What’s good office pc wise?
Author
Discussion

trickywoo

Original Poster:

14,224 posts

260 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
Looking to update a Dell Optiplex 380 for office based Microsoft stuff. No gaming, no heavy design etc.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

Mr Pointy

13,409 posts

189 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
I'd suggest looking for a refubished Optiplex:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Optiplex-Office-240GB-Int...

That's just an example but it's a i7 with 16Gb & an SSD for £180 & there are usually loads on ebay & Amazon. Just make sure you get the RAM & SSD you want as it's more expensive to upgrade. If you're concerned about Windows 11 look for a 8th generation processor, but that will cost a bit more - I think it's the 7060 series onwards are £375ish depending on RAM & SSD.

xeny

5,500 posts

108 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
I'd spring the extra for new enough hardware that it will support Windows 11 officially. That 7010 may have an i7, but is 8 or 9 years old, and I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much on hardware that old.

Agree that for what you want, a new or 2nd hand Optiplex to taste is a good fit. Check how many monitors it supports vs how many you need.

trickywoo

Original Poster:

14,224 posts

260 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
Thanks for the suggestions.

In traditional PH style going against what has been recommended so far is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M75s Gen 2 (AMD) OK?

I'm hopeful of what I get now lasting 10 years at least as my current setup has done.

Mr Pointy

13,409 posts

189 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
I'd certainly agree but the 8th generation PCs are still a bit pricey at the moment. I'm currently using a 7010 made around 2011 which has an i7 3770 with 16GB & a Samsung SSD. It's running Excel, Outlook, AutoCad, Firefox, Acrobat & Teams all at the same time & never really hesitates. I must admit to splashing out £15 on a graphics card from ebay which was a big improvement for CAD.

I view these PCs as disposable items now - they have masses of power for most users (not games obv) & if it goes titsup I just splash £180 on a new one which will last years. In fact the motherboard on this one did go pop & I bought an ebay replacement for £12.50 & had it going again in an hour. I love them.

JeffreyD

6,155 posts

70 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
I recently asked the same question and got some helpful replies.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

I ended up with a Lenovo Small form factor Gen 10 i5 32GB ram and I am very pleased with it.

xeny

5,500 posts

108 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
trickywoo said:
Thanks for the suggestions.

In traditional PH style going against what has been recommended so far is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M75s Gen 2 (AMD) OK?

I'm hopeful of what I get now lasting 10 years at least as my current setup has done.
Should be fine. The Lenovo Business, Dell Optiplex, and HP Prodesk are essentially the same electronics with different branding and detail design choices.

My current upstairs desktop is essentially the same processor in a slightly larger case and is plenty snappy. How much memory are you getting ? 16GB?

trickywoo

Original Poster:

14,224 posts

260 months

Wednesday 19th January 2022
quotequote all
I’ll probably go for 16 on the memory. I don’t need it but if it’s a bit more future proofing and is faster in the meantime it seems to make sense.