Desktop pc

I am certainly not a computer geek but recently bought a new PC.
I don't see a SSD on any of these. A must have in 2020.
I am not a heavy user but went with 16GB of RAM.

You can easily eliminate all the 4GB machines from contention, there's no business having less than 8GB in any system in 2020 regardless of price point.

A personal machine might be used for gaming or hobbies like music recording or video editing. So when you start looking at more ram / ssd drive - then you probably want to get a decent video card, and ultimately looking at something with more cores (say an i5, i7, i9 intel.... or anything from AMD.....) . ... once you start down the rabbit hole, one upgrade leads to another. if its just for word processing, internet, and maybe angry birds - just go with the cheapest on your list. for any other gaming or resource intensive hobbies or work - i wouldn't get anything on that list.

the cheap dell i3 is $650? memory express has an i5 system with 8 gigs of ram for $500 right now. spend an extra $100-150 and get a video upgrade and add ssd - be a system that will be good for years.
check out bestbuy or newegg.... you can get some pretty decent systems in the $600-700 price range and the salespeople are generally pretty good at figuring what you need.

She doesn't play games, so I doubt it's for gaming. Maybe occasional video editing but mainly for everyday use like email and internet.

The Dell i3 (small or regular) is in $300 to $400 range.

How is AMD? I used to hear people say AMD is no good, but as I said, I havent been following on pc fir many years so I don't know how things are now.

Is there any difference between the personal vs business version?

gta1216 wrote: ↑ She doesn't play games, so I doubt it's for gaming. Maybe occasional video editing but mainly for everyday use like email and internet.

The Dell i3 (small or regular) is in $300 to $400 range.

How is AMD? I used to hear people say AMD is no good, but as I said, I havent been following on pc fir many years so I don't know how things are now.

Is there any difference between the personal vs business version?

A comparable priced AMD system will have better graphics, which may be useful down the line for gaming or video transcoding. Depending on the CPU, you may also get more physical cores for teh price which will help in multi tasking and certain applications.

You would have to actually post two similar systems with specs for us to compare.

To answer the original question, Dell's "work" and "home" computers" are the same. They may just come with different software like Windows 10 pro. Buy whatever is cheaper.

For a personal PC ... I had built two systems back in 2016 when TIgerDirect was still around. Both machines are still working great!

One PC is upstairs in the home office used strictly for downloading.

The other PC is hooked up to my TV via the Denon Receiver which I now use to stream Youtube, watch my downloaded Blueray quality movies, use it as my music player, stream snooker matches, stream fishing tournaments (do not like using the smart functions on the TV as I hate punching in letter by letter using the stupid remote keys).

Living Room PC (total cost $626 ... most from TigerDirect.ca):
AMD FX-6300 Black Edition 6-Core 3.5/4.1GHz 14MB Cache
Gigabyte GA-78LMT-USB3
2 x Crucial CT102464BA160B - 8GB DDR3 - 1600 1.5V CL11
Asus DRW-24FIST-U22 DVD ROM
MSI RS450-MD1GD3H/LP Video Card
Boot Drive: 1TB - WD Blue WD10EZEX (partitioned 150GB + 780GB)
Slave Drive: 2TB - Seagate ST2000DM001 (partitioned 500GB + 500GB + 500GB + 500GB) ... for organization of files
Thermaltake TR2-500NL2NC 500W PSU
Mid-Tower Case
Microsoft All-in-One-Media Wireless Keyboard
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 1850


Downloading PC (total cost $502 ... most from TigerDirect.ca):
AMD FX-6300 Black Edition 6-Core 3.5/4.1GHz 14MB Cache
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0
2 x ADATA Premier Srs 4GB 240Pin DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - AD3U1333C4G9-SH
Samsung 24x DVD ROM
Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GT 430 Synergy 1GB Video Card
Boot Drive: 160GB - Seagate Barracuda ST3160812AS
Slave Drive: 1TB - Seagate Barracuda ST31000528AS
Slave Drive: 1TB - Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003
Slave Drive: 1TB - WD Blue WD10EZEX
ASUS VH198T Black 19" 5ms LED Backlight LCD Monitor
CoolMaster i500 PSU
ULTRA XBLASTER MID-TOWER CASE
Aikun BX6200 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard and Mouse (which I disconnect to use with my work Laptop)


Both PCs have direct connection to the internet via CAT6 cable.

