A new PC desktop for my home.

[OneeyedJohn]

I am retired and don't work anymore, used to do some English teaching in the YMCA and a local language school, but no more so my need for a new PC is totally personal.

I surf the net, I play occasionally a flash based golf game, I keep some spreadsheets, I download torrents for movies and TV shows. I used to subscribe to live TV streaming , but I don't bother with that anymore.

 

So what do I get.

 

I like the look of the Dell XPS 8930, it appears to have good options for a very average user like myself, and it appears to be upgradeable. But that is all I know. You might say why do I need to spend 40K just to read my email.

 

I currently have an ASUS amd sempron 140 that has to be at least 6 - 10 years old, and when I went to our local store to upgrade to Win10 and have a new SSD installed, they said it would be a waste of time, no quicker than my current windows 7 Ultimate.

 

I have a good internet fiber of 200MB.

 

Recommendations and suggestions please, be rude as u like, I am not sensitive.

[OneMoreFarang]

Any new desktop PC should have enough performance for your needs.

 

I recommend a small little Intel NUC. They are good quality, and you can select any CPU, SDD, and RAM which you want.

And then connect the size of monitor you want. Maybe you want a big monitor like 32 inch or maybe you prefer a small one. All will fit, no problem.

And then I suggest you get a good quality keyboard and mouse because they are the parts which you use all the time and they should be comfortable to use. Personally I spent more than 5,000B for mouse and keyboard because I use them 24/7 - a good investment for a few years.

 

I am sure you can buy the computer set online but I suggest you go to a shop an look at the different monitors, keyboards, mouse, etc.

I can recommend this shop, I bought many PCs (including many Intel NUC) from them for my customers.

 

https://www.jetcom.co.th/

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by OneMoreFarang

[Oldie]

I have a high end PC and a notebook. After I bought my tablet they are hardly used anymore. Okay. Before I did video editing and other performance intensive tasks like playing games. But this is history and I am very happy with the tablet. 

[stouricks]

21 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Any new desktop PC should have enough performance for your needs.

 

I recommend a small little Intel NUC. They are good quality, and you can select any CPU, SDD, and RAM which you want.

And then connect the size of monitor you want. Maybe you want a big monitor like 32 inch or maybe you prefer a small one. All will fit, no problem.

And then I suggest you get a good quality keyboard and mouse because they are the parts which you use all the time and they should be comfortable to use. Personally I spent more than 5,000B for mouse and keyboard because I use them 24/7 - a good investment for a few years.

 

I am sure you can buy the computer set online but I suggest you go to a shop an look at the different monitors, keyboards, mouse, etc.

I can recommend this shop, I bought many PCs (including many Intel NUC) from them for my customers.

 

https://www.jetcom.co.th/

 

 

Totally agree. I am on my second NUC, i5, 256 SSD, 8 GB RAM, W10 2004, PRO, Express VPN, through a 55 inch Samsung Series 5 NON Smart telly,, absolutely perfect

Edited July 24, 2020 by stouricks

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, OneeyedJohn said:

But that is all I know. You might say why do I need to spend 40K just to read my email.

 

You don't need to spend anywhere close to 40K to get a modern, updated CPU to replace the old one your currently have. You didn't mention whether you'd need/want a newer/larger monitor as well.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/desktop-pcs/

 

 

 

BTW, the images I posted above are just for reference, and I sorted the list based on lowest price of their offerings for the HP and Dell brands. There are, of course, lots more models with different specs at difference prices.

 

PS These days, I wouldn't go for anything less than 8 GB of RAM memory. I had a couple PCs running Win 10 with 4 GB from long ago, and upgrading to 8 or 12 GB made a world of difference in improving their responsiveness and performance. And, that kind of memory upgrade is relatively cheap, whether done at the time of purchase or on your own after the fact.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[billd766]

It is funny that you brought this up now as my HP Envy died a couple of weeks ago.

 

I live in rural Khampaeng Phet which cut down the number of physical of shops.

 

I first went online to see what was out there having decided how much RAM and memory I wanted and how much I was willing to pay.

 

Then I went round some computer shops to see what they had and what it actually looks like.

 

The choice was between a laptop, desk top or an All In One.

 

In the end I chose an AIO from Acer with 8Gb of RAM but only 1Tb of storage which wasn't a big problem as I had a couple of 1Tb external hard drives and I will use one of them to give me another 1TB.

 

The guy from the shop delivered it the next afternoon and set it up for me. The total cost was 19,000 baht including delivery. I get a 3 3 3 warranty with it.

 

I hope that this helps you in your search.

