Desktop computer renewal.

[Timbo]

Libra Office and Open Office are cheaper still.

Why does the OP need two monitors? I'm getting by perfectly happily with one.

Youll be one of these people that has a 20yo postage stamp screen because "its not broken" !!!

 

[Fogg]

You pair seem to have missed the point where the OP said he was getting by fine with a tablet. He doesn't need two or more monitors.

The advice you're giving is akin to someone looking for a runaround to get to the shops with being told they need a 4WD with 300bhp and nitro boost button.

 

[Tomr10]

You pair seem to have missed the point where the OP said he was getting by fine with a tablet. He doesn't need two or more monitors.

The advice you're giving is akin to someone looking for a runaround to get to the shops with being told they need a 4WD with 300bhp and nitro boost button.

Pft 300 is that all. 2 monitors can be a massive plus until you have done it you wont understand the benefits and there so cheap these days

 

[Tomr10]

To add benefit of two screens for invoices can have invoice on one screen and bank or a spread sheet on the other

 

[redsloe]

Pft 300 is that all. 2 monitors can be a massive plus until you have done it you wont understand the benefits and there so cheap these days

I can see the advantage of two monitors because when you get emails of kill sheets for cattle it's easier to transfer to records and CTS.
Is an SSD drive really necessary on a desktop?

No need to spend £600 - £200 will get you something better than you need unless you are gaming. This for instance is £170 plus vat:

Stone Desktop - i5-6400 2.70GHz - 8GB RAM - 120GB SSD

Stone Desktop Intel Core i5-6400 CPU @ 2.70GHz - 8GB Memory - 120GB Solid State Drive - Grade B

www.stonerefurb.co.uk

Cracking bit of kit and will boot up in seconds with the solid state drive.

Would a 120Gb be enough?

 

[Tomr10]

I can see the advantage of two monitors because when you get emails of kill sheets for cattle it's easier to transfer to records and CTS.
Is an SSD drive really necessary on a desktop?
Would a 120Gb be enough?

Not sure for a pc to desktop to be honest when working from home I just plug a hdmi into my laptop for an extra screen. So use laptop and one monitor. Also use a wireless keyboard and mouse

 

[Tomr10]

Not sure for a pc to desktop to be honest when working from home I just plug a hdmi into my laptop for an extra screen. So use laptop and one monitor. Also use a wireless keyboard and mouse

As for memory worth looking at a cloud based storage much better for back up if a pc is to go down

 

[Storeman]

I can see the advantage of two monitors because when you get emails of kill sheets for cattle it's easier to transfer to records and CTS.
Is an SSD drive really necessary on a desktop?
Would a 120Gb be enough?

Yes an SSD is an absolute must for the operating system to live on now days.
My main Windows 10 machine gets from switch on to password screen in around 10 seconds.
An SSD makes a huge difference in system speed .

 

[ollie989898]

If you get a machine with an SSD it needs to be 120-128GB minimum to fit the OS and everyday applications on. I doubt you will find many PCs with smaller than that these days anyway. A secondary mechanical drive can handle everything else although even 1TB SSDs aren't mental money now.

I have 3 monitors (central 1 is 27 inch, the other two are 24s). For academic work it is an absolute joy to use them. Can work on the main screen and do research or emails and the like on the second. Third screen runs messaging client and Amazon music. Any office based desktop being used for work really wants two or three screens IMO. Also 16GB of RAM to run all the apps concurrently.

A good android tablet will suffice for browsing, emails and watching videos in bed or on the sofa.

Integrated machines do look very smart and are tidier for a smart office but I would miss 3 screens and the ability to update my machine as I wanted.

HP make some absolutely gorgeous integrated PCs which rival a mac for sex appeal, some of the higher end ones have big full touch screens and integrated web cameras.

If using a webcam make sure it supports 1080p (HD) resolution.

 

[Badshot]

I can see the advantage of two monitors because when you get emails of kill sheets for cattle it's easier to transfer to records and CTS.
Is an SSD drive really necessary on a desktop?
Would a 120Gb be enough?

