What computer does my friend want?
June 2, 2021 4:02 PM Subscribe
A friend wants to get a new desktop computer to meet her needs now and for the next several years. What specs is she looking for in a computer? Details inside.
My friend is a micro-historian working from a home office. She does most of her work in the Office Suite, with several Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents open at any given time, with some of them quite involved. She also has Chrome open in several windows with, let's say, between 20 and 40 tabs at any given time. On top of this, she'll have several Zoom calls during the course of a day involving screensharing. She uses Windows and Chrome, has 3 monitors and a wired mouse and keyboard. The computer itself will be just off the floor on a wheeled base, and we'd need easy-ish access to the ports. I don't think we're going to need anything like a CD/DVD drive, but we will want maximum future flexibility concerning ports and upgrading internal bits. Maybe we want some kind of hub?
What would be reasonable specs to look for regarding the components in a computer? What would you recommend I look for in a computer that would serve her well given her current usage? What would you recommend if we were willing to go to the next level of quality? Also: how important are these components relative to each other?
* Memory
* Drive
* Video card
* Motherboard
* Processor
* Power Supply
* Ethernet/WIFI card
Alternately, what off-the-shelf computers would you recommend that can be purchased in person in Seattle WA or online that would be robust for the uses described above, from well-respected vendors with good support? Are there brands that generally are well made or others that she should avoid at all cost? Once I know what she should looking for, are there websites that allow me to put in all the parameters and spit out some computers that meet those criteria? Or does she want to have one made to spec instead? From a name-brand computer vendor or from somewhere else?
Whew! Thanks!
My friend is a micro-historian working from a home office. She does most of her work in the Office Suite, with several Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents open at any given time, with some of them quite involved. She also has Chrome open in several windows with, let's say, between 20 and 40 tabs at any given time. On top of this, she'll have several Zoom calls during the course of a day involving screensharing. She uses Windows and Chrome, has 3 monitors and a wired mouse and keyboard. The computer itself will be just off the floor on a wheeled base, and we'd need easy-ish access to the ports. I don't think we're going to need anything like a CD/DVD drive, but we will want maximum future flexibility concerning ports and upgrading internal bits. Maybe we want some kind of hub?
What would be reasonable specs to look for regarding the components in a computer? What would you recommend I look for in a computer that would serve her well given her current usage? What would you recommend if we were willing to go to the next level of quality? Also: how important are these components relative to each other?
* Memory
* Drive
* Video card
* Motherboard
* Processor
* Power Supply
* Ethernet/WIFI card
Alternately, what off-the-shelf computers would you recommend that can be purchased in person in Seattle WA or online that would be robust for the uses described above, from well-respected vendors with good support? Are there brands that generally are well made or others that she should avoid at all cost? Once I know what she should looking for, are there websites that allow me to put in all the parameters and spit out some computers that meet those criteria? Or does she want to have one made to spec instead? From a name-brand computer vendor or from somewhere else?
Whew! Thanks!
It seems like your thinking on this is a bit out of date. Most of the things you mention don't really matter anymore, aside from memory and disk:
- Memory: 16 GB. I'm a "power user" (software developer running multiple copies of Visual Studio etc.) and I have yet to need more than this.
- Disk: Get an NVMe solid state drive (sometimes called an M.2 drive -- M.2 is the form factor, NVMe is the protocol). This more than anything will determine how fast the PC "feels". Regular solid state drives are acceptable but seriously, NVMe is like twice as fast (and roughly twice as expensive). Chia is starting to mess with the market for these. This is basically for OS/apps only -- if she needs more space you can always toss a second drive in there.
- CPU: Doesn't really matter. For good performance, you want Intel Core i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen. Ryzen is usually somewhat cheaper than Intel, and they're really fast.
- Motherboard: Commodity item now, as long as it supports the rest of your hardware. Asrock generally has good cheap ones. Probably avoid anything with Gamer Shit on it (they're starting to put weird stuff like LED underglow on them, haha). Smaller is better (Mini ITX etc. is pretty popular these days).
