Windows 11 desktop recommendations

[Binky]

My current desktop runs Windows 10 and not suitable to upgrade. I've had the extra year free support which runs out soon I think then no further security updates etc.

So, think I need to replace as I do a lot of my banking and general stuff on it. I want a desktop rather than laptop.

Recommendations please for a budget - mid range desktop. I've never used Apple Mac so I'm sticking to Windows. I won't be gaming but will need to do very basic video editting really just cutting and trimming GoPro footage but not video creation etc.

Budget? Not really a problem but I don't need anything high end so I wondering what's in the £500 range? The current monitor should be fine, just need the tower with Windows 11 pre installed.

 

[bluenotebob]

I've had the extra year free support which runs out soon I think then no further security updates etc.

I'm sure it's extended for another year. Maybe you missed the email from Microsoft.

I think you can relax a bit

 

[Binky]

I'm sure it's extended for another year. Maybe you missed the email from Microsoft.

I think you can relax a bit

My current pc though is getting full and slow so at some stage will need replacing.

 

[bluenotebob]

My current pc though is getting full and slow so at some stage will need replacing.

Same here ... but I'm not breaking my neck to do it. I'm sure the ESU's now run until Oct 2027.

I'll