New Computer

[Tinhack]

I got a new PC late last year. It's about 4x4x2, hangs on the back of my monitor and is faster than the old home-built tower at about 1/4 the price. The new Mini-PC came preloaded with Windows 11 Pro. I've added a few external accessories like disk drives (backup and file history), a CD drive and a cassette tape player/recorder. I also use thumb drives I can swap in and out. I don't like the TB drives because they're slow. Both my printers are WIFI as well as my Brother Scan-N-Cut.

I don't use the "cloud" for anything except the Scan-N-Cut and have disabled OneDrive and Cortana.

 

[scootr]

I upgraded right before Xmas I got a Corsair Vengenace 7300i for a new gaming PC, to replace my old one I built in 2015. But I've had so many problems with it, the RAM sticks keeps working themselves out, they are heavy and bulky DDR5 RAM sticks. I'm gonna open a support case with Corsair, I've been in IT for 30 years. And when you're an IT Manager you HATE to talk to other customer support.

Please keep us posted on this - I have bought the same PC

VENGEANCE a7300 Gaming PC, R7 7700X, RTX 3070 Ti, 2TB M.2, 16GB DDR5-5200​

 

[MossRoad]

Please keep us posted on this - I have bought the same PC

VENGEANCE a7300 Gaming PC, R7 7700X, RTX 3070 Ti, 2TB M.2, 16GB DDR5-5200​

In my lifetime, I've purchased 5 cars that totaled less than the price of that one PC.

I also got into a bidding war and "won" 4 sticks of 64MB of Ram for something like $300 each! Man, time and relevance of cost are a killer!

 

[Oaktree]

You might give Linux a try. I prefer linux Mint with the cinnamon desktop. Not only is it free, it is better.

If so, be prepared for a steep learning curve. I've tried using it a few times and found it frustratingly non-intuitive. I suppose if all you want to do is web surf and do word processing it'd be OK but Windows is a lot easier to use for most people.

 

[Oaktree]

I was in I.T, for 25ish years. Always had the latest and greatest to keep up on the technologies. Since I got out of I.T., I can get by most days with just an iPad. I do have an older docked Surface Pro with keyboard, mouse, and larger monitor if I want to do some spreadsheet work or photo editing. But I just don't need a PC anymore.

Anytime friends or family would want recommendations on PCs, I'd recommend factory refurbs unless they were gamers or into video production. There's just not much need for a screaming fast PC for most people.

Agree with refurbs. The one I'm using now is a hand-me-down HP from a colleague who was upgrading the office PCs where he works. It was maybe 6 years old when I got it and it does everything I need it to.

Never got the appeal of tablets, but then I don't particularly like touchscreen gadgets. Not very convenient for those of us with big hands.

 

[WinterDeere]

In my lifetime, I've purchased 5 cars that totaled less than the price of that one PC.

I also got into a bidding war and "won" 4 sticks of 64MB of Ram for something like $300 each! Man, time and relevance of cost are a killer!

I can post some of my PC prices, if it'll make you feel better. I run simulation software that has very high hardware requirements, and usually get two new PC's every 2-4 years, cost ranging $10k - $20k each. My office usually sounds like a few airplanes preparing for take-off, as the various chassis and CPU fans cycle according to processor and memory activity.

But the hardware keeps getting cheaper. I can buy more PC today for $6k than I could four years ago for $20k. NVMe drives have been a game-changer, too, as even the best 15k RPM SCSI (SAS) drives would hold up the show between simulation iterations, and they were very expensive. Dedicated processing GPU's (eg. NVDIA Tesla) can also offer enormous gains (in some cases 100x speed over CPU), if the software, licensing, simulation type and your budget all permit it.

 

[MossRoad]

Budgets? We ain't got no budgets. We don't need no budgets. I don't have to show you any stinkin' budgets!"

 

[MossRoad]

Agree with refurbs. The one I'm using now is a hand-me-down HP from a colleague who was upgrading the office PCs where he works. It was maybe 6 years old when I got it and it does everything I need it to.

Never got the appeal of tablets, but then I don't particularly like touchscreen gadgets. Not very convenient for those of us with big hands.

The appeal to my former employer of tablets like the Surface Pro was that reporters and salespeople needed devices that would work in the field and at their desk in the office with bigger monitors, full keyboards, mice, etc. So they avoided having to have two machines for each person. I can't count how many broke that first year due to droppage.

Funny story. First week or two that the Surfaces were deployed, a reporter called us for assistance as it wouldn't dock. I tried sticking it in the dock, but it wouldn't seat. Looked it over and asked them if they had dropped it. "NO. I would have told you if I'd have dropped it."

I said "The docking port is full of chocolate."



"Well, I was sitting with it on my lap, dropped my candy bar on the carpet, reached to get it and the Surface slipped off my lap and landed on the candy bar."

 

[kenmbz]

My home machine is a Dell Inspiron. My work laptops are both thinkpads.
I have a 27" flat and a 27" curved in my small (very) home office.
I have another thinkpad on order and will send back at least one of the devices I have here since I have no room.

I wrote and did troubleshooting on major game software back in the early 80's. Since then I am not much into the game stuff.

We have surface books, macbooks and airs, and many types of windows laptops. Very few desktops anymore. Also not many IPads as most Mac users do video and other intense stuff.
I do mostly large spreadsheets, not very exciting.

Using Google or Onedrive makes it so much easier to move across machines, but some items still get left behind as Windows machines have less "rules" about where you can store files.

If you break out of Apple OS, you will get a unix prompt, since that is what their OS is based on.

 

[WinterDeere]

"...the Surface slipped off my lap and landed on the candy bar."

Nurses hear a lot of stories like this about gerbils and anuses.