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recommend me a computer?


Joe Frickin' Friday

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Joe Frickin' Friday

Got a Dell desktop PC, have had it for 6 years, time to replace. Wife is in the same situation.

 

Ready to try something besides Dell, because they seem to pack their PCs with as much crapware as they can before they ship it. Looking to spend $500-$600. Got any recommendations?

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Can't help you off of Dell 'cause I just got another one last month. My last Dell laptop was 6+ years old as a refurbished model. Recently started blue screening, so after one blue screen, some semblance of a PTSD instant reaction to dissatisfaction occurred where a mouse happened to fly from my hand right into the screen,...instantly I tell you. Anyway, the screen spiderwebbed with no way of reading it. So I hook up to one of the flat screens, did an immediate back up and go downstairs to get my 12 year old HP laptop that is barely running Win 7 to search for another,........Dell. The HP laptop in the basement is mainly used to run Pandora or quick easy searches on the net,.....no work cause it won't do it, same with the 16 year old Compaq (still on XP).

 

Ended up with Inspiron Gaming 7567, slightly over your budget, but so far, I'm happy with it. While I don't game, I do watch videos and the dual drive for start up is more frustration free. Ended up paying only $45 after utilizing my corporate card points that I've acquired. Once I receive a new machine, I remove everything that I don't need or use.

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After buying, maybe 5 or 6 Dell laptops over the years, this time around, the wife and I both got HPs over at Costco. It's been 2 - 3 years now. Should'a made the switch earlier.

 

Full disclosure: I don't know anything about computers.

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Mitch,

 

I've bought desktops from Lenovo Outlet.

https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/outletus/desktops-and-all-in-ones/c/DESKTOPS?menu-id=Desktops_All-in-Ones

 

I've also been looking at Powerspec lately. That's Microcenter's house brand. They build the machines and install the OS and drivers--nothing else.

http://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=4294967292+4294848341+4294965234&NTX=&NTT=&NTK=all&page=1&sortby=pricelow

 

I also bought a refurbished desktop (HP) at Microcenter.

 

Stores like Best Buy, Office Depot and Staples have weekly ads available on their sites. You'll have to enter a zip code to get the ad for your area.

 

Best Buy also sells closeouts/open box items on their ebay store. Something like this one? (new):

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lenovo-IdeaCentre-720-18ASU-Desktop-AMD-Ryzen-5-Series-8GB-Memory-1TB-/192324356162?rmvSB=true

 

Brian

Edited by mnTwin
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I am not an apple fan, but I did buy one just a couple months ago. I went to the dark side after seeing my son's outlast my last 2 pc's. I bought it at best buy as a rebuild, so I think it was about $600. I will say it is better built, and I am hoping that it will outlast my last dell and previous Hp. I do like how the startup is so much faster.

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Hate to say it but it depends on what you want it for. Try tigerdirect or newegg online for deals. As for the type and design, just remember all manufacturers build "home based" and professional use computers. Do not buy a home based even though it will save you $$ in the short term. The support for them is usually first to reset to factory presets which can have some really bad effects on your software and files. A couple of years ago the feds stopped purchasing computers made in China for fear of what they have encoded on chips on the motherboard. That did not stop me from buying a Lenovo but it still makes me wonder what it is that could be communicating back to China. Also, if all you are doing is the typical home based stuff, a Chromebook might work for you. Good luck with your purchase and let us know what you ended up with and why.

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I've been building my own computers for probably 25 years. I sort of gave that up last year when I bought my first complete computer since my first 486 running WIndows 3.1. Right now, I think I have the best setup I have ever had. I have 2 computers that do different things.

 

Our daily use family computer is a 27" 5K iMac. It is our first Mac, and my wife hated it at first. Now that the learning curve is gone, she also likes it a lot. She uses it to log into work via VPN, videoconferencing, and all things related to the classes she is taking for her Masters degree she is working on. No audible fans, boots up in a matter of seconds, beautiful screen, super intuitive user interface. Downside is that it was uber expensive. My thoughts were that I was tired of screwing around with building desktops I was always fiddling with only to be left with a big ugly tower with wires everywhere. This iMac is really nice looking and is actually placed on one of our kitchen counters. It fits right in and gets used WAY more than our previous computer that was stashed away on a computer desk in the finished basement.