- Video: With Intel Core and Ryzen, there's one built into the CPU. Getting anything better is likely to be expensive because the GPU market is a disaster now.
- Audio, Ethernet: Built into any decent motherboard.
- PSU: Premades usually skimp on this bit.
- Anything else: Everything is USB now -- this is coming from the guy who still rocked a discrete PCI sound card until about 5 years ago. There's basically no reason to have expansion slots anymore unless there's some specialized hardware involved. Get a USB 3 hub instead.
Basically computers are ridiculously fast and capable now. I imagine your friend would be fine with a decent laptop, but you could still go bigger for less with a desktop build.
posted by neckro23 at 5:57 PM on June 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
- Memory: 16 GB. I'm a "power user" (software developer running multiple copies of Visual Studio etc.) and I have yet to need more than this.
- Disk: Get an NVMe solid state drive (sometimes called an M.2 drive -- M.2 is the form factor, NVMe is the protocol). This more than anything will determine how fast the PC "feels". Regular solid state drives are acceptable but seriously, NVMe is like twice as fast (and roughly twice as expensive). Chia is starting to mess with the market for these. This is basically for OS/apps only -- if she needs more space you can always toss a second drive in there.
- CPU: Doesn't really matter. For good performance, you want Intel Core i5/i7 or AMD Ryzen. Ryzen is usually somewhat cheaper than Intel, and they're really fast.
- Motherboard: Commodity item now, as long as it supports the rest of your hardware. Asrock generally has good cheap ones. Probably avoid anything with Gamer Shit on it (they're starting to put weird stuff like LED underglow on them, haha). Smaller is better (Mini ITX etc. is pretty popular these days).
- Video: With Intel Core and Ryzen, there's one built into the CPU. Getting anything better is likely to be expensive because the GPU market is a disaster now.
- Audio, Ethernet: Built into any decent motherboard.
- PSU: Premades usually skimp on this bit.
- Anything else: Everything is USB now -- this is coming from the guy who still rocked a discrete PCI sound card until about 5 years ago. There's basically no reason to have expansion slots anymore unless there's some specialized hardware involved. Get a USB 3 hub instead.
Basically computers are ridiculously fast and capable now. I imagine your friend would be fine with a decent laptop, but you could still go bigger for less with a desktop build.
posted by neckro23 at 5:57 PM on June 2, 2021 [4 favorites]
I would say that Office is notably undemanding, in general. It mainly needs decent single-threaded performance, which can be found in basically any machine that isn't sold at Wal-Mart for $249. In particular, they do not make use of GPUs, which would be $$$ and right now cause some availability problems because everyone is mining cryptocoins with them.
The many documents and tabs say 16GB of memory is going to be the biggest enhancement, followed by enough SSD storage to hold them. A 2TB SSD is a few hundred or less.
The three displays is a bit tricky, two is typical for midrange computers. I note that you mention Windows, but I use all those applications on my Macs and they are great. If you want easy and components that are meant to fit together, an iMac is a solid choice. Unfortunately they don't support 3 displays, but they do support 1 ginormous and 1 moderate. It's possible that a new 30" curved monitor would be a reasonable value since it's nicer than two smaller screens.
posted by wnissen at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2021
The many documents and tabs say 16GB of memory is going to be the biggest enhancement, followed by enough SSD storage to hold them. A 2TB SSD is a few hundred or less.
