When did desktop computers get so expensive?
Discussion
I've decided to get back into RC flying, so I bought a simulator to try and get to grips with doing more than just basic circuits.
My old Asus laptop might struggle with hi-res graphics onto my TV, so I had a look at buying a small desktop PC. Nothing fancy, just an i5 with 8gb RAM, basic 3D graphics and a 1TB HDD. No monitor, keyboard or mouse needed.
At PC World they start at around £500, so I checked a few other places, and they don't seem to be any cheaper, although they do include a separate soundcard and a DVD drive.
Seems crazy to me that a complete laptop with similar spec (but with an SSD) costs less than £100 more.
Then I remembered that I've got a 5 year old Mac Mini that I haven't used for a while. it's already loaded with Windows 10. Fired it up, and it looks like it will do the job.
ISTR Mac Minis costing an awful lot more than a similar spec Windows box, but the gap has seemingly narrowed quite a bit?
My old Asus laptop might struggle with hi-res graphics onto my TV, so I had a look at buying a small desktop PC. Nothing fancy, just an i5 with 8gb RAM, basic 3D graphics and a 1TB HDD. No monitor, keyboard or mouse needed.
At PC World they start at around £500, so I checked a few other places, and they don't seem to be any cheaper, although they do include a separate soundcard and a DVD drive.
Seems crazy to me that a complete laptop with similar spec (but with an SSD) costs less than £100 more.
Then I remembered that I've got a 5 year old Mac Mini that I haven't used for a while. it's already loaded with Windows 10. Fired it up, and it looks like it will do the job.
ISTR Mac Minis costing an awful lot more than a similar spec Windows box, but the gap has seemingly narrowed quite a bit?
20yrs ago laptops cost more as desktops were everywhere and laptops were typically exclusive to high end business professionals, who at the time could afford them.
Role forward 10yrs, laptops are affordable to the masses, so people buy more laptops.
Now desktops are mostly used by either gamers or basic work stations for office, so demand has dropped, pushing up prices as volumes are lower.
Role forward 10yrs, laptops are affordable to the masses, so people buy more laptops.
Now desktops are mostly used by either gamers or basic work stations for office, so demand has dropped, pushing up prices as volumes are lower.
I guess the consumer shift to laptops and tablets, and the drop in desktop sales volume, probably explains it.
I don't suppose it helps that there are so many different models on sale though - I bet most of them (apart from Dell) sell in tiny numbers now.
Shame you can't buy a laptop chassis with no screen, keyboard and trackpad fitted at a reduced price to use with a TV and bluetooth input device.
I don't suppose it helps that there are so many different models on sale though - I bet most of them (apart from Dell) sell in tiny numbers now.
Shame you can't buy a laptop chassis with no screen, keyboard and trackpad fitted at a reduced price to use with a TV and bluetooth input device.
RC flight simulator - Realflight 9.5. Comes with a wired "transmitter", so control is the same as a proper RC plane/heli. It's all about getting the fingers to work properly.
Specs say it'll run on a 1ghz Pentium, top spec for all the effects and physics is a 2.5ghz dual core and 2gb RAM.
I'm guessing that an extra soundcard is fitted because onboard sound can be bit iffy on cheap motherboards?
Specs say it'll run on a 1ghz Pentium, top spec for all the effects and physics is a 2.5ghz dual core and 2gb RAM.
I'm guessing that an extra soundcard is fitted because onboard sound can be bit iffy on cheap motherboards?
Personally with that sort of spec I would be buying second hand on ebay. Intel processors haven't moved on that much in the last 10 years (at least not compared to the decade before). If you shop around you can get something for under £100. Then just upgrade the graphics card if you need to.
clockworks said:
I've decided to get back into RC flying, so I bought a simulator to try and get to grips with doing more than just basic circuits.
My old Asus laptop might struggle with hi-res graphics onto my TV, so I had a look at buying a small desktop PC. Nothing fancy, just an i5 with 8gb RAM, basic 3D graphics and a 1TB HDD. No monitor, keyboard or mouse needed.
At PC World they start at around £500, so I checked a few other places, and they don't seem to be any cheaper, although they do include a separate soundcard and a DVD drive.
Seems crazy to me that a complete laptop with similar spec (but with an SSD) costs less than £100 more.
Then I remembered that I've got a 5 year old Mac Mini that I haven't used for a while. it's already loaded with Windows 10. Fired it up, and it looks like it will do the job.
ISTR Mac Minis costing an awful lot more than a similar spec Windows box, but the gap has seemingly narrowed quite a bit?