 

The other is a used Lenovo W530 laptop that is mounted in a docking station with a 34" 21:9 widescreen monitor. I replaced the original spinning hard drive with a SSD and it is currently running 8G of RAM with a CLEAN INSTALL of Win10. You won't get a clean install if you buy a branded computer from someone like Dell. They always add their proprietary bloatware garbage that adds more headaches than usefulness. This setup is ridiculously fast and smooth with everything I have tried to do with it. It boots from completely OFF to fully functional in about 15secs. I agree on staying away from anything geared towards a "home based" build. Go with something that was built for using everyday. This W530 is a workhorse professional laptop designed to do 3D graphics rendering and such. Luckily, they are a few years old and very affordable for the hardware that is in them. Having it on a docking station is great. Just this weekend, I undocked it to move to the garage to check out and clear the codes I was getting on my bike with the GS911. Its also what we drag on vacation so Danielle can do her school work remotely. Its not as pretty as the iMac, but it is a really solid PC.

 

Not sure if that is overly helpful. For me....the #1, #2, and #3 things for a computer are speed, the display, and not having to screw with it to get it work properly.

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I bought myself a MacBook Pro at Christmas as my HP laptop was getting old and giving me problems. This is my first MacBook and I really like it. A small learning curve on the file structure and utility side, but not so bad if you have used iPhones and iPads.

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Rider1200RT

I have a 7 year old MacBook Pro and it is still running great. It has 16GM memory and a 500 GB SSD and it is fast!

Here at the office we went through 4 Dell's in the same time frame.......Next stop for us are I-Mac's running parallel's with Windows :facepalm: for certain bookkeeping programs..

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With reference to the Macbook pro talk, I will add this......Just a few weeks ago, a very good friend of mine was complaining that his Macbook Pro was running sluggish and was almost too much of a chore to use for anything. It was a 2010 model running a standard 500GB hard drive and 4GB of RAM. I did a little research and ordered him a new 500GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM and spent an afternoon cloning his drive. Wow....what a difference. I seriously think he will get at least another +/-5 years out of that laptop. They are expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.

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Lone_RT_rider
They are expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.

 

Considering how ......talented* you are with your money, that's truly saying something! :)

 

*I'm talented too.....lol

 

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They are expensive, but well worth it in my opinion.

 

Considering how ......talented* you are with your money, that's truly saying something! :)

 

*I'm talented too.....lol

 

You calling me a cheap penny pinching tightwad!!???

 

...busted.....except in the case of when I absolutely need something to work, then I spare no expense.....as long as I can get a deal or find it on sale :rofl:

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Rider1200RT

I had the exact same issue with mine and the upgrade did the trick.

Sadly the new MacBooks can't be upgraded like that since memory and hard drives are soldered to the motherboard. The hard drives are SSD's however so that is a pro but the new MacBooks are $$$$$

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Lone_RT_rider
You calling me a cheap penny pinching tightwad!!???

 

The man that built his own flow bench rather than pay somebody else to rebuild his throttle bodies? Nahhhhhh.....I would never call you that. :)

 

Great job btw, they are still going strong in the R1100RT. ;)

 

Shawn

 

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....and here I was just wondering how your washer/dryer purchase went. :-)

 

I got an HP desktop 3 years ago and am satisfied with it. Quiet and solid. Flies with an ssd for the boot drive. My current laptop is a Lenovo, the third in the family. All of the Lenovos have been solid.

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I used to build them like Keith , but with prices like this it doesn't make sense anymore.

 

I really just hated to do the research when it was time to upgrade. Too many options and I just don't keep up with what is new and exciting in the computer world anymore. Things used to her pretty plug and play, but it seems like there is so much quirky compatibility issues with different system components now. I didn't want the headache or the hours of fiddling with settings and drivers just to make everything happy.

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