The three displays is a bit tricky, two is typical for midrange computers. I note that you mention Windows, but I use all those applications on my Macs and they are great. If you want easy and components that are meant to fit together, an iMac is a solid choice. Unfortunately they don't support 3 displays, but they do support 1 ginormous and 1 moderate. It's possible that a new 30" curved monitor would be a reasonable value since it's nicer than two smaller screens.
posted by wnissen at 6:36 PM on June 2, 2021
I've always had great success with contacting a place that sells computer parts and builds computers, and telling them what I need! The charge for the building of the computer has always been pretty slim and I've ended up with machines that last a really long time before needing to be upgraded or replaced. (for instance, I have had my current desktop for 5 years and I can still just buy any brand new game and run it just fine!) Also you can get a really cool case that way, if that's something you care about ;)
If you currently have an ok computer I might just keep & swap over the graphics card you have for now because their price is b.a.n.a.n.a.s.
posted by euphoria066 at 6:59 PM on June 2, 2021
If you currently have an ok computer I might just keep & swap over the graphics card you have for now because their price is b.a.n.a.n.a.s.
posted by euphoria066 at 6:59 PM on June 2, 2021
I used to use three displays until I got a single 32" 4k display. This allows me to view 4 different documents side by side which is far more efficient than spreading them over three displays
posted by monotreme at 9:22 PM on June 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by monotreme at 9:22 PM on June 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
I have a five year old PC that currently does everything your friend does on her desired system.
There is only one thing that I'm missing which would make a difference and that is mentioned above. I would benefit from an SSD for my apps and OS. As it is, there is sometimes an annoying delay when starting apps and programs. Note that I've been able to live with it because there are no delays in plain vanilla apps like MS Office for the stuff that I do.
posted by storybored at 9:52 PM on June 2, 2021
There is only one thing that I'm missing which would make a difference and that is mentioned above. I would benefit from an SSD for my apps and OS. As it is, there is sometimes an annoying delay when starting apps and programs. Note that I've been able to live with it because there are no delays in plain vanilla apps like MS Office for the stuff that I do.
posted by storybored at 9:52 PM on June 2, 2021
NB: the AMD Ryzen CPU's with integrated graphics can drive multiple monitors and are referred to by AMD themselves as APU's (Application Processing Unit, istr) and are Ryzen 3200G, 3400G, 4350G, 4650G and 4750G. The 4000G ones are only available to system builders and all of them are rare but ridiculously effective for the money.
posted by k3ninho at 12:29 AM on June 3, 2021
posted by k3ninho at 12:29 AM on June 3, 2021
Also: how important are these components relative to each other?
For her use case the only things that really matter are memory and storage.
Memory: 16 or 32 GB. If she ends up building herself or going through a system integrator where that info is availamable, she might want to pay attention to timings; I don't know what the sweet spot for price and performance is now-ish but that information is on the webs.
Storage: nvme ssd, accept no substitutes. 1 tb.
With Intel Core and Ryzen, there's one built into the CPU.
Most Ryzen do *NOT* have integrated graphics. Just about all AM4 motherboards still have a video out, just in case you install one of their APUs, but be aware that this output will be completely nonfunctional with most Ryzen.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:52 AM on June 3, 2021
For her use case the only things that really matter are memory and storage.
Memory: 16 or 32 GB. If she ends up building herself or going through a system integrator where that info is availamable, she might want to pay attention to timings; I don't know what the sweet spot for price and performance is now-ish but that information is on the webs.
Storage: nvme ssd, accept no substitutes. 1 tb.
With Intel Core and Ryzen, there's one built into the CPU.
Most Ryzen do *NOT* have integrated graphics. Just about all AM4 motherboards still have a video out, just in case you install one of their APUs, but be aware that this output will be completely nonfunctional with most Ryzen.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 3:52 AM on June 3, 2021
A discrete graphics card (versus whatever is on the motherboard) will probably play nicer with three screens, have the right plugs, etc. Built in graphics are capable but can have weird hidden limitations about # and arrangement. But you wouldn't need anything too fancy, whatever comes in a prebuilt would almost assuredly suffice. (from what I can tell, prices on individual graphics cards are bananas right now but buying prebuilt machines is still a good value)
posted by Wulfhere at 11:12 AM on June 3, 2021
posted by Wulfhere at 11:12 AM on June 3, 2021
« Older I had a bad time with Lamictal, is taking... | Does a water softener protect your plumbing? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by wotsac at 4:52 PM on June 2, 2021 [2 favorites]