Advice For A New Computer

I need your advice for buying my next computer.

I have two computers. One is my main computer, a desktop that I use for my various daily chores - Quickens, MS Office, image editing, etc. That main computer is five years old, and I need to replace it. This is why I am here. My other computer is secondary, and it is a laptop that I use to play music, Netflix, Plex, and to bring to office meetings which are once a week. That laptop isn't used for any heavy-duty chores.

I have read that desktops require upgrading every 4 to 5 years and, with laptops, it is even sooner. What makes financial sense: should I buy another desktop, and keep upgrading the desktop and the laptop as I am doing now? That, or should I buy a middle to high-end laptop and a dock station to use as my main computer and, when it requires upgrading, demotes that laptop to replace my secondary laptop?

 

Welcome to Major Geeks

There is no standard advice or requirement to update/upgrade any desktop or laptop over any specific life span.

The issue is what a person uses the system for and whether their needs require more RAM memory, or faster CPU or a better (ie SSD) hard drive.
Costs of buying upgrade hardware compared to buying a new system is a simple calculation that you must make.

If you want to indicate what your current system specs are, then run a scan with this program: SPECCY.
Make a screenshot of the 'SUMMARY' information and post it here.
Here is a MG guide to taking a focussed screenshot and posting it here via the 'upload a file' button below.
https://forums.majorgeeks.com/threads/taking-screenshots.26019/

 

That is just not true. There are way too many variables to pick some arbitrary number. It all depends on how satisfied you are with how well the current computer - desktop (PC) or notebook - is meeting your needs.

Also, when it comes to PCs, there is a HUGE difference between "upgrade" and "replace". Because notebooks are "all-in-one" computer systems and more importantly, so proprietary, "upgrade" options are very limited at best. So generally, notebooks do need to be "replaced" when they no longer meet your needs.

PCs on the other hand, tend to comply with the ATX Form Factor standard. This means components inside the PC can be "upgraded" individually to improve performance. That is, you can add more RAM, upgrade to a faster CPU, and/or more powerful graphics card. You can add disk space or replace a hard drive with an SSD and stretch the useful life span for several or even many years. A PC can even be "upgraded" by replacing the motherboard, CPU and RAM, But replacing the motherboard is a major upgrade and (to remain legal) typically requires a new OS license too. An added expense but still often cheaper than replacing the entire PC.

Most upgrades are technically pretty easy to do and generally require just a #2 Phillips screwdriver, good lighting, and a little care when handling the parts.

IMO, deciding what to do here is two separate decisions. If your notebook is still meeting your needs and you only need it once a week, I see no reason to replace it. Just make sure you keep current backups - which you should be doing anyway. If you need a new notebook, you need to establish your needs (the primary use), decide how big (monitor size) you want, and set a budget.

If you need (or just want - and nothing wrong with that) a new PC, you need to determine your needs and set a budget.

 

MaxTurner and Digerati, thanks for your advice. I really appreciate it.

@ Digerati. it is my desktop, not my laptop (notebook) that I am considering replacing. My desktop is 5 years old. I just bought my laptop, used, a few months ago.

Yes, I have thought about upgrading the hardware. I am uncomfortable with doing my own upgrade and I fear that I might screw up. Also, I don't know where is the bottleneck of the computer.

Swapping the hard drive - how would I do that? Just change the hard drive? What about the operation system, and the files that are already on my present hard drive? I am also thinking that my secondary computer which is a laptop and it is newer than my desktop. So, another option is to promote that laptop to be my main computer, and then buy a less expensive laptop to use as my secondary computer. Attached is an image of my current desktop and my laptop, can you take a look at them and advise on what are my best options? If the info that I posted does not suffice, I will install SPECCY. Thanks

This is the screenshot of my desktop.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FjC70FxDwhcDFsN1JtckQxNXc

This is the screen shot of my laptop

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FjC70FxDwhZnctQTBEbnhXLVU

 

@Dliu
Why do you even think you need to upgrade or replace your Desktop?
Five years is nothing in the life of a Desktop PC. I still occasionally use a Desktop that is 15 years old and apart from RAM I haven't upgraded anything.

You would need to identify very specific issues (ie problems) on that Desktop to indicate any need for upgrade.
You can run, using that Desktop, the Crucial scanner to see what the maximum RAM supported on that HP Motherboard and the exact type of ram stick needed, and if you want more speed in running multiple programs then that is the only useful upgrade (if it supports more than you have) and that is a piece of cake to do.

