New Desktop

[dirty harry]

What are the apple desktop like? Or best stick to a windows type computer?
Looking to upgrade in new year aswell- emails/xero/ word is about all I do and gatekeeper- but may scrap that & go gatekeeper express anyway?
Cheers dh

 

[fermerboy]

I have bought direct from HP a few times you get good spec and with the vat clamed back not a bad deal.
how about this one
https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=7EL75ET&opt=ABU&sel=DTP

HP make some nice machines.

They do, my brother in law got a new HP desktop not long ago and it is a nice machine, his has optane memory rather than a SSD. Was certainly an option.

I have bought this one,
https://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/novatechlifenti353.html

Another 8gb of Ram might have been better but its not a biggie to stick some in if I think it needs it, If I had specced another Ram chip it would have been a custom build and then been after the New Year till it come.

Wanted a graphics card rather than onboard in case I fancy two monitors though I bought a 27" monitor too.
Keep thinking that I have maybe gone overboard on the monitor, a 23" would have been fine, and use the old one.
I priced up the bits, by the time I had everything it was too close to the built price, and I just couldn't be arsed with it.

Opinions?? Good or Bad? no offence taken.

Will see what its like later in the week if DPD are as good as they promise.

Thanks for all comments.

 

[fermerboy]

What are the apple desktop like? Or best stick to a windows type computer?
Looking to upgrade in new year aswell- emails/xero/ word is about all I do and gatekeeper- but may scrap that & go gatekeeper express anyway?
Cheers dh

Apple are nice stylish machines that to my mind use good components, but you are paying a fair premium for that.
My mate has a fancy desktop system and to be fair it does look well sitting on his desk, but he has to have dual boot on it to run Windows for his accounting and farm livestock software which is its main job, which kind of deafeats the purpose I think.
Xero/email and Word be fine, on Apple, no idea about Gatekeeper.

 

[Boysground]

2x 27inch monitors here, get out and buy another

Bg

 

[D14]

I'm in need of a new desktop.
Any recommendations on vendor/supplier? Likely be purchased online as there isn't anybody within 50 miles of here.
Looked at Currys/PCworld, Ebuyer, Novatech, so far.
Needs to be a decent spec, but not a gaming machine, a little video editing off the drone be its toughest job. So thinking Intel I5 9th Gen, or I7 maybe? SSD and HDD, DVD drive. I note a lot have very low powered supplies 180w being common, seems very low to me. Anything else I should be including in the spec?
I used to build PCs in my spare time and I'm so far out of touch its unbelievable!

I’d go IMAC. Bought one in 2011 and it’s honestly never gone wrong. Never stalled, never seen an error message. It just works. Where as we seem to have to replace the windows desktops every 3 years or so. I run windows on my iMac for some specific software but it runs as an iMac 90% of the time. I think it was about £1500 at the time with the large 28inch monitor. I love it.

 

[Dry Rot]

I’d go IMAC. Bought one in 2011 and it’s honestly never gone wrong. Never stalled, never seen an error message. It just works. Where as we seem to have to replace the windows desktops every 3 years or so. I run windows on my iMac for some specific software but it runs as an iMac 90% of the time. I think it was about £1500 at the time with the large 28inch monitor. I love it.

Almost every day I have a rant at my iMac. Who was the bloody fool who invented the damned things? An 'on' button that's flush with the case, round the back and out of sight, and it's impossible to find. When it's 'on', there is no way of telling. (OK, so I've now got a USB hub that lights up when it 'on'). And if you think it's 'off', it could be on, so you press buttons to switch it 'on' only to discover (too late) that you've turned it off!

If you are new to Macs, it will take you five years to learn how to use the software, by which time it's been updated so you'll need to start again. (Anyone used Final Cut Pro to find the videos are incompatible and you need to start again with Final Cut Pro X?). Of course, by this time, your computer is out of date so you'll need to buy a new one. Buy a s/hand machine with software already installed (and paid for by the previous owner) and you'll get persistent nagging popups telling you the consequences of using illegal software and how they've got your details..

Ah, I feel better already! Now to face the rain and go and feed the stock!

 

[D14]

Almost every day I have a rant at my iMac. Who was the bloody fool who invented the damned things? An 'on' button that's flush with the case, round the back and out of sight, and it's impossible to find. When it's 'on', there is no way of telling. (OK, so I've now got a USB hub that lights up when it 'on'). And if you think it's 'off', it could be on, so you press buttons to switch it 'on' only to discover (too late) that you've turned it off!

If you are new to Macs, it will take you five years to learn how to use the software, by which time it's been updated so you'll need to start again. (Anyone used Final Cut Pro to find the videos are incompatible and you need to start again with Final Cut Pro X?). Of course, by this time, your computer is out of date so you'll need to buy a new one. Buy a s/hand machine with software already installed (and paid for by the previous owner) and you'll get persistent nagging popups telling you the consequences of using illegal software and how they've got your details..

