nothing wrong with Dell, but you are paying a premium price for a brand name.

[wotnot]

I shy away from such 'all in one' solutions for an ix86 based PC in most cases, due to;

*if something, anything, goes wrong with internal hardware components (including display), they're all pretty much bespoke/custom Dell parts, and very rarely can you use 'off the shelf' standard PC parts for replacement (and Dell parts cost more)
*they are typically more time consuming to service, and they definitely need service to clean dust/lint out of heatsinks and the like.
*due to the case design limiting thermal management capabilities, these things live their best life, in an air-conditioned room @ 25C ambient (they do -not- enjoy hot summer days of 30C+ ; they throttle back all the time due to heat buildup.

I suppose one would look at that differently, if having a touchscreen were high on the agenda?

[Reschs]

What is wrong with your current one?, so we can make an educated opinion.

[mi_tasol]

A 7780 is an all in one unit and for that price I'd imagine it is this model

As others have asked, what are you looking to do with it?

[tollspd]

There are pre-loved dell 9020 slimline desktops with i5 SSD hard drive windows 1o loaded around $299 with 1 months warranty we have one works a treat.

[Ma_Baker]

motherboard blown according to shonky computer man

[freakee1]

Hey Ma, I just spent a grand on a used hand-me-down motherboard, cpu, tower - no ram or hard drive and a daggy old power supply............on the flipside - my 15YO son managed to get a brand new Gigabyte motherboard, ryzen cpu, tower and new power supply

His "too slow" stuff will exceed anything I'll ever do - he's banging on about FPS, refresh rates and VR etc. For $1.7K you can build a fairly decent machine that will last you years. If you have the knowledge - build it yourself


f

[Ma_Baker]

Hey Ma, I just spent a grand on a used hand-me-down motherboard, cpu, tower - no ram or hard drive and a daggy old power supply............on the flipside - my 15YO son managed to get a brand new Gigabyte motherboard, ryzen cpu, tower and new power supply

His "too slow" stuff will exceed anything I'll ever do - he's banging on about FPS, refresh rates and VR etc. For $1.7K you can build a fairly decent machine that will last you years. If you have the knowledge - build it yourself


f

Maybe 20 years ago when I was still mobile ........................... in Mary's words "those were the days my friend"

Luv and kisses

[LeroyPatrol]

i just bought a HP with i5 processor, 8gb ram, 512gb ssd, touch/flip screen $950 at office works. Why would you need to spend more?

[Ma_Baker]

Option Selection SKU / Product Code Quantity
Processor 10th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-10505 (6 Cores, 12MB Cache, 3.2GHz to 4.6GHz, 65W) [338-BZOV] / G5BPIHM 1
Operating System Windows 10 Pro (64-bit) English [619-AHCR] / G2WC6YX 1
Memoryi 16GB, 1x16GB, DDR4 non-ECC Memory [370-AFIX] / GXQ5OIR 1
Hard Drive M.2 256GB PCIe NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive [400-BEUW][412-AALV][773-BBBJ] / GMDT06B 1
Additional Hard Drive Additional M.2 256GB PCIE NVMe Class 35 Solid State Drive [401-ABWX] / GF5WPQL 1
Wireless Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201, Dual-band 2x2 802.11ax with MU-MIMO + Bluetooth 5.1 [555-BFQU][773-BBBJ] / GZYKV1A 1
Wireless Driver Wireless Driver, Intel® WiFi 6 AX201 2x2 (Gig+) + Bluetooth 5 [555-BFUY] / GC13QA2 1

3 years onsite warranty included (longer than I will need or probably last) ----- Horses for courses.

I used to build boxes now I can't .................................... Sad

Luv and kisses

[hoe]

couple of options there.....

[lsemmens]

As has been asked, what do you need it to do for you? None of my machines are any newer than Windows 8 vintage, the one I am typing this on was new when W7 was the new kid on the block. I'd look at the Govt auctions, You can often pick up a fairly powerful machine (often with SSD) for a couple of hundred dollars. Even if you have to buy a WIndows licence (unlikely) you will still be ahead. FWIW I run Linux on all my machines and never have the hiccups that Windows users seem to have on patch Tuesday.

[z9zzzzzz]

. A lot cheaper and a bit faster. Also easily upgradable

[Ma_Baker]

spam

[mtv]

spam

What is?

If you are referring to the post by z9zzzzzz, it's not spam.

They are a long-time member and was offering an alternative, no different to some other members suggestions.

After multiple requests you still haven't answered what your intended use/requirements are for a new system.

[LeroyPatrol]

He already knows what he wants

[Uncle Fester]

. A lot cheaper and a bit faster. Also easily upgradable

spam

I agree with you Ma_Baker.
For me that link shows some 404 error.

That Dell looks right for you, nice and clean, no extra boxes to connect or messy wires.
From my experience Dells are well built and mostly reliable, not so Acer or HP and also later models Asus have been disappointing.
Everything is made thin and flimsy these days, designed to break shortly after the warranty expires but at least you have with Dell 3 years.

I assume you already know that you can't play any graphic demanding games with this.
There are plenty of immersive games where you don't need powerful graphics.

...and to be honest, the only time I need 4K is in the cockpit of my Airbus A320 flight simulator.

[mtv]

For me that link shows some 404 error.

The link worked before, but now not found.
Likely the product has changed, as per the 404 page:

"Error 404 - Page Not Found
The page you requested was not found. Possible reasons include:

The content has been removed or is obsolete."

I recently purchased a high-end system from that supplier, so it's a legit business.

Not pushing them at all, it was just a good option, which the OP asked for "Any sensible advice or alternative machine would be welcome."

If the OP already knew what they wanted, it was pointless asking.