 

NB: Here are the specs for the RAM on that desktop. You can increase it to 8gb (as yours is a 64 bit system). Just scroll down and click the link for memory upgrade.
https://support.hp.com/gb-en/document/c03157407

 

@ MaxTurner.

Thanks, your advice is very helpful. I want to replace my desktop because it is running very slowly. Some of the larger programs take about one minute to load.

Also, does it make sense to promote my laptop to be my main computer? This laptop is a Dell E6440. The previous owner upgraded the hard drive to a Samsund 840 Pro SSD drive. This laptop runs much more quickly than my desktop. But, I don't know if that might be because the I haven't installed many apps into this laptop.

I ran and Crucial Scanner and this is the result. http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/scanview/A4147D0D31D926C3

From that report, it looks like I can upgrade the ram and the hard drive. I think that upgrading the hard drive is important as I am adding more videos and music files to this desktop, and it will soon run out of space. But, how difficult is it to upgrade the hard drive to a SSD drive?

 

Ooops! I just want to clarify that the Crucial Scanner's result is that of my desktop. Thanks.

 

It's not difficult on a Desktop computer but, since SSDs are 2.5" wide, youd need a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter since Desktop hard drives are 3.5" wide and you'd want the SSD to fit properly.

 

You have to calculate the cost of adding RAM and the cost of an SSD compared to buying a new system.
I think using the Laptop as your main system, and using the desktop - with more RAM - is a sensible choice.

 

>I think using the Laptop as your main system, and using the desktop - with more RAM - is a sensible choice.<

Sorry. But, what do you mean by that? My desktop is my main computer and my Laptop is my secondary computer. If I promote my laptop to be my main computer, what will I then use as my secondary computer?

Is my laptop much better than my desktop? I can't tell as I don't know how to read computer specs.

Thanks. I really appreciate your taking the time to help me.

 

What you suggested. Which I think makes sense.
Unless a HD is not working well, if it is just a question of space, then using a USB drive is a cheaper and better option to store extra data.

 

Something that bears mentioning, the system board in the desktop only has two DIMM slots for RAM modules. If there is an upgrade, it will replace the current RAM modules.

Your laptop is a more capable machine than your desktop as far as computing power. The question really is what is your desktop used for? Regular computing, streaming video, gaming, connected to a TV/sound system as a media center PC, etc.

Why do you feel you need to replace the desktop if it is simply slowing down? You are at the end of the average expected lifetime of a regularly used hard drive. What type of image editing software will you be running? A clone to an SSD would suffice, unless you need something heavy duty which requires a graphics card.

Is your machine malware free?

 

The desktop is much too slow, especially with PhotoShop, Quicken Deluxe, and MS Office 2016. I timed it, and PhotoShop takes a bit over a minute to load. When I add another appointment in Outlook, it often takes a long time for the dialog box to show. Sometimes, this function halts the computer. I have also tried to upgrade the USB ports to 3.0. But, the desktop doesn't recognize the USB 3.0 card. The desktop also lacks a HDMI port. So, I can't use that desktop as my secondary computer as that computer needs to connect to my stereo receiver via its HDMI jack. The desktop is so slow that I am thinking that the lost productivity more than justify replacing it.

Is my Dell laptop that much better than my desktop? The laptop has been upgraded with an SSD drive. As MaxTurner suggested, a sensible idea might be to just promote that laptop to be my main computer.

 

This seems to be getting unnecessarily complicated.
Your laptop has the potential to be far more powerful and faster than the Desktop - that laptop can support 16gb of RAM on a 64 bit OS.
So simply run those programs you currently run on the Desktop on the LAPTOP.

Slowness on a Desktop can be caused by all kinds of issues:
too little free space on the hard drive - so simply move some data to an external drive
the hard drive has not been cleaned regularly of junk files - so do that
the hard drive - if conventional- has not been fully de-fragmented at least twice a year - so do that
you unknowingly have malware on the system - so to be sure run all the scans in the MG Read & Run Me First guide in the malware forum
you might have problems on its hard drive - so run a decent disk check on it
no HDMI - then get an adapter
you might have problems with the installed RAM - so run an in depth RAM test with the free software available

It seems you are only talking about these issues with the Desktop four days into this thread.
Deal with the Desktop slowness as one issue.
In the meantime use the Laptop for important uses.

 

Does the laptop have an HDMI port?