Are desktops old hat?

[Poncherello1976]

I am in the market for a new PC. Have a desktop at the moment and it sits there as that is where the phone line comes in and the printer is.
Now most things are wireless, internet, printer etc is it worth having a desktop? Laptops seem to have as much processing power and storage as most pcs. I could have an external hard drive that just sits in the corner of our office which I can use to back up the computer and store stuff on.
Any suggestions for either a good laptop or desktop? Been quoted £650 for a desktop which seemed a bit steep to me, and I would have thought for that money I would get a very good laptop.
Thanks.

 

[ollie989898]

What do you want to do with it the real question?

A desktop can be had for less money than a laptop and it will be pokier and with more storage usually. Desktops have no battery and are cheaper to make, no built in stuff, no monitors, etc etc.

I dislike laptops because I won't use them without a real, full size mouse and keyboard, and having had two screens now for years I won't go back to a single wussy one.

Yes you can buy all these peripherals and hook a laptop to one but then you are making it into a desktop basically. There are many options. £650 for a desktop is reasonable but I don't have a scoobies unless I know the specification involved.

Novatech and Overclockers both build business orientated PCs to order and from decent components. Do not buy anything from PC world.

 

[Boysground]

Pc specialist also worth a look for any computer.

Bg

 

[Barleycorn]

Just being a clever clogs, but you should keep your external HD for backup somewhere else than the office, or if you have a fire you've lost the lot.

 

[Hilly]

I like my laptops although ive never had a desk top.

 

[Storeman]

Desktop for me everytime. That said, I do need a bit of power to run video editing software and effects software on a multi monitor setup. Laptops do have a place and in certain circumstances will be preferable over a desktop, but I prefer a desktop. Main bonus being, there are many more upgrade options on a desktop. With a laptop the only real options for upgrades are memory and hard drives.

As mentioned above, have a look at pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Boysground]

I do like my desktop in the office. It’s getting on a little now and will need replacing soon. I bought a new larger screen a few months ago and I ended up plugging my old screen alongside. It’s great, accounts on 1screen and pdf invoices on the other. Should have had 2 screens years ago.

Bg

 

[Poncherello1976]

Thanks for the answers. It was a bit of a rush question before I went to a meeting.
I need an office computer, that I will also be the family computer and as the kids are getting older they will be doing more stuff, school work, on the computer. So I am after something that will cope with that. I do not need anything too flash or for gaming, but a bit future proof.
For £650+ VAT I have been offered a Fujitsu Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD drive, DVD, Windows 10, Free updates for anti virus(Comodo) , Intel graphics card keyboard and mouse. Do not need a screen.
I have had a quick look at websites mention above and it looks like I can get a bit more for my money, possibly!, but I need to look at it a bit more.

 

[Boysground]

One advantage of a pc with kids is that it’s easy to see what they are up to. They can sneak off with it,

Bg

 

[ollie989898]

If all you are doing is emailing, spreadsheets, PDFs and porn then an i5 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD will do fine. I would suggest you get a large (1TB) external hard drive from Western Digital and store all your important stuff on that, and just use the SSD for Windows.
If a solid state drive dies, you simply cant recover any data, ever.

Comodo antivirus I have heard mixed things from, will probably do fine if regularly updated. Best if linked with their browser, comodo dragon/ice dragon- both free.

 

[Storeman]

......
If a solid state drive dies, you simply cant recover any data, ever.

Complete rubbish, granted, it isn't as easy as recovering data from a mechanical drive, but it can be done.

 

[Poncherello1976]

Or I could have this from Pc specialist for £610 + VAT:
Do not necessarily need 2 hard drives, but might be handy! Does one need MS Office nowadays? Are there any free alternatives and are they any good?

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-8400 (2.8GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st Hard Disk
250GB WD Blue™ 3D NAND 2.5" SSD, (upto 550MB/sR | 525MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x BLU-RAY WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW & SOFTWARE
Memory Card Reader
USB 3.0 EXTERNAL SD/MICRO SD CARD READER
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
INTEL STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days

 

[ollie989898]

Sounds pretty good, no idea how good the standard 6 core intel processors are these days but hardly likely to be a slouch.

Asus motherboard and Corsair RAM and PSU is good news.

 

[Steevo]

Does one need MS Office nowadays? Are there any free alternatives and are they any good?

https://www.openoffice.org/product/index.html

 

[ollie989898]

LibreOffice is good.

 

[Storeman]

LibreOffice is good.

Yes, I prefer LibreOffice to OpenOffice.

 

[neilo]

Thanks for the answers. It was a bit of a rush question before I went to a meeting.
I need an office computer, that I will also be the family computer and as the kids are getting older they will be doing more stuff, school work, on the computer. So I am after something that will cope with that. I do not need anything too flash or for gaming, but a bit future proof.
For £650+ VAT I have been offered a Fujitsu Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD drive, DVD, Windows 10, Free updates for anti virus(Comodo) , Intel graphics card keyboard and mouse. Do not need a screen.
I have had a quick look at websites mention above and it looks like I can get a bit more for my money, possibly!, but I need to look at it a bit more.

If your kids are going to be using it, I would suggest getting 2 systems tbh. Given the amount of viruses & malware my teenage son seems to collect on his, I would hate to run the risk of losing my records/data/porn stash/bank details from allowing him access to it.

As for MS Office, it is still the market leader, and for good reason imo. If you have children using it at school, they will likely need it at home too. You can get a cheaper license if you child is a ‘student’ (basically at any school or college).

 

[Boysground]

Or I could have this from Pc specialist for £610 + VAT:
Do not necessarily need 2 hard drives, but might be handy! Does one need MS Office nowadays? Are there any free alternatives and are they any good?

I have 2 PC Specialist desktops. 1 is in the parlour it is a basic i3 machine which is now 7 years old. It is hardly ever turned off and lives in very computer un friendly conditions. I have replaced the power supply and that is the only problem. Because of that I will buy from them again. Also they supply bloatware free.

I used to use open office and was quite happy with it. The problems started when the kids moved to secondary school.it was just too much hassle getting files saved correctly so teachers could open them on the school system. Open office didnt really work easily with the schools system. So I would suggest using MS Office just to save hassle.

Bg

 

[Cowabunga]

Just being a clever clogs, but you should keep your external HD for backup somewhere else than the office, or if you have a fire you've lost the lot.

Depends whether you also back up to the cloud, or not.

 

[wilber]

https://www.palicomp.co.uk/

is also worth a check. Give them a call to, been very helpful in the past. Several customers of mine have all been very happy with the desktops they have bought.