New Desktop Computer What Do I Need?

F

Frank-the-Wool

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
As the title says, my old desktop which is a Fujitsu and is probably ten years old is getting very slow and I guess it is time for a new one.

Now I am not very tech savvy but am wondering what I need for the future. I have been told to get plenty of memory but am unsure what else I must have. I already have a reasonable sized monitor and everything is wireless.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.
 
steveR

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Gods own County, Shropshire of course
Get a baby compact unit, you will love the silence and the lack of space they take up!

Big SSD drive as @Steevo says, get oodles of RAM onboard, ports for at least 3 monitors, and loads of USB ports of all sizes too.

Treat yourself to a second monitor, preferably, the same size as you have already. You will never go back to just one again...
 
An Gof

An Gof

Member
Location
Cornwall
If you haven’t got farm specific software that only runs on Windows get a Mac.
If you do have windows specific software you can still run it on a Mac but need to use Parallels or an equivalent.
If your mobile is an iPhone it will all link seamlessly.
It will however cost you a few 💷💷
Back up service with Apple
Is excellent.
 
ollie989898

ollie989898

Member
Location
Hanging from a twig, in a deep sleep.
Frank-the-Wool said:
As the title says, my old desktop which is a Fujitsu and is probably ten years old is getting very slow and I guess it is time for a new one.

Now I am not very tech savvy but am wondering what I need for the future. I have been told to get plenty of memory but am unsure what else I must have. I already have a reasonable sized monitor and everything is wireless.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

What software are you using and what do you actually do on your PC?

You will need a PC with at least 8GB of RAM and preferably 16GB but it isn't a deal breaker in all honesty.

Any modern CPU, Intel or AMD will blow your mind because CPUs have come on in leaps and bounds in the last 10-15 years.

You will want a solid state hard drive as also mentioned above. You will need at least 256GB of space on this though in reality you probably won't find many machines with less than this now. I suspect you won't even find a machine sold with a regular mechanical drive now either unless you specifically ask for one.

I would echo the comments about having 2 (or more) monitors. They definitely speed up your workload.

You can choose an all in 1 machine (i.e a monitor with a PC in the back of it), a compact case or even just buy a modern laptop and plug in a dedicated mouse, keyboard and a couple of monitors and use it like that.

Microsoft now produce Surface laptops and Tablets. I have a Surface pro 7 and a Lenovo laptop for University and either of them could manage an every day office workload no problem. Lenovo sell a range of pre-built PCs that will be a good starting point.

You can also buy a dock which fits these portal devices to turn them into a desktop effectively.

If there is no gaming involved then the decision is pretty simple when buying a new machine. Post links to anything you like the look of an someone here will check the specification for you.
 
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Boysground

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
steveR said:
Get a baby compact unit, you will love the silence and the lack of space they take up!

Big SSD drive as @Steevo says, get oodles of RAM onboard, ports for at least 3 monitors, and loads of USB ports of all sizes too.

Treat yourself to a second monitor, preferably, the same size as you have already. You will never go back to just one again...
Click to expand...

My Daughter has just received her work from home tech from her employer. It includes a docking station for her work laptop which connects to 2 27" monitors. I am really tempted to buy a 3rd monitor just so I have more screen space than her :ROFLMAO:

Bg
 
LukeMcCullagh

LukeMcCullagh

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
North Yorkshire
Like the others say go for a micro PC,

Don't get anything older than an 8th Gen processor and nothing less than an i5 model. 8GB of RAM at a minimum and a good sized SSD.

Although you can pick up decent sized external ones with out much bother now.

This is not a bad deal. Mini PC
 
steveR

steveR

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Gods own County, Shropshire of course
Boysground said:
My Daughter has just received her work from home tech from her employer. It includes a docking station for her work laptop which connects to 2 27" monitors. I am really tempted to buy a 3rd monitor just so I have more screen space than her :ROFLMAO:

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Click to expand...
My bloody daughter No. 2 has only just returned my 27" screen, the centre one of 3... So now I need to move my office and install the new BIG desktop I made 2 years ago, but it was monopolised by Daughter One WFH!
 
