What speed PC is good enough?

[Brian Elfert]

It is becoming clear in recent days that I need to get a new PC. Mine is just getting too slow. I'm not sure if I need to reload the OS, but if I need to go through that again I would rather get a new PC. I have a Dell XPS 400 3.2 Ghz Pentium 4 with 2 GB RAM and Windows XP Pro SP3 now. I'm not out of RAM so upgrading that won't help. My current PC was almost top of the line six years ago. I don't do video games or video editing. I do Internet browsing, email, and Microsoft Office. I do tend to keep a lot of programs open, but even with eight programs open right now I have 500 MB memory free.

What Intel processor will work for me and also get me five or six years down the road? I'm not sure sure if a Core i3 is good enough, or if I need a Core i5 instead. The Core i7 is probably more than I need. I looked at doing another Dell XPS, but the price is up there.

I figured I might get a more reasonable here than a computer forum.

[Chuck Wintle]

go for the best that you can afford...i7 with plenty of ram and a good mother board. It does not need to be a Dell product....many small shops can supply you with a top notch PC. Also upgrade the OS to windows 7 64 bit.

[Myk Rian]

Whatever you get, it will be old in 5 or 6 years, so get the best you can now.
I build my own machines. Built this AMD/ASUS 3.2mhz 5 or 6 years ago, so I'm also due for a new one. My needs are video editing of HD files, so a minimum of a 4 core with 8meg RAM, and a 1080HD video card is needed.

[curtis rosche]

i have the i7 with 16gs of ram and i have never slowed it down

[Brian Elfert]

I started off thinking desktop, but I am leaning towards laptop now. Right now I have a Dell XPS 400 desktop and a Lenovo Thinkpad SL400. A decent laptop isn't much more than a similar desktop.

I have almost never used the laptop since I bought it. When I do want to use it, it never has the right software or files on it. If I had just a laptop I would have everything all in one place. Mostly I use my work laptop when I need portability.

[Bonnie Campbell]

Costco seems to have some good deals online at times.

[Brian Elfert]

I ended up ordering a Dell laptop with i5 processor. I considered an i7 processor, but it was $90 more. The benchmarks for the two CPUs showed only a 3% speed difference. The price difference at the Dell Outlet between the desktop I originally looked at and a laptop was only $2 because the Latitude laptops had a 15% off coupon. The desktop would be a bit faster, but I am already increasing in CPU speed by six to seven times!

[Dan Hintz]

I don't do video games or video editing. I do Internet browsing, email, and Microsoft Office.

If that's all you do, I fail to see the need for a new system... a new system will not make those programs faster. If you need head-nodding from others so you feel good about purchasing a new system ,that's fine, but you definitely don't need it. Bite the bullet for time, re-install the OS, and be done with it (and pocketing several hundred $s, to boot).

[Larry Edgerton]

I am in the same boat, but my system is 13 years old running 98, and I just can't get updates any more. I paid $3800 for mine when I bought it, wanted the biggest single processor that Dell had. This time, because things change so fast I do not want to spend so much but rather buy something decent that will last 5 years.

For about $500, what should I look for?

Larry

[Chuck Wintle]

I am in the same boat, but my system is 13 years old running 98, and I just can't get updates any more. I paid $3800 for mine when I bought it, wanted the biggest single processor that Dell had. This time, because things change so fast I do not want to spend so much but rather buy something decent that will last 5 years.

For about $500, what should I look for?

Larry

Look for a quad core processor, either i3 or i5, windows 7 OS, 2TB hard drive with sata(its all sata now anyways) dvd burner, flat screen monitor and middle of the road video card, and case + mouse etc. I usually take middle of the road components with good performance and because they are a lot cheaper than cutting edge technology.

[Curt Harms]

I am in the same boat, but my system is 13 years old running 98, and I just can't get updates any more. I paid $3800 for mine when I bought it, wanted the biggest single processor that Dell had. This time, because things change so fast I do not want to spend so much but rather buy something decent that will last 5 years.

For about $500, what should I look for?

