can you tell me if this desktop is decent

That's a decent machine. It's not too much more than what it would cost me to build it (including OS), so that's a good sign that the price is on point. But does he need this type of configuration?

For example, it comes with a GT 720. They're calling this a "gaming series" PC, but the card is worthless for gaming and unnecessary for basic tasks. More of a media center card I suppose. And since I suspect your dad is not intending to play games, this is needlessly adding $50+ to the price.

What's his intended use?

The video card is crap, but it won't make the desktop slow

Sorry, totally missed the part in the original post where you mentioned his intended use.

The more expensive one is largely the same as the other one except for the video card. The more expensive machine has a sliiightly better performing video card based on older architecture. He should not buy that machine.

It's not a matter of whether the video card is bad or not. It's the fact that it's even there. It won't do him much good or bad. It's just adding to the cost. If he were buying it for gaming, it's garbage. If he were buying it for watching videos, it's unnecessary. The Intel integrated graphics would be fine.

I'm looking for better configurations on the best buy website.

This ASUS is superior in performance to the two lenovos:
LINK


I would consider this HP a very strong contender for its price. It has a pretty decent APU:
LINK

Likewise for this Dell:
LINK

I'll spare you the whole speech about SSDs, but if I were setting up a new system for my dad in this price range, I would have him purchase the Dell or the HP, along with this SSD. I'd add the SSD to the desktop, and use a free migration program to put the OS image to the SSD, boot to SSD, format the 1TB drive and use it as file storage. He would be very, very happy.

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between the ASUS and DELL, why are they much better than the Lenovo?

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Because the Dell will give him the same performance for less money. It doesn't have the unnecessary video card. It would become far superior with the addition of the SSD I linked, and the total would still be less than the Lenovo. The ASUS, for the same price as the Lenovo, has a superior CPU with a decent integrated GPU (Intel HD 4600). It would outperform the Lenovo based on that alone. But by outperform, I simply mean technically superior. He will probably never push any of those CPUs near enough to ever see a difference.

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im a big fan of the i5 and i7 chips

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That's fine, but to be a fan of series of CPUs that span in performance and IPC differences over many years is odd. Are you familiar with AMD's APUs, especially the Kaveris released this year? The AMD APU in the HP is a good chip, and offers the benefit of having a good integrated GPU. It's not that important, though.

Truth be told, the CPU is not really as important as you might think. 90+% of his everyday performance will be bottlenecked by the mechanical hard drive unless you transfer the OS to an SSD. In this instance, the i5 will outperform the AMD APU, but the point was to present some better configured options that are cheaper (the HP and Dell at least) and will provide the same experience. Given his desire to just stream video, he wouldn't even notice a performance difference if he bought a $400-500 tower with an i3 or AMD A8.
Like, any of these:
LINK
LINK
LINK
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ive heard mixed things on ASUS. the best buy reviews are bad and so are amazon on it. just curious.

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I hate when this happens. I hate reviewers so much sometimes. For reviews of computers and computer components, it helps to read the negatives to determine if they are valid.

Here are the ones on amazon:

3-star review: Guy is complaining because the case design makes a full-size video card upgrade problematic. Yeah, no shite. It also wouldn't have an adequate power supply for that kind of upgrade. None of them will.

1-star review: Bitching about a rebate not being honored, probably because he made a mistake in the rebate process. It's also not even relevant since there is no rebate being offered currently.

1-star review: Once again, bitching about the rebate. Yes, Amazon reviewers are the worst.


The one 1-star review on best buy: "my desktop has crashed twice in the past year where I have to send it back to the factory for repair. It is a totally unreliable product . run as fast as you can from ASUS products."

Totally invalid. Any computer can crash, and it's almost always because of hard drive failure. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the reviewers' fault it crashed. What does "crashed" even mean in this context? I'm betting the reviewer doesn't know either. There is nothing different about the internals of an ASUS computer compared to HP, Dell, Lenovo, etc. ALL of them get their components from companies like Foxconn, Quanta, ECS, Pegatron, etc. ASUS motherboards are generally made by Pegatron (which used to be part of ASUS) and are good quality -- not sure who their other ODM partners are these days, but I'm sure Foxconn is at the top of the list. Foxconn makes pretty much everyone else's motherboards, including Apple.

I'm not saying your dad should buy the ASUS, as it's overkill for his use. However, it's completely invalid to consider ASUS to be inferior to the rest. Buying the $680 Lenovo instead of the ASUS would also be very foolish.