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Boysground

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
steveR said:
Which do you recommend?
Click to expand...

I use my icloud backup for all the business stuff. Dont know if its the best but it works a treat. Its set up on my windows pc and everything gets saved to it. I think I am paying 79p a month for some extra storage. I do find it handy that I can reach any business document from my phone, it is really simple to do. The desktop I use only has a 512Gb SSD for storage.

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Kidds

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
Location
Near Beeston Castle
Boysground said:
I use my icloud backup for all the business stuff. Dont know if its the best but it works a treat. Its set up on my windows pc and everything gets saved to it. I think I am paying 79p a month for some extra storage. I do find it handy that I can reach any business document from my phone, it is really simple to do. The desktop I use only has a 512Gb SSD for storage.

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Click to expand...
Me too but what happens when the cloud breaks as it probably will?
Bad enough trying to access QuickBooks when the internet is slow.
 
O

Oliveau

Member
Location
Indre et Loire, France
I have in the past bought refurbished HP desktops from Bargain Hardware. Basically you choose the base machine then select the build requirement, including the operating system. Very quick delivery and I thoroughly recommend the company.
Virtually everything is new but much much cheaper.
Never had a problem with either of mine until a 5 year old HD expired. Fortunately the PC warned me that it was about to die so I backed it up PDQ?
 
Cowabunga

Cowabunga

Member
Location
Ceredigion,Wales
Frank-the-Wool said:
As the title says, my old desktop which is a Fujitsu and is probably ten years old is getting very slow and I guess it is time for a new one.

Now I am not very tech savvy but am wondering what I need for the future. I have been told to get plenty of memory but am unsure what else I must have. I already have a reasonable sized monitor and everything is wireless.

All suggestions greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
My latest desktop, which I'm using to write this, has 64GB RAM [32 is a LOT and 64 is overkill, but it does make a difference when multitasking to a ridiculous extent]. 2 Terrabytes of storage memory as SSD drives [that's 'solid state' fast memory], a further 6 Terrabytes of external memory for backups and photo-video storage. A 3.5GHz 8-core Intel i9 processor and a mid range Radio Pro 580X graphics processor with 8GB RAM. It has four USB 3 ports (compatible with USB 2) and two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports

This is blisteringly fast and, I hope, fairly future-proof. I wish it has four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports though.
 
Steevo

Steevo

Member
Location
Gloucestershire
Cowabunga said:
My latest desktop, which I'm using to write this, has 64GB RAM [32 is a LOT and 64 is overkill, but it does make a difference when multitasking to a ridiculous extent]. 2 Terrabytes of storage memory as SSD drives [that's 'solid state' fast memory], a further 6 Terrabytes of external memory for backups and photo-video storage. A 3.5GHz 8-core Intel i9 processor and a mid range Radio Pro 580X graphics processor with 8GB RAM. It has four USB 3 ports (compatible with USB 2) and two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports

This is blisteringly fast and, I hope, fairly future-proof. I wish it has four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports though.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a monster!!

Have the MET Office asked to borrow your supercomputer to help forecast the weather better?!
 
Boysground

Boysground

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Wiltshire
Cowabunga said:
My latest desktop, which I'm using to write this, has 64GB RAM [32 is a LOT and 64 is overkill, but it does make a difference when multitasking to a ridiculous extent]. 2 Terrabytes of storage memory as SSD drives [that's 'solid state' fast memory], a further 6 Terrabytes of external memory for backups and photo-video storage. A 3.5GHz 8-core Intel i9 processor and a mid range Radio Pro 580X graphics processor with 8GB RAM. It has four USB 3 ports (compatible with USB 2) and two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports

This is blisteringly fast and, I hope, fairly future-proof. I wish it has four Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports though.
Click to expand...

Bit coin mining on the side I think 😂

Bg
 
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