Edited July 24, 2020 by billd766
New computer and wireless keyboard and mouse

[stouricks]

1 minute ago, billd766 said:

It is funny that you brought tis up now as my HP Envy died a couple of weeks ago.

 

I live in rural Khampaeng Phet which cut down the number of physical of shops.

 

I first went online to see what was out there having decided how much RAM and memory I wanted and how much I was willing to pay.

 

Thwn I went round some computer shops to see what they had and what it actually looks like.

 

The choice was between a laptop, desk top or an All In One.

 

In the end I chose an AIO from Acer with 8Gb of RAM but only 1Tb of storage which wasn't a big problem as I had a couple of 1Tb external had drives and I will use one of them to give me another 1TB.

 

The guy from the shop delivered it the next afternoon and set it up for me. The total cost was 19,000 baht including delivery. I get a 3 3 3 warranty with it.

 

I hope that this helps you in your search.

HDDs?

[Stocky]

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I recommend a small little Intel NUC

The range of Asus mini-pc are good too. I have one connected up to my TV as a media box.

[lopburi3]

33 minutes ago, OneeyedJohn said:

I currently have an ASUS amd sempron 140 that has to be at least 6 - 10 years old, and when I went to our local store to upgrade to Win10 and have a new SSD installed, they said it would be a waste of time, no quicker than my current windows 7 Ultimate.

A new SSD or replace HDD with SSD?  If replacement it will make a huge difference and probably negate need for a new computer but if just a larger SSD probably not worth the effort if you do not like it now.

[stouricks]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

You don't need to spend anywhere close to 40K to get a modern, updated CPU to replace the old one your currently have. You didn't mention whether you'd need/want a newer/larger monitor as well.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/desktop-pcs/

 

 

Why have an eff..g big box like that. Towers were introduced to accomodate several big hard drives. Now with M2s & SSDs you don't need it. As One More Farang suggested, an Intel NUC tucked away, takes only 18 watts of electricity, would be more than adequate for the OP.

[stouricks]

7 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

updated CPU to replace the old one your currently have

And the motherboard and probably the RAM. Don't bother.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, stouricks said:

Why have an eff..g big box like that. Towers were introduced to accomodate several big hard drives. Now with M2s & SSDs you don't need it. As One More Farang suggested, an Intel NUC tucked away, takes only 18 watts of electricity, would be more than adequate for the OP.

 

There are all kinds of sizes avail these days... Full tower boxes, mini tower boxes, small form factor, etc etc... I'm personally not a big fan of the NUC mini PCs for general computing use (as opposed to for streaming purposes) because of their limited/no ability to use add-on cards, change/upgrade wifi or video adapters, add a 2nd internal disk drive, etc etc.

 

I've got a 10 or so year old HP desktop at home, and it runs fine on Win 10 right now, because over the years, as needed, I've been able to swap out/upgrade all kinds of different components....  something you are very limited in doing in the NUC format.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

15 hours ago, stouricks said:

And the motherboard and probably the RAM. Don't bother.

 By CPU, I meant the whole computer box... not just the processor.

 

[stouricks]

4 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

There are all kinds of sizes avail these days... Full tower boxes, mini tower boxes, small form factor, etc etc... I'm personally not a big fan of the NUC mini PCs because of their limited/no ability to use add-on cards, change/upgrade wifi or video adapters, add a 2nd internal disk drive, etc etc.

 

I've got a 10 or so year old HP desktop at home, and it runs fine on Win 10 right now, because over the years, as needed, I've been able to swap out/upgrade all kinds of different components....  something you are very limited in doing in the NUC format.

 

 

The OP said it was for personal use so an i5 NUC would be very suitable. Who needs add-on cards, upgraded WiFi or Video adapters if they are all there, and you CAN put an M2 plus an SSD into them depending on the capacity you think you need/ want. No need to store everything locally, shove it up on the Cloud, OneDrive, Google Drive etc.

If you added up what you have spent on hardware upgrades, what will you do when it comes to something serious/expensive going wrong, say MoBo or CPU. Throw it out?

[pineapple01]

Make sure you get the big Acer Curved Screen. its great.

[NotEinstein]

For a budget system, 2,000 baht will get you a raspberry pi 4 4GB via shopee, which will do what you want, just use a USB stick as disk.

[innosiem]

sounds like you need something basic
i would suggest a cheap all in one PC
about 12k
no wires, no clutter etc.

not sure if i can post such links
so just look on JIB co th
and see "all-in-one" 
they range from 11k to 34k
ANY of them will suit your needs
 

[OneeyedJohn]

Thanks everyone, wonderful suggestions and ideas.

