- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
PC or Mini PC Advice
Posted on 11/3/24 at 8:22 pm
Posted on 11/3/24 at 8:22 pm
For some reason my son (4th year at LSU) wants a desktop computer for school. I am in law school, and I use a Surface laptop and just plug in to a docking station at home. I have tried to steer him in this direction, but he wants to wait until med school for a new laptop. I saw a thread earlier this week about the Apple Mini being an incredible value at $600 but he said that he would prefer it not be an Apple for compatibility purposes in school. Any suggestions for a PC or mini computer that won't bog down on him and in the $500-$999 price range?
He currently uses a Surface Pro and an iPad now. He is pre-med so not doing any heavy computing.
He currently uses a Surface Pro and an iPad now. He is pre-med so not doing any heavy computing.
5
Posted on 11/3/24 at 8:55 pm to jflsufan
Beelink mini PC. Amazon has them. Just pick one you like. I run my media server on one.
Posted on 11/3/24 at 9:54 pm to jflsufan
For general schoolwork and goofing off, not gaming (although emulation up to about ps2 would likely be fine), you can get A SFF HP EliteDesk 800 with i5-9500t (5 generations old at this point. Not a slouch when it comes to general use) with 32gb RAM, a 1TB ssd for $270.
If I were buying a replacement desktop for my office today, this would be high on the list.
Reasons:
Ssd and RAM are replaceable and upgrade able. I wouldn’t need either (we have a NAS and use almost no on-device storage, 32gb of RAM for our workflow is overkill x2-4
There’s going to be an extra slot for a 2.5” or another NVME/m.2 drive in there
Cons:
You’re not adding a GPU to this
You probably should familiarize yourself with removing programs or reinstalling windows when you get it as I’ve gotten some that had programs that were full of chinese characters installed on them. It’s a 20 minute job, tops
DisplayPort is not HDMI and requires an adapter if using a monitor with hdmi, but it’s cheap.
The included keyboard and mouse are not particularly nice. The keyboard borders on garbage. The Logitech veritical series or “handshake” mice are my new favorites over the last year or so. I have an older k840 (or 480?) mechanical keyboard that has served me well for about 5 years.
You can get bigger form factors with more room for storage. Some will even have pcie slots for graphics cards, but then you’ll need an upgraded PSU in most cases, and I feel like I read that most of the “big brand business” models (Dell, HP, Lenovo) do not use standard power supplies which can make that hard. But it doesn’t sound, from your description, that he intends to do anything like that. And LSU will give him the newest windows license to reinstall if he so chooses for free or cheap. And it doesn’t sound like he needs to be doing CAD stuff. So unless any of that triggered something, something along these lines is likely to serve him through the end of med school and could have a long life as a little server/automation box.
And if it doesn’t? It was under $300.
If I were buying a replacement desktop for my office today, this would be high on the list.
Reasons:
Ssd and RAM are replaceable and upgrade able. I wouldn’t need either (we have a NAS and use almost no on-device storage, 32gb of RAM for our workflow is overkill x2-4
There’s going to be an extra slot for a 2.5” or another NVME/m.2 drive in there
Cons:
You’re not adding a GPU to this
You probably should familiarize yourself with removing programs or reinstalling windows when you get it as I’ve gotten some that had programs that were full of chinese characters installed on them. It’s a 20 minute job, tops
DisplayPort is not HDMI and requires an adapter if using a monitor with hdmi, but it’s cheap.
The included keyboard and mouse are not particularly nice. The keyboard borders on garbage. The Logitech veritical series or “handshake” mice are my new favorites over the last year or so. I have an older k840 (or 480?) mechanical keyboard that has served me well for about 5 years.
You can get bigger form factors with more room for storage. Some will even have pcie slots for graphics cards, but then you’ll need an upgraded PSU in most cases, and I feel like I read that most of the “big brand business” models (Dell, HP, Lenovo) do not use standard power supplies which can make that hard. But it doesn’t sound, from your description, that he intends to do anything like that. And LSU will give him the newest windows license to reinstall if he so chooses for free or cheap. And it doesn’t sound like he needs to be doing CAD stuff. So unless any of that triggered something, something along these lines is likely to serve him through the end of med school and could have a long life as a little server/automation box.
And if it doesn’t? It was under $300.
Posted on 11/4/24 at 9:04 am to jflsufan
You might consider something like this Dell on Amazon:
Dell Business Computer
Seems like decent bang for the buck and has an expansion slot if you choose to add a graphics card.
Dell Business Computer
Seems like decent bang for the buck and has an expansion slot if you choose to add a graphics card.
Posted on 11/4/24 at 10:18 am to GurleyGirl
quote:
Seems like decent bang for the buck and has an expansion slot if you choose to add a graphics card.
Looks like good bang for the buck, but I doubt the power supply in it will be able to handle a good graphics card.
Posted on 11/4/24 at 11:04 am to jflsufan
Laptop tech has started to seriously bog down due to battery and heat dissipation limitations. If you’ll be getting him a laptop next year, I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t just buy one now. Has he given one?
Posted on 11/4/24 at 12:34 pm to Joshjrn
quote:
If you’ll be getting him a laptop next year, I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t just buy one now. Has he given one?
It is implicated that the guy will start med school next year. They buy laptops as a class and all have the same one. The schools keep a handful of “loaners” that are identical, and they’re required for testing. To not buy the school one is to be responsible for updates and testing software on your own without the ability to use a loaner. Is it likely to be a problem? No. Is it a huge deal if it is? Yes.
So everyone just gets the school laptop.
Posted on 11/4/24 at 2:20 pm to Hopeful Doc
Thanks for all of the feedback.
Posted on 11/7/24 at 5:02 pm to jflsufan
Problem with laptops is you can get great ones on sale for like $250 now but as soon as you want TB or usb4 for docking, the cost more than doubles.
I recommend any 12th gen Intel i3 or i5 “P” series for a mini PC. U series for a laptop. 8GB ram expandable to 16 is fine for anything except for data crunching.
Intel NUC is the best most stable mini PC with all the expensive I/o features. I have an 8th gen i5 with Iris and 32GB ram. Still perfectly current and does a lot of things faster than my 12th gen laptop.
I recommend any 12th gen Intel i3 or i5 “P” series for a mini PC. U series for a laptop. 8GB ram expandable to 16 is fine for anything except for data crunching.
Intel NUC is the best most stable mini PC with all the expensive I/o features. I have an 8th gen i5 with Iris and 32GB ram. Still perfectly current and does a lot of things faster than my 12th gen laptop.
Page 1 of 1
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News