Ah, I feel better already! Now to face the rain and go and feed the stock!

Not sure why there’s an issue with a nice on/off button. Turn off sleep then it’ll be on all the time or just push the mouse of tap a key and it comes alive. Also why are you actually turning it off? That makes no sense itself really.

As for your comments about software it’s not true. As said my iMac is 2011. It gets auto software/OS updates so I don’t even know it’s done it. As said I’ve never had any issues at all.

 

[Dry Rot]

Not sure why there’s an issue with a nice on/off button. Turn off sleep then it’ll be on all the time or just push the mouse of tap a key and it comes alive. Also why are you actually turning it off? That makes no sense itself really.

As for your comments about software it’s not true. As said my iMac is 2011. It gets auto software/OS updates so I don’t even know it’s done it. As said I’ve never had any issues at all.

Well, good for you! I can't see anything there that changes my opinion.

The genius who designed the on/off button also made sure the mouse pointer points to the left so any explanation of an icon is obscured! It's apparently impossible to change the pointer so it points to the right. Duh!

 

[D14]

Well, good for you! I can't see anything there that changes my opinion.

The genius who designed the on/off button also made sure the mouse pointer points to the left so any explanation of an icon is obscured! It's apparently impossible to change the pointer so it points to the right. Duh!

These problems seem specific to you and not the other billions of users. I’d never even noticed the mouse arrow pointing left and can’t see an issue with it either ??‍

 

[ollie989898]

More chance of me getting a sex change than buying a mac for me.

 

[Dry Rot]

These problems seem specific to you and not the other billions of users. I’d never even noticed the mouse arrow pointing left and can’t see an issue with it either ??‍

So you haven't found Google yet?

 

[Cowabunga]

Almost every day I have a rant at my iMac. Who was the bloody fool who invented the damned things? An 'on' button that's flush with the case, round the back and out of sight, and it's impossible to find. When it's 'on', there is no way of telling. (OK, so I've now got a USB hub that lights up when it 'on'). And if you think it's 'off', it could be on, so you press buttons to switch it 'on' only to discover (too late) that you've turned it off!

If you are new to Macs, it will take you five years to learn how to use the software, by which time it's been updated so you'll need to start again. (Anyone used Final Cut Pro to find the videos are incompatible and you need to start again with Final Cut Pro X?). Of course, by this time, your computer is out of date so you'll need to buy a new one. Buy a s/hand machine with software already installed (and paid for by the previous owner) and you'll get persistent nagging popups telling you the consequences of using illegal software and how they've got your details..

Ah, I feel better already! Now to face the rain and go and feed the stock!

Why do you switch your iMac on and off regularly? Just leave it on unless it needs an update or there is lightning forecast. Send it to sleep, or let it go to sleep on its own otherwise and just tap the spacebar to wake it up.
If it takes that long to learn how to use a Mac, look to thine self rather than the computer and software which is really user friendly and reasonably stable. Not perfect of course. Nothing is.
I've had this iMac now since 2013 and it has all the latest updates on it and works as well as the day it was unboxed. It has Windows on a partition of its own and I haven't opened that in about three years and will need to google for a reminder of how to do so now. I don't remember offhand.

Good luck if you believe Windows has fewer issues and is less stringent about software copyright licensing. You would be in for a shock I reckon. 'Digital rights' and 'copyright' are there to protect the owners of those copyrights. It's not like a book, where you can lend or sell and resell at your whim. You can share among all your own devices though, which makes for a great user experience.

 

[D14]

So you haven't found Google yet?

No I think it’s you that believes to much on google by the sounds of it. The problems you describe are not problems in reality unless you’ve got ocd or something like that.

 

[Bruce Almighty]

Sorry if I'm hijacking, I've followed this thread with interest

We are looking for a new desktop to replace our 2012 Lenovo running on Windows 7, it's memory is nearly full
We use Landmark Key prime for farm accounts and have been advised to go for Intel core i5, 8 GB ram, 250 GB SSD and a DVD drive

Any recommendations gratefully received
Thanks

 

[Steevo]

Sorry if I'm hijacking, I've followed this thread with interest

We are looking for a new desktop to replace our 2012 Lenovo running on Windows 7, it's memory is nearly full
We use Landmark Key prime for farm accounts and have been advised to go for Intel core i5, 8 GB ram, 250 GB SSD and a DVD drive

Any recommendations gratefully received
Thanks

I just picked similar spec up recently for £699 inc VAT. i5, 16gb ram, graphics card, no optical drive but could be added, 500gb SSD.

Tried to find a link to the spec but the deal has since been pulled.

