mtn
MegaDork
11/27/24 2:37 p.m.
I need a new computer. It will be running Excel, internet browsers, Teams/zoom/webx, word, and some memory intensive websites (PowerBI), often simultaneously.
Needs to run 2 screens.
I don't care if it is a mini pc, tower, laptop, or mac. I could build it too, if that is possible for the budget and better than prebuilt (I have an old Antec case and 350w power supply), and if there is a RaspberryPi that can do everything I'm open to that if you can give me a tutorial... and see Linux note below, if that is relevant.
I *could* be sold on Chromebook... but you'll need to sell it to convince me. Same for Linux.
My budget is $500, which is what a Mac Mini costs at Costco right now. I'd prefer to be at $250 or less.
What's out there?
02Pilot
PowerDork
11/27/24 2:48 p.m.
I bought one of the cheap mini PCs a couple years ago when I was setting up my home office. It's done most of what you're describing, except for the high memory usage sites. I'm sure there's got to be something similar out there now that will work - how much RAM do you need?
mtn
MegaDork
11/27/24 3:28 p.m.
In reply to 02Pilot :
8gb MINIMUM. Really I'd like to be at 16.
02Pilot
PowerDork
11/27/24 4:03 p.m.
My father's in the market now, so I was already casually searching these. Here's the one I'm going to recommend to him - Same brand as the one I bought a couple years ago. It should fulfill your needs and then some.
Refurb Lenovo...
See this previous GRM chatter
mtn
MegaDork
11/27/24 4:19 p.m.
02Pilot said:
My father's in the market now, so I was already casually searching these. Here's the one I'm going to recommend to him - Same brand as the one I bought a couple years ago. It should fulfill your needs and then some.
Ok, this looks like a very promising option.
This is presumably a no-name Chinese brand. I am concerned about potential spyware preinstalled. Is this valid? How would one address that?
We have a local store that sells computers that businesses have replaced. A few months back my motherboard fried so I went to see what they have. For about $150 I got a Dell i7 8th Gen plus 32gb of memory and 256gb M2. It runs dual monitors or of the box and every time I've checked CPU usage is maxing under 10% and I've never seen over 10gb of memory usage.
In reply to Stampie :
That's a heck of a deal. Do you know if that store ships nationwide?
In reply to nderwater :
Good question. Let me look them up and give you their info.
Edit - https://reuseitjax.com/ is their website. I now remember that them saying that they have an eBay store so I assume they ship. The computer was stripped of hd so I bought one from them and installed windows myself.
Also the $150 was just the tower with no monitor or accessories. I used them from my old computer.
The cheapest but possibly hardest option might be a RasPi 4/5, both have dual HDMI outputs and are available with 8GB RAM. Running not only an unusual OS but also an uncommon OS/CPU architecture combo will put it at the top of the potential software incompatibility scale, but for the pretty basic stuff you're doing the only potential trouble might come from the closed-source videoconferencing software you need to use like Zoom and Webex (Teams is web-based so no problem there). For Zoom, it looks like they have no intention of releasing a Linux-on-ARM build so far, and people have been using either a web client option (which is troublesome) or have been using emulation, which is very resource-hungry but seems to work:
https://devforum.zoom.us/t/zoom-client-for-arm-based-systems/21980/29
Webex also has no Linux-on-ARM build so emulation would be the only option:
https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/9vstcdb/Webex-App-for-Linux#Cisco_Reference.dita_86ea12dd-8b6c-4c57-bcdf-63878239b931
I believe the Mac Mini is the long term solution. They're supported for a long time and they perform far better than their specs would suggest. My work computer is a 4 year old M1 Mini with 16 GB with two big screens and I've never managed to max it out even doing 3D work while running a bunch of high demand sites. My garage computer is a 2012 Macbook Pro that just keeps chugging along, although that version of the US stopped being able to run Fusion last year. Still, over a decade of use is nothing to be ashamed of!
Cheap windows machines are far more disposable. Cheaper at first, far more annoying during use, shorter life.
Pis are great (I was just playing with one of mine last night) but you'll find yourself working ON your computer instead of WITH your computer more than you want.
I'm a big fan of refurbished computers, but if you're looking at refurb ex-business machines, make sure they can run Windows 11 unless you're looking for a Linux box or a soon-to-be doorstop.
Mac Mini seems like the way to go to me too. I'm not a Mac guy but they support their machines for far longer and they're usable for longer. $500 will get you a ten year computer. I'd go for more ram though.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
Check out the open core legacy patcher (https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/OCLP) to keep your old Mac running newer software. My 2013 iMac is able to keep the quad-core i7 running all my 3D printers and slicers thanks to being on officially "unsupported" MacOS versions.
Stampie said:
We have a local store that sells computers that businesses have replaced. A few months back my motherboard fried so I went to see what they have. For about $150 I got a Dell i7 8th Gen plus 32gb of memory and 256gb M2. It runs dual monitors or of the box and every time I've checked CPU usage is maxing under 10% and I've never seen over 10gb of memory usage.
This ^
Commercial grade computers are superior over consumer for their sturdiness, parts availability, support, and ease of working on.
Case in point, my wife had a BestBuy credit for a computer. We were a Dell shop at work so that's what I got. Work Dells were like 5 screws to get to the hard drive. On her consumer notebook I stopped counting at 21.
Plus, most companies discard after warranty (3 years) despite the computer working fine and able to support new software just fine. My personal stats I tracked determined that with the advent of solid state drives, computers are viable for at least a decade+.
Same goes for used/refurb printers, FWIW. Sturdy and fixable. Many laser commercial printers have been retired only for server incompatibility over the years and not for falling apart. Thinking of the HP3800s as an example.