Larry

If you use yours for what Brian is using his for, web surfing, occasional youtube video, office-type stuff I think you'd be hard pressed to buy a machine that is inadequate. There is a difference in build quality, though. Many manufacturers sell two (or more) lines, a 'consumer' line and a 'business' line. The business line will likely last longer. For instance with Dell, I'd expect an a Latitude series laptop to be built better and outlast an inspiron.

I build my own desktops and for laptops, for me there's Thinkpad and everybody else. I find the UltraNav pointing device actually usable, as opposed to touchpad only machines for which a mouse is mandatory for me. I don't know if Thinkpads will maintain their rep now that IBM is out of the picture; I guess we'll see. My last laptop purchase was an X61 Thinkpad off Ebay. $127, installed Ubuntu and I have a 4 lb. 12" screen machine that is IMO more useful than a netbook for less $. How long will it live? Probably as long or longer than a netbook/consumer class machine.

[Matt Meiser]

I'm with Curt. What I would look for today in a basic laptop is a 64-bit CPU, 4GB of memory, or upgradeable to at least that, and then any other features you want--screen size, DVD or Blu-Ray, etc.

My shop PC is an HP desktop bought on sale at Staples for $329 and its more than adequate for the purposed Brian listed. I run Sketchup too. With the RAM upgraded to 6GB, I run VMWare Server when I need a second place to run images for work on it and its no slouch. Before that my shop PC was a Dell with lower specs than what Brian has now. I had Windows 7 on it and wasn't a bad machine. I replaced it because the proprietary power supply was making aweful noises and the DVD drive would sometimes disappear and required unplugging/plugging back in to see it again.

Laptops, my wife has a clearance-at-Best-Buy I bought about 3 years ago for $500. Still more than adequate for the needs Brian listed, Sketchup, etc. My daughter has an Acer with a Celeron we paid $300 for. Its borderline and if we'd waited 6 months, prices dropped on better machines. My own laptop is a now-5 year old Dell I bought from work for $200 when they upgraded me this past spring. It was getting slow when I was running SQL Server, Visual Studio, and a VMWare image. Biggest issue was probably RAM, maxed out at 3.2GB since its a 32-bit machine. But for web surfing, iTunes, Sketchup, etc its more than adequate.

All of the above are running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit execpt for the Dell which is running 32-bit.

Even the Atom-based netbook I had before I got my iPad was adequate for basic needs, other than the very small screen. But those aren't 64-bit.

[Moses Yoder]

If I was buying a new home computer, I would buy a laptop with Windows 7, at least 8 MB Ram, and at least 100 gig hard drive. I would read through the processor recommendations here and make a decision according to the best I can afford. Then I would buy a nice 18" monitor and a keyboard to plug it into at home and use it exactly like a desktop when I am at home. I would purchase all my stuff from newegg.com. The laptop costs a little more for maintenance than the typical desk top but the portability makes it worthwhile.

[Dan Hintz]

The business line will likely last longer.

One would hope... but unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way Our relatively new Dell Precision T3500's from late last year came with Western Digital Velociraptor hard drives... they're failing all over the place, which means lost data. I'm not a happy camper I purchased a boatload of Seagates to clone to and replace them all. One bad choice in options and the entire machine starts to look bad.

If I had to purchase a system right now to last me for 5 years, I'd go for an i5 or i7, 8Gigs, 1TB, running Win7-64, with a 23-24" screen.

What I'm running right now is a quad core with 4 Gigs, 500GB, running Win7-32, with a 24" Ultrasharp. The laser is using a dual core with 4 Gigs, 320GB, running Vista-32, with a 24" standard. The only reason I would want more CPU power is when I start playing in Corel.

[Greg Portland]

You will get a lot more bang/buck by getting a SSD drive (i.e. i3+SSD is much better than an i5+HDD for normal tasks). Recommended specs for "office and web browsing":
- SSD drive for O/S
- Large capacity HDD to store movies/music if required
- Any modern processor with integrated graphics
- You do not need a video card
- At least 4GB of memory. Extra memory is cheap and the extra capacity is nice if you've got a bunch of programs running.