Don't forget that a Desktop i5 and a Laptop i5 aren't comparable even if they have the same branding. A desktop processor will be more powerful than it's laptop equivalent.My old Asus laptop might struggle with hi-res graphics onto my TV, so I had a look at buying a small desktop PC. Nothing fancy, just an i5 with 8gb RAM, basic 3D graphics and a 1TB HDD. No monitor, keyboard or mouse needed.
At PC World they start at around £500, so I checked a few other places, and they don't seem to be any cheaper, although they do include a separate soundcard and a DVD drive.
Seems crazy to me that a complete laptop with similar spec (but with an SSD) costs less than £100 more.
Then I remembered that I've got a 5 year old Mac Mini that I haven't used for a while. it's already loaded with Windows 10. Fired it up, and it looks like it will do the job.
ISTR Mac Minis costing an awful lot more than a similar spec Windows box, but the gap has seemingly narrowed quite a bit?
Millenialwithtoast said:
Don't forget that a Desktop i5 and a Laptop i5 aren't comparable even if they have the same branding. A desktop processor will be more powerful than it's laptop equivalent.
...and the laptop GPU will be a lower-power version to reduce battery consumption and heat (assuming it's not a crappy integrated GPU on the processor)...although spotting the mobile vs desktop version of some GPUs seems to be intentionally difficult where one model is a 999X and the other is an X999 and you find benchmarks for the wrong one 
The price of electronics is carefully balanced to what you HONESTLY use it for.
I'm writing this on a HP 6930p laptop from 2010 all orginal hardware - windows 10, latest office; yes it's slow, but perfectly useable.
Video editing however - it falls over.
Under the TV is a PS4 for a a few hundred quids, which does the gaming.
The point is, WHAT are you actually and HONESTLY doing with it....?
Lastest games - yes more expensive
Video editing - yes more expensive
However as others suggest, loads of cheap office desktops around for a couple for hundred quid?
I'm writing this on a HP 6930p laptop from 2010 all orginal hardware - windows 10, latest office; yes it's slow, but perfectly useable.
Video editing however - it falls over.
Under the TV is a PS4 for a a few hundred quids, which does the gaming.
The point is, WHAT are you actually and HONESTLY doing with it....?
Lastest games - yes more expensive
Video editing - yes more expensive
However as others suggest, loads of cheap office desktops around for a couple for hundred quid?
mmm-five said:
If you're Mac has a decent size SSD/HDD and plenty of space, you could always run Bootcamp to install a W10 partition to run from - I find the same games run faster on W10 than on Mac (unless they're native Mac games and aren't simply ported via WINE).
I've got Bootcamp and a Win10 partition on the Mac Mini, so all set up and ready to go when the courier finally delivers the sim and controller.....clockworks said:
I'm guessing that an extra soundcard is fitted because onboard sound can be bit iffy on cheap motherboards?
It's actually very odd, it's hard if not impossible to find a motherboard that doesn't have great sound these days. To need a sound card would mean it's ancient in computing terms and considerable cheaper than they have priced it up. I bet it's no more than a £100 PC they've had in the warehouse for years and with Currys PCW allegedly in a bit of trouble they are trying to flog them off to anyone who doesn't know any better. Or at worst a customer trade in.Zetec-S said:
Expensive?
I remember going to PC World with my parents back in the 90's, our first family PC was something like 2 grand. IIRC that bought us a Pentium 2 machine, 15" monitor and printer
That would be late 90s I would guessI remember going to PC World with my parents back in the 90's, our first family PC was something like 2 grand. IIRC that bought us a Pentium 2 machine, 15" monitor and printer
I can go back to starting selling PCs in 1995. Pentium 133Mhz with 8mb RAM and a 1Gb hard drive was £2k with a 14" monitor and you had to pay extra for CD-ROM, soundcard and speakers
Entry level was a 486 DX2-66 with 4Mb and a 540Mb HDD for about £800
Exactly, they're ridiculously cheap now.
My two PCs, one was £200 all in and happily runs a 4k display and 2 HD displays, will happily do Sketchup and photo editing, probably not video. My other was bought in 2009 for £600 and is happily running 6 displays and fine for everything but the most complicated stuff and gaming.
My two PCs, one was £200 all in and happily runs a 4k display and 2 HD displays, will happily do Sketchup and photo editing, probably not video. My other was bought in 2009 for £600 and is happily running 6 displays and fine for everything but the most complicated stuff and gaming.
Don't even consider PC World for Desktops.
Take a look at someone like eBuyer, Palicomp or PC Specialist, your money will go much further:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/
https://www.palicomp.co.uk/
https://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-...
Take a look at someone like eBuyer, Palicomp or PC Specialist, your money will go much further:
https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/
https://www.palicomp.co.uk/
https://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Desktop-...
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