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Your father will never pick up Win8.

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It's easier to use than 7.

I was a hold-out for a long time. I got a new SSD this week and did a fresh install of Windows 8.1 last night. It's fine. It will be more secure than 7 right out of the box. In fact, it was annoyingly secure to me until I disabled some shite, so it's perfect for the non-savvy. It's more Apple-happy-easy-hand-holding than ever. 8.1 will boot to desktop, and if you install "start is back," the interface differences between 7 and 8 disappear almost entirely. The ones that do remain are ridiculously watered-down user-friendly.

There is no reason to hunt down older desktops just for Windows 7.

Old people simply need a patient, intelligent person who can set the computer up appropriately -- Migrate the Windows installation to an SSD, reformat the hard drive, redirect libraries to the HDD, install every application and applet he would need (word processing, browsers, java, flash, silverlight, a media player like VLC that can handle anything and everything and set to play all video/audio file types by default, etc.), make his main programs easily accessible shortcuts on a clean desktop, and show him the basics. My dad is in his 60s as well, and he never has to call me for PC help anymore.

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This doesn't look old to me.....

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That's why he should listen to me and not you. One of the PCs I linked above is significantly superior to that one in every way and is $10 more. It would be more ideal to buy a better-configured Windows 8 machine and install Windows 7 on it if desired. But like I said, since Windows 8 can be set up to be identical to 7, there's no need.

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I quit speaking to my oldest sister for 6 months until I installed TeamViewer on her pc and no longer had to ask her what she did wrong.

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That's an even better idea than getting Windows 7.

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You would not believe what they can mess up.....

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I would believe it, which is why Windows 8 is a better choice for the less savvy. It can be set up by the OP to look identical to 7, with added security benefits and more automated maintenance.

You are ignoring facts for consumer opinion. Yes, Windows 8 has a far lower rate of penetration, akin to Vista. And the reason for that is perception. The initial rollout and preview of Windows 8 was a disaster. The interface was completely different. It made desktop and non-touch laptop users nauseated. The various media outlets covered the outrage more than the actual features of the OS. The negativity settled down when 8.1 was released, but by that time, most consumers and businesses had already decided to cling to Windows 7 as long as possible. Couple that with businesses who aren't in an upgrade cycle and consumers who already weren't planning to upgrade, and it's a clear picture of a lower-than-normal market share. That's the effect of consumer opinion and first impressions, a force so strong that even I, until a day ago, was wary of Windows 8. Much of the public knows by now that Windows 8.1 can be configured to be identical to 8.1, but having that knowledge, they have even less of a reason to go out and buy a new OS, so adoption remains low.

The fact of the matter, despite the perception, is that Windows 8.1 is not only easy to configure to look and feel identical to 7, but also a technically superior operating system in terms of security and resource efficiency.

Here's my Windows 8.1 desktop





Oh, does that still look so strange and scaaary? Give me a minute...







etc.
etc.

The OP can do this for his dad in under 5 minutes.

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Computer specs are not the most important matter when working with seniors.

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Of course not, but when you consider the Windows 8 PC I linked has a CPU that's over 60% faster in multithreading, better GPU, double the RAM, double the hard drive capacity, etc... Pretty sure that's important enough, especially given that I've already proven the Windows 8.1 interface can easily be setup to function as 7's. That low-powered Acer is not even a consideration. The value of that Acer is so comparatively poor, that any argument over how much hardware power he needs is completely irrelevant. I've been doing for longer than you've been teaching.

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I only ask one thing. I ask that you accept full responsibility for your advice and give the old man your home phone number so he can call you when he has a question about his Win8 machine.

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Nice try. You probably are unfamiliar with my post history. I've walked people through the entire process of building a computer, step by step, via Skype. I've configured, built, and set up a PC for a complete stranger who asked for help on the Gaming Board. I've spent considerable time helping people troubleshoot/fix problems via skype, steam chat, and e-mail. And tech board/gaming board posts as long as this one are pretty standard for me. That's just what I've done. I've offered to do more. This was a side business years ago, and now I just do it for fun.

If the OP lived in Baton Rouge, I'd do the entire process of imaging the HDD to the SSD, formatting the hard drive, installing the necessary programs and applets his dad would use, install Start-is-Back, and turn Windows back to a nice comfortable blue for good measure. I'm obviously not giving out my number just because you're shifting the burden of proof and think that makes your argument remotely valid, but I'm always on this forum and willing to help and answer any questions -- assuming the OP couldn't answer it himself.

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