Help Buying a New Computer (1 Viewer)

[Mrs. Rannous]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

 

[belljr]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

Why? I wfh, my laptop is plenty powerful

 

[belljr]

Has anyone ever used something like this for your laptop? Screen extender

Do I need one? No. Would it come in handy when doing drafts and other multitasking? Most definitely. Reasonably priced as well (part of what makes me question it, price seems too good)

My wife's boss has one and swears by it but I think his was a "nicer" model. I really would like to try one

 

[the moops]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

Why? I wfh, my laptop is plenty powerful

Yea this seems like a weird take. I WFH a couple days a week, but even on the days I am in the office I use my laptop. It is plenty plenty powerful and allows me to take it to meetings and home and not have to have a different machine in the two locations.

And if a macbook air wouldn't suffice, there are plenty of way powerful machines that will work for 99% of the workforce. I run several different 3D modeling programs and several Adobe programs and my laptop is totally fine.

@Mrs. Rannous what are you doing when you WFH that you think only a desktop would work?

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

Why? I wfh, my laptop is plenty powerful

So you are just juggling it on your lap? Reading on some wonky screen? Wondering where to use the mouse? For several hours a day? Doesn't sound too comfortable.

(Also, Mr R is running bank software. A good work station is important.)

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

@Mrs. Rannous what are you doing when you WFH that you think only a desktop would work?

Mr R is the worker bee. He has a really large deluxe monitor. He is able to run multiple windows on the same screen and can space them out where he needs them to be. And moving that stuff around is a non-starter. He needs a secure line and a way to set up a hot spot here in the event of the fiberoptics being offlne.

 

[belljr]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

Why? I wfh, my laptop is plenty powerful

So you are just juggling it on your lap? Reading on some wonky screen? Wondering where to use the mouse? For several hours a day? Doesn't sound too comfortable.

(Also, Mr R is running bank software. A good work station is important.)

42 inch monitor, wired Ethernet but my Wi-Fi is encrypted plus I have to frac into system

Wireless mouse and keyboard

Not that difficult

I'm running secure ATC software

This isnt the 80s

Eta: my wife is running 3 monitors off her laptop

 

[the moops]

I will never buy a desktop computer again. Outside of hardcore gamers I am not sure why anyone really would honestly. Get a macbook air and a wireless keyboard for when you want to use the monitor you already own. Voila

I guess you don't work from home.

Why? I wfh, my laptop is plenty powerful

So you are just juggling it on your lap? Reading on some wonky screen? Wondering where to use the mouse? For several hours a day? Doesn't sound too comfortable.

(Also, Mr R is running bank software. A good work station is important.)

Juggling? Wonky screen?

I plug my laptop into two huge 4K monitors at work and two less huge but still good size at home. Bluetooth mouse. But yet i can also go sit on the couch or lay in bed with the laptop. It’s like the complete opposite of not comfortable.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Brief, but related, hijack. Minimum requirements for a soon to be computer science major. This is not my area of expertise. Those of you who know computers well, what options would you consider?

OS: Windows or Mac
CPU: Quad Core with Hyper-Threading, or better
Memory: 16GB RAM, recommended to be expandable (seems like a knock on the Mac side)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060/AMD RX 580

Additional Notes:
Available USB (2.0+) Ports recommended
Available USB Type-C port recommended

 

[TheAristocrat]

Brief, but related, hijack. Minimum requirements for a soon to be computer science major. This is not my area of expertise. Those of you who know computers well, what options would you consider?

OS: Windows or Mac
CPU: Quad Core with Hyper-Threading, or better
Memory: 16GB RAM, recommended to be expandable (seems like a knock on the Mac side)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060/AMD RX 580

Additional Notes:
Available USB (2.0+) Ports recommended
Available USB Type-C port recommended

Those are pretty low specs. Roughly new in 2008 low. I'd check to see what else the laptop could be used for and see if you can find something that would be used and enjoyed for a few years.

 

[MTskibum]

Brief, but related, hijack. Minimum requirements for a soon to be computer science major. This is not my area of expertise. Those of you who know computers well, what options would you consider?

OS: Windows or Mac
CPU: Quad Core with Hyper-Threading, or better
Memory: 16GB RAM, recommended to be expandable (seems like a knock on the Mac side)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060/AMD RX 580

Additional Notes:
Available USB (2.0+) Ports recommended
Available USB Type-C port recommended

You can stick to those specs. My developer team has a mixture of 3-4 year old I5's or 5-6 year old i9's(were called e3 back then) all using laptops.

If you live near a microcenter then that is where you want to go, however if not then buy whatever is on special on costco if you are a member. Ideally MSI or asus as they have less bloatware preinstalled than the other brands.


About half of my and my inlaws family is on the engineering side and a CAD workstation has real requirements. They still have desktops at work. Computer programming requires less computing power relatively speaking.

 

[PlayaHata]

Has anyone ever used something like this for your laptop? Screen extender

Do I need one? No. Would it come in handy when doing drafts and other multitasking? Most definitely. Reasonably priced as well (part of what makes me question it, price seems too good)

My wife bought one because she travels a fair amount and said she'd be so much more efficient with it. I think it's been used once in the 6 months since she bought it and has been gathering dust since LOL.

 

[titusbramble]

Brief, but related, hijack. Minimum requirements for a soon to be computer science major. This is not my area of expertise. Those of you who know computers well, what options would you consider?

That is entirely dependent on exactly what said person is doing in a computer science major. They might need something specific to the course, then again the most intensive thing they would be running could be Netflix