120gb is enough for the operating system, but you need an old fashioned HDD (1tb at least I'd say) for storage , and then really an external HDD for backups.
The SSD really is a game changer, they absolutely fly.

 

[DaveGrohl]

You lot are making me feel inadequate with my one screen. I get the "they're just so cheap why wouldn't you?" angle and the "once you've got more than one you'll wonder how you ever managed before" angle but I am genuinely scratching my head at why I absolutely definitely positively MUST have at least two screens. I can manage to do loads of multitasking on one monitor, just click the taskbar to switch between apps or programmes or whatever the latest word is for the same bloody thing thing. You're gonna have to give me something better than running e-mails and Amazon music in the background Ollie, soz.

Apart from anything else I can't imagine where I'd put an extra monitor, my office is such a mess without another thing to site.

 

[ollie989898]

You lot are making me feel inadequate with my one screen. I get the "they're just so cheap why wouldn't you?" angle and the "once you've got more than one you'll wonder how you ever managed before" angle but I am genuinely scratching my head at why I absolutely definitely positively MUST have at least two screens. I can manage to do loads of multitasking on one monitor, just click the taskbar to switch between apps or programmes or whatever the latest word is for the same bloody thing thing. You're gonna have to give me something better than running e-mails and Amazon music in the background Ollie, soz.

Apart from anything else I can't imagine where I'd put an extra monitor, my office is such a mess without another thing to site.

I bought a third screen primarily for studying. Turns out it was very very handy. More so than I thought it would be.

So on my left screen I would have my browser open and on it would be multiple (dozens) of tabs open which I would be using for reading, research or referencing (this was a million times easier than it was 20 years ago as you had to search hard copy journals in a library to do the same thing at Uni).

On my main screen, I would have a word document I was working on. On my right hand screen would normally have an excel sheet (if I was working with numerical data or graphs etc) OR another browser (Vivaldi in my case) open which would have the UWE referencing system outlined in detail. I would also use this screen for whatsapp conversations, outlook or discord (plus music app). In my instance I was using all three screens maybe the third was moderately redundant at times.

Two screens is very very helpful when you have to be looking at window full of information whilst working on a document or similar in another. Constantly changing between windows is slower and is hard on my eyes I find.

 

[Cowabunga]

You lot are making me feel inadequate with my one screen. I get the "they're just so cheap why wouldn't you?" angle and the "once you've got more than one you'll wonder how you ever managed before" angle but I am genuinely scratching my head at why I absolutely definitely positively MUST have at least two screens. I can manage to do loads of multitasking on one monitor, just click the taskbar to switch between apps or programmes or whatever the latest word is for the same bloody thing thing. You're gonna have to give me something better than running e-mails and Amazon music in the background Ollie, soz.

Apart from anything else I can't imagine where I'd put an extra monitor, my office is such a mess without another thing to site.

It is nor a necessity. It's a bit of an indulgence unless you are a power-user. A second monitor can be a handy convenience when doing certain tasks, like doing the VAT, where you can have a calculator and any other app or records or inputted invoices open on one screen and the spreadsheet open on another. It's expecially useful perhaps if your only existing screen is a small laptop.
What is brilliant and amazing to a new user, like me, of a supplementary screen is the way the mouse pointer just travels from one screen to the other and that you drag windows or apps or anything across from one screen to the other seamlessly, no different to moving across your single existing screen, only now much wider.

If you don't want one, don't have one; it's that simple.

 

[Tomr10]

You lot are making me feel inadequate with my one screen. I get the "they're just so cheap why wouldn't you?" angle and the "once you've got more than one you'll wonder how you ever managed before" angle but I am genuinely scratching my head at why I absolutely definitely positively MUST have at least two screens. I can manage to do loads of multitasking on one monitor, just click the taskbar to switch between apps or programmes or whatever the latest word is for the same bloody thing thing. You're gonna have to give me something better than running e-mails and Amazon music in the background Ollie, soz.