 

[ollie989898]

Sorry if I'm hijacking, I've followed this thread with interest

We are looking for a new desktop to replace our 2012 Lenovo running on Windows 7, it's memory is nearly full
We use Landmark Key prime for farm accounts and have been advised to go for Intel core i5, 8 GB ram, 250 GB SSD and a DVD drive

Any recommendations gratefully received
Thanks

Any DVD or optical drive will be dirt cheap to add. You need 8 GB RAM minimum these days and 256GB SSD would be ideal.

Check out overclockers website for machines.

 

[Cowabunga]

Sorry if I'm hijacking, I've followed this thread with interest

We are looking for a new desktop to replace our 2012 Lenovo running on Windows 7, it's memory is nearly full
We use Landmark Key prime for farm accounts and have been advised to go for Intel core i5, 8 GB ram, 250 GB SSD and a DVD drive

Any recommendations gratefully received
Thanks

DVD drives are pretty much yesterday's technology and I haven't used an optical drive in maybe three years or more, but if some program or other must be loaded from one for some obscure reason, so be it, get one.

Otherwise I would upgrade those mediocre recommendations to be rather more future proof, if it is to be a jack of all trades rather than specifically to do simple undemanding tasks and for file storage.
i7 chip
16GIG RAM
The 250GB SSD drive is fine for the operating system and some rapid access storage but I would add at least another Terabyte of internal HDD plus a USB C [Thunderbolt in Apple-speak] external connected similar size [1TB or more] hard disc drive for backing up to automatically.
If appropriate for the machine and your use, a good graphics card with plenty of RAM of its own plus really good speakers for your music.
Minimum of a 4K 21inch screen but ideally a 5K 27" one with HDR [high dynamic range].

Maybe you don't need much of that but do consider the storage capacity as a minimum these days or you will soon run out of space again. 250GB is only really sufficient for cloud computing using a Chromebook or similar.

I know already that within the next two years I will be upgrading my desktop to something like this.

iMac

The world’s best all-in-one computer. With 24-inch display. Advanced camera and audio. And mouse and keyboard. Supercharged by the M3 chip.

www.apple.com

Or perhaps a Mac Mini with a high quality 27" display to a similar spec.

SIMILAR SPECIFICATION WINDOWS COMPUTERS ARE AVAILABLE FOR A SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER PRICE should you prefer.
As I said, if your advised spec is really all you need, it can be had for very little money these days. You could even do without SSD for standard office type applications and save some more. But do get at least 1TB and an external backup drive or two that plug into USB C ports

 

[Boysground]

I am currently going through the upgrade process. AMD ryzen 5 chips look good value but I haven’t decided whether to change from intel i5 or not. Will definitely have a graphics card as I run 2 monitors and that makes life easy. 1Tb ssd should be enough storage for me looking at what I have on the current machine, everything is backed up to the cloud and accounts and crop records are web based.


Anybody think I have missed something?


Bg

 

[Cowabunga]

I am currently going through the upgrade process. AMD ryzen 5 chips look good value but I haven’t decided whether to change from intel i5 or not. Will definitely have a graphics card as I run 2 monitors and that makes life easy. 1Tb ssd should be enough storage for me looking at what I have on the current machine, everything is backed up to the cloud and accounts and crop records are web based.


Anybody think I have missed something?


Bg

If you really know what you want, go for it. Lots of people haven't a clue though and tend to buy on price and cheapen out, only to regret it, blaming the machine, at some point after purchase. Either they don't get enough RAM and/or storage, or a slow processor or motherboard with weak graphics built in. Or just inferior components all round crammed into a cheap little enclosure with a noisy fan that isn't up to the job anyway. The screen is also an essential component that is, after all, the main visual interface with the user. Nice wireless keyboard and mouse are also worth their weight in gold. My next computer will be back to having an extended numerical keyboard, but I'll live with my standard Apple wireless keyboard until I upgrade the whole machine at some point. This one is seven years of age and gets a lot of use. My wife did the VAT on it today and I updated cow records, plus email and TFF. Read the news and papers on it too, plus YouTube. Seldom gets switched off and only goes to sleep after half an hour's idle time and sleeps most of the night unless automatically updating.

 

[ollie989898]

I am currently going through the upgrade process. AMD ryzen 5 chips look good value but I haven’t decided whether to change from intel i5 or not. Will definitely have a graphics card as I run 2 monitors and that makes life easy. 1Tb ssd should be enough storage for me looking at what I have on the current machine, everything is backed up to the cloud and accounts and crop records are web based.


Anybody think I have missed something?


Bg

Probably not a lot in it between a Ryzen and i5 if you are 'only' doing office, accounts or clerical work but I don't know for sure. The use of SSD, better motherboards and DDR4 RAM these days has sharpened up what would constitute even an entry level machine now.

Since CB mentioned 4K monitors etc I had a look online earlier and they are rather cheaper than I realised now. I have worked with a couple of posh branded 4K monitors in the past and I did find them easier on the eyes I think.

Half decent mouse and keyboard I find essential these days.