Value desktop

[blueST]

I currently have an old Mac Mini which is so slow as to be practically unusable, so looking for a good value replacement. I am not looking at another Mac as they are too expensive. I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse and couple of external drives etc, so just looking for a computer to plug into that lot and use for 'net, email and basic holiday/video storage editing. I use Google docs for all my Word processing, spreadsheets etc, so don't need Office 365.

I was thinking about getting an Asus Chromebox, but I'm not sure if it will turn out to be too limited. Heard there can be trouble printing to Wifi printers and not sure how it will work with the masses of photos and stuff I have on my external drive.

So what would you recommend, Chrome OS or Windows? What minimum spec would I need to give say a 5 to 7 year useful life? Can I get something for around £300. If not, what should I be spending?

[AJB88]

You could use a Chromebox or get a desktop and install Cloudready (based on Chromium) if you find it too limiting could install Ubuntu or even Windows 10 on it then.

If the printer is modern and has Apple Print/Google Print it will be fine, my printer that is about 8 years old I can print to from ChromeOS.

Depending on how the drive is formatted, depends on how ChromeOS will react when you plug it in.

[eltawater]

I use one of these HP prodesk mini as my main photo processing workstation. Easily fast enough for my needs and upgraded from 8GB to 32GB for around 80 pounds.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

[heisthegaffer]

I would. Just get a refurbished dell or something off a reseller from ebay. Cheap and reliable and usually with Win 10 etc installed.

[nikaiyo2]

We got a few of these for the office,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Optiplex-9020-USFF...
Great value, super performance.

[blueST]

I’ve not considered a refurb, looks like there is some good value to be had. What is the min spec a competent Windows machine should have?

[dmsims]

blueST said:

I’ve not considered a refurb, looks like there is some good value to be had. What is the min spec a competent Windows machine should have?

8GB ram
i3 processor
and an SSD make life much more pleasant

[Mr Pointy]

I posted this one on another thread:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-Optiplex-7020-Inte...

Dell 7020
i5 4590
16Gb RAM
240 GB SSD
£190

[blueST]

Should I be concerned that some of these refurbs have got processor models in that were released 5+ years ago? For example the one above is an i5 7020 which Google says was launched in 2014. They are not that much more up to date than the i5 in my ailing Mac.

[dmsims]

blueST said:

Should I be concerned that some of these refurbs have got processor models in that were released 5+ years ago? For example the one above is an i5 7020 which Google says was launched in 2014. They are not that much more up to date than the i5 in my ailing Mac.

It's an i5 (4th Gen) 4590 / 3.3 GHz so not an issue

[blueST]

dmsims said:

It's an i5 (4th Gen) 4590 / 3.3 GHz so not an issue

Yes, got my numbers mixed up. When Googled, said 4590 was a 2014 item, but assume that's not an issue then.

[996owner]

Ive got a mid 2010 mac mini
was very slow, popped in an SSD (well not quite popped as its a bit of work)
Very fast now. even with only 4gm ram


from power on to working desktop 20 seconds

[blueST]

996owner said:

Ive got a mid 2010 mac mini
was very slow, popped in an SSD (well not quite popped as its a bit of work)
Very fast now. even with only 4gm ram


from power on to working desktop 20 seconds

I have thought about this, and asked on here before about it. The reason I haven't done it was that I was also advised to wack a load of RAM in, which I did and made zero difference. I did get a noticeable improvement from re-installling the OS from scratch, but it is still very laggy.

[Dave.]

£54 on a Rasp pi4?

[blueST]

Dave. said:

£54 on a Rasp pi4?

Pi(e)s need some knowledge don't they? I just want a PC, not a hobby.

[Dave.]

Not really, get the noobs SD card when you buy (£7 I think), plug it all in and off you go.

It's Linux so if you're not familiar with it it might take a few mins to find where the browser is, but after that it'll become second nature.

[996owner]

blueST said:

996owner said:

Ive got a mid 2010 mac mini
was very slow, popped in an SSD (well not quite popped as its a bit of work)
Very fast now. even with only 4gm ram


from power on to working desktop 20 seconds

I have thought about this, and asked on here before about it. The reason I haven't done it was that I was also advised to wack a load of RAM in, which I did and made zero difference. I did get a noticeable improvement from re-installling the OS from scratch, but it is still very laggy.

I ran mine on 2gb of ram very little difference deffo do an SSD upgrade. a 240 gb ssd is £25. you will be surprise

Edited by 996owner on Thursday 21st November 14:05