Need advice on buying a new computer

[thatcrazyredhead]

My desktop computer is over 11 years old, slow, and won't talk to the printer. Our other desktop computer is not quite as old but equally slow and won't access the internet for more than two minutes at a time. Hubs has a laptop somewhere, but that is also old and slow. I've been putting it off because I really didn't want to spend the money, but I just can't take it anymore. I have done a bit of research, and I have found four options that are in or near my price range. I know very little about computers, and I was hoping someone here would be able to help narrow it down. All I'm looking for is something that will be faster than the dinosaurs we currently have and run smoothly on the internet (online banking, facebook, customerssuck, etc, not downloads) and allow me to work with the Budget Spreadsheet of Doom and other documents (preferably at the same time without slowing down). Watching the occasional video on YouTube would be nice, but not essential. Here's what I've found so far:

HP Pavilion Slimline Desktop
Processor: AMD E1-2500 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 8240 graphics
RAM: 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 16GB
Hard drive: 500GB Serial ATA hard drive (7200 rpm)
OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit

Gateway SX Series Desktop
Processor: AMD E1-2500 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 8240 graphics
RAM: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
Hard drive: 500GB Serial ATA III hard drive (7200 rpm)
OS: Windows 8

HP 15.6" Laptop (model # 2000-2d70dx)
Processor: AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 Accelerated Processor with AMD Radeon HD 8400 graphics
RAM: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 8GB
Hard drive: 750GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit
Energy Star certified

HP 15.6" Laptop (model # 15-d035dx)
Processor: Intel® Pentium® processor N3520
Features a 2.17GHz processor speed with Turbo Boost up to 2.42GHz.
RAM: 4GB DDR3L SDRAM
Hard drive: 750GB hard drive (5400 rpm)
OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit
Also comes with 6 month subscription to Titanium Internet Security, Logitech M185 wireless optical mouse, laptop sleeve, & 8 GB geek stick

Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Aethian]

I actually put together my computer for just under 900 total. That's including a new case and power supply. But then I had a good hard drive with a good working operating system installed.

[RichS]

Out of those 4 choices, I'd say the HP 15-d035dx. It has the most powerful processor of the 4 (2.17GHz., 4 cores, Turbo boost to 2.42), and it doesn't look like you'd be doing anything graphically intensive that would tax the Intel graphics.

[otakuneko]

All I'm looking for is something that will be faster than the dinosaurs we currently have and run smoothly on the internet (online banking, facebook, customerssuck, etc, not downloads) and allow me to work with the Budget Spreadsheet of Doom and other documents (preferably at the same time without slowing down). Watching the occasional video on YouTube would be nice, but not essential.

You don't really need much for that, though if you intend to keep it for ten years, well... you'd want some wiggle room.

You forgot to mention how much each of these things costs. Also your budget.

A desktop is preferable if you are going to keep it long-term, both from a reliability and upgradability perspective. Looking up these "Accelerated Processors" on wiki... I think I'd avoid them, myself. They're CPU+Graphics in one. Unless there's a significant price advantage, you may want to count that as a disadvantage (possible future headaches).

In general, for something I planned to keep for years and years I'd reject any quad-core CPU under 2GHz (not even sure quads under 2GHz exist in desktop-land ), any dual core CPU under 2.5GHz, and any machine that can't upgrade to more than 8GB RAM.

[Chromatix]

AMD's "Accelerated Processors" are actually quite good, at least compared to an Intel CPU with "Integrated Graphics". There's nothing intrinsically wrong with them for this level of capability, and they can even cope with reasonably light gaming.

With that said, the E-series are much more basic and slower than the A-series, leaving you with the bizarre situation that both of the laptops listed are rather more powerful than either of the desktops you listed. If they are intended to represent the same budget, that is even more strange. A clue as to why this is may be that both desktops are in "compact" style - small computers tend to be more expensive for the same level of capability. For replacing an old PC on a tight budget, it's more reasonable to look for a PC of roughly the same physical size.

Something that might help your budget is if you can reuse part of the old computer to build the new one. The monitor, keyboard and mouse are prime candidates. Just make sure that the PC has the right connectors to attach them - if they are old enough, this might mean VGA and PS/2 rather than DVI and USB. Most pre-built PCs seem to come with their own keyboard and mouse, but the monitor might save you quite a lot of money.