Apart from anything else I can't imagine where I'd put an extra monitor, my office is such a mess without another thing to site.

It's not a case of cost, it's a more effective way of working. But depends on what your doing if taking data from on spread sheet to another nice to have them side by side. It dosent need to be a big monitor when at home I use laptop screen and a separate monitor

 

[ollie989898]

If someone is doing a lot of office work where you are looking at more than one document and trying to work on another, then I would say a second monitor would be a big gain in productivity for them. Doing accounts would be another example. Depending on your eyesight, screen layout and size, you may be able to get away with using one large monitor and working with the screen split in half, I personally prefer to be able to see the entirety of a word document without having to zoom too much because I like to see the page layout as I work.

There are myriad of ways of working, I know people who prefer trackballs or even pen and tablet or touchscreens to work with in their particular applications, it's all relative. The beauty of these devices is that they are no longer thousands of pounds and solely aimed at CAD or design professionals. There are cheaper versions available aimed more at the home user.

My dream is to one day have a custom built curved desk that precisely fits my office wall which will give me about 12ft by 2ft of desk real estate to spread my crap on. For smaller offices there is a lot to be said for mounting monitors on the wall.

 

[Tomr10]

Lot of stands out there these days can pay more for a good stand than the monitor its self

 

[DaveGrohl]

If someone is doing a lot of office work where you are looking at more than one document and trying to work on another, then I would say a second monitor would be a big gain in productivity for them. Doing accounts would be another example. Depending on your eyesight, screen layout and size, you may be able to get away with using one large monitor and working with the screen split in half, I personally prefer to be able to see the entirety of a word document without having to zoom too much because I like to see the page layout as I work.

There are myriad of ways of working, I know people who prefer trackballs or even pen and tablet or touchscreens to work with in their particular applications, it's all relative. The beauty of these devices is that they are no longer thousands of pounds and solely aimed at CAD or design professionals. There are cheaper versions available aimed more at the home user.

My dream is to one day have a custom built curved desk that precisely fits my office wall which will give me about 12ft by 2ft of desk real estate to spread my crap on. For smaller offices there is a lot to be said for mounting monitors on the wall.

Oh Hell, split screening is the work of the Devil no doubt, horrendous. Tbc I'm not arguing against, you all clearly love more than one. You're all obv working better as a result and good luck to you, I'm just trying to gauge if there would be anything worthwhile I'd get out of having two. I've got a new puter sat in the corner waiting for me to finally pluck up the enthusiasm to get everything transferred and get up and running. For me though, I'm still able to switch between apps in milliseconds using the taskbar, I really don't need to save myself a grand total of 5 or 10 seconds over say an hour's work. Each to their own. Christ Alive, my monitor isn't even 16:9!!

 

[ollie989898]

Oh Hell, split screening is the work of the Devil no doubt, horrendous. Tbc I'm not arguing against, you all clearly love more than one. You're all obv working better as a result and good luck to you, I'm just trying to gauge if there would be anything worthwhile I'd get out of having two. I've got a new puter sat in the corner waiting for me to finally pluck up the enthusiasm to get everything transferred and get up and running. For me though, I'm still able to switch between apps in milliseconds using the taskbar, I really don't need to save myself a grand total of 5 or 10 seconds over say an hour's work. Each to their own. Christ Alive, my monitor isn't even 16:9!!

It will very much depend on what you do with your PC. For browsing the web or doing emails, it won't provide any benefit. If you are doing any kind of work where you need to read or look at something on one screen whilst working or typing on another, a second screen will make it a lot easier. Recently my wife was doing some kind of vet work where you needed to access an online database and then fill in the required information in another piece of software. Having to change between the two windows was a nightmare because you needed to type in a sequence of numbers each time and you can't memorise the things.

 

[DaveGrohl]

I'm quite happy to copy and paste, but if it's working for you it's all good.

 

[Tomr10]

I'm quite happy to copy and paste, but if it's working for you it's all good.

Just out of curiosity how do you copy and paste do you right click on the mouse