It's probably 15 + years since I last built a computer. I don't think I rememver much anymore. Plus, it seems like parts are so expensive now.

Anyway.. I don't know anything about AMD processors. Any suggestion? I have no recommendation for my friend. She's looking fir a budget pc in the lower US$500 range. She said no Acer - I don't know why, didn't ask either.

gta1216 wrote: ↑ It's probably 15 + years since I last built a computer. I don't think I rememver much anymore. Plus, it seems like parts are so expensive now.

Anyway.. I don't know anything about AMD processors. Any suggestion? I have no recommendation for my friend. She's looking fir a budget pc in the lower US$500 range. She said no Acer - I don't know why, didn't ask either.

Maybe something like this:

https://www.newegg.com/abs-computer-tec ... klink=true

Or like an ultra compact like this:

https://www.newegg.com/asus-pb50/p/1VK- ... A0SB823452


I built something similar for my wife

gta1216 wrote: ↑ It's probably 15 + years since I last built a computer. I don't think I rememver much anymore. Plus, it seems like parts are so expensive now.

Anyway.. I don't know anything about AMD processors. Any suggestion? I have no recommendation for my friend. She's looking fir a budget pc in the lower US$500 range. She said no Acer - I don't know why, didn't ask either.

I am not the friend of the OP, but I do not like Acer either and will not buy an Acer under any circumstances. I also prefer a desktop - and am a female. She sure does sound like me though.

What about this? Today's the last day for the sale at US420 + tax. I know, there's no SSD though.

https://www.officedepot.com/catalog/cat ... at=1461994

Never mind

gta1216 wrote: ↑ What about this? Today's the last day for the sale at US420 + tax. I know, there's no SSD though.

https://www.officedepot.com/catalog/cat ... at=1461994

Can someone tell me whether this is any good?

https://www.microcenter.com/product/612 ... -processor

gta1216 wrote: ↑ Can someone tell me whether this is any good?

https://www.microcenter.com/product/612 ... -processor

That's pretty good for the specs.

gh05t wrote: ↑ That's pretty good for the specs.

Is the PowerSpec better or the following Dell better? The Dell 3671 is $520.


Dell Inspiron 3671
9th Gen Intel® Core™ i5 9400 (6-Core, 9MB Cache, up to 4.1GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology)
Windows 10 Home 64bit English
Intel UHD Graphics 630 with shared graphics memory
8GB DDR4 at 2666MHz
512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Solid State Drive
No Optical Drive
802.11bgn + Bluetooth 4.0, 1x1

The Dell only has 8GB RAM, but it is no big deal one can add another 8GB easily. Otherwise both are roughly the same.

I am actually thinking about assembling a system with same spec as the PowerSpec. And the cost come to around 550 cad + taxes, but that's without Win 10 license since I already have it.

gta1216 wrote: ↑ It's probably 15 + years since I last built a computer. I don't think I rememver much anymore. Plus, it seems like parts are so expensive now.

Anyway.. I don't know anything about AMD processors. Any suggestion? I have no recommendation for my friend. She's looking fir a budget pc in the lower US$500 range. She said no Acer - I don't know why, didn't ask either.

Hi,

You won't be doing anyone any favours if you buy or build a computer with an I-3 processor. If you buy a pre-assembled computer, it might or might not be upgradeable. The huge difference between Now & Then...Now there are sites like PC Parts Picker & Logical Increments to show everyone the way to desktop enlightenment.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/builds/#X=4 ... 91&B=1&C=0
https://www.logicalincrements.com/

i3 9100 is perfectly acceptable for light users. the problem with it is that it has regular hardrive. You should see if you can edit the config and switch out the 1tb hardrive for a ssd/m2 ssd either 256 or 512gig
otherwise i would not inflict regular harddrives on people anymore.

the micro center site is in US dollars

Fraser River Rat wrote: ↑ Hi,

You won't be doing anyone any favours if you buy or build a computer with an I-3 processor. If you buy a pre-assembled computer, it might or might not be upgradeable. The huge difference between Now & Then...Now there are sites like PC Parts Picker & Logical Increments to show everyone the way to desktop enlightenment.
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/builds/#X=4 ... 91&B=1&C=0
https://www.logicalincrements.com/