 

I have never heard of NUC, seems like I need to get out more.

 

I like small ( NUC ) and I like the AIO suggestion as I am fed up with plugging in wires everywhere plus the printer wires.

 

I have a HP2448w screen and a samsung 17 inch screen so monitors and mice are not a problem.

 

My only reservation ( maybe not justified ) about AIO is that they probably pack inferior products to keep size to a minimum.

 

Definitely quality is a factor to me, not necessarily the very best, but Honda rather than a Nissan.

[andy72]

If you want no worries and IMO and experience a great warranty service

 

buydirect from DELL

https://www.dell.com/th/p/inspiron-3881-desktop/pd?ref=PD_OC

youd be good with i5 but i7 would be cool to

dont spend a fortune get good back up service

[Eindhoven]

1 hour ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

You don't need to spend anywhere close to 40K to get a modern, updated CPU to replace the old one your currently have. You didn't mention whether you'd need/want a newer/larger monitor as well.

 

https://www.invadeit.co.th/category/desktop-pcs/

 

 

 

BTW, the images I posted above are just for reference, and I sorted the list based on lowest price of their offerings for the HP and Dell brands. There are, of course, lots more models with different specs at difference prices.

 

PS These days, I wouldn't go for anything less than 8 GB of RAM memory. I had a couple PCs running Win 10 with 4 GB from long ago, and upgrading to 8 or 12 GB made a world of difference in improving their responsiveness and performance. And, that kind of memory upgrade is relatively cheap, whether done at the time of purchase or on your own after the fact.

 

 

 

Your money would likely have been better spent on an SSD. 

[OneeyedJohn]

I told u already , the shop when I asked about putting Windows 10 on a new SSD ( 1349 baht for 256 GB, 2290 for 500 GB ) reformat my hard drive, they said it was a waste of time and money.

[billd766]

1 hour ago, stouricks said:

HDDs?

1 Tb built in and 1 external HDD for my data.

 

The other HDD Is to be my weekly backup data.

[innosiem]

"fed up with plugging in wires"

was why i suggested an all-in-one

if you already have monitors
just sell them to offset the cost of the new PC (with new monitor built in) ????

[OneeyedJohn]

Is the Inspiron  7 2700 AIO from Dell old fashioned, or is the 5490 a better bet.

 

I just watched an Aussie review the Dell Inspiron 27 7000 AIO on Utube, with keyboard and mouse all for $800 roughly.

Sounds and looks perfect I have to say.

Edited July 24, 2020 by OneeyedJohn

[pineapple01]

The Big  curved Acer 32 is only 6 K now, the postage stamp thing was nearly that much years ago.

[lopburi3]

25 minutes ago, OneeyedJohn said:

I told u already , the shop when I asked about putting Windows 10 on a new SSD ( 1349 baht for 256 GB, 2290 for 500 GB ) reformat my hard drive, they said it was a waste of time and money.

They are telling porkies imho.  You would be amazed at the difference the SSD makes and Windows10 can mostly fix itself these days so even on an old systems works well.  

Edited July 24, 2020 by lopburi3

[stouricks]

57 minutes ago, OneeyedJohn said:

I like small ( NUC ) and I like the AIO suggestion as I am fed up with plugging in wires everywhere plus the printer wires.

When I got my NUC, I plugged the HDMI into my telly, the mains adapter into the mains, the Network cable into the Network port, a USB from printer to NUC, and I have not touched any wires since. If you've already got a big telly, then there's your monitor, and use the NUC as your media centre, play all your movies, music, through it.   I could do with tidying the cables up a bit.

Edited July 24, 2020 by stouricks

[OneeyedJohn]

9 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

They are telling porkies imho.  You would be amazed at the difference the SSD makes and Windows10 can mostly fix itself these days so even on an old systems works well.  

If that is true what you say, I would be surprised as I am sure they would like to sell 2000 baht of stuff to a farang. Whether I needed it or not or whether they even care is another matter.

 

My wife was with me and I know the boss of the technical staff so maybe they do care and were trying to help.

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, billd766 said:

In the end I chose an AIO

With a notebook you have everything All In One (AIO). With a desktop computer that is not necessary. And if you want to change one part, i.e. the monitor, you have to change the whole thing. Just for that reason I don't recommend any AIO.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 hours ago, Stocky said:

The range of Asus mini-pc are good too. I have one connected up to my TV as a media box.

I buy ASUS motherboards since decades and I like them. I never tried an ASUS mini PC.

I bought at least 30 NUCs over the last years. They all work perfect, never any problem.