I also recommend buying by mail-order (that is, on the Internet) rather than from a computer shop. You'll get more for your money and won't have to suffer through a sales pitch.

I tried to estimate your budget by searching for similar laptops on NewEgg, and it looks like you're aiming for $500 or so. For that sort of money, you can get this or this which are considerably better than the desktops you listed. Or you could get this computer in combination with this monitor so that you aren't dependent on your old monitor, but it's still a better computer than anything you've listed above.

[EricKei]

Just to add on, as you're looking into something that will last a while --

- Avoid anything with "integrated graphics" rather than a distinct card -- you don't need amazing top of the line graphics, but integrated types "share" CPU cycles with the main CPU itself, which can slow things down.
- Make sure you can upgrade to 8GB of RAM at some point.
- Hard drive space probably isn't an issue. A 1TB drive can be had on sale for what, 60-80 bucks these days? If you need to expand. If you wait until you NEED the space, you'll be able to get an even bigger one for the same price a couple of years down the line
- Ask if they can downupgrade you to Windows 7 64-bit. Just my opinion If you have a friend with 8, ask how they like it, and maybe if you can sit down with it for ten minutes under a Guest account just to see if you like how it operates.
- If you're comfortable with tinkering around inside your comp on a basic level, consider looking inside it to assess the cooling situation -- premade systems often have the bare minimum as far as cooling fans are concerned, and adding a small fan or two can help keep the temperature reasonable, thus greatly extending the life of the system and everything in it. (If you're not familiar with fan setups, google it, or ask around here , we'll be glad to help)

[otakuneko]

8's fine. If the Start Screen just isn't good enough (it was sufficient on my laptop, but not on my desktop, where I need a level of organization Metro simply can't provide) just slap ClassicShell (it's free) on and you're golden.

I actually prefer my Win 8 desktop at home over my Win 7 work laptop.

[EricKei]

Two things I found out recently due to needing to perform some network wizardry on our one Win8 system -- a) hit Windows+X for a useful popup menu, and b) It has its own version of the "GodMode" folder, just like Win7 does.

[thatcrazyredhead]

Thanks for all the advice! Especially the tip about making sure my monitor, keyboard, etc would be compatible with a new desktop CPU. I hadn't thought of that, and I don't think they would be if all the ports are USB. I don't know enough about things to use components I already have to build something up, plus what I already have is really old. I'd much rather buy something new.

As for my budget, I'd like to stick as close to $300 as I can. I found all four of these on bestbuy.com, and they were all between $259 & 349. I haven't used Windows 8 yet, but I really don't like the look of it. I might see what I can find in a laptop with Windows 7.

[Chromatix]

This might be a good choice for you, then: Refurbished AMD A8-based desktop computer.

In this price range, you aren't going to get "discrete" graphics as others recommended. The AMD A8 will give you the best integrated graphics available, and a full-size computer like this will let you add a separate graphics card as an upgrade in future. You should be able to upgrade it to 8GB or even 16GB RAM later as well, when that becomes necessary. It appears to come with USB keyboard and mouse as per usual, judging by the product photos and you should easily be able to make it work with your old monitor.

If you decide you don't like Windows 8, and I wouldn't blame you in the slightest for that, I suggest buying a smallish USB flash drive and using it to install Linux Mint. Here are instructions.

[RichS]

This might be a good choice for you, then: Refurbished AMD A8-based desktop computer.

That is so much better than the desktop solutions presented before it.

Another option to make Windows 8 more friendly, and to make it clost to functioning like Windows 7, is a good Start Menu program. This will make it automatically boot to the desktop environment instead of the Modern touchscreen-like interface, and there will be a Start button with the functionality of the Start button in Windows 7.

I have an older laptop I've installed Windows 8 on, and I use a Start Menu program called Classic Shell. There are a lot of other free and pay-for choices, as well.

[lordlundar]

Thanks for all the advice! Especially the tip about making sure my monitor, keyboard, etc would be compatible with a new desktop CPU. I hadn't thought of that, and I don't think they would be if all the ports are USB. I don't know enough about things to use components I already have to build something up, plus what I already have is really old. I'd much rather buy something new.

Most of the time, any USB input peripheral like a mouse or keyboard will work by default, but limited. This means anything higher end like customizable keys and adjusting mouse speed will not be available, but it will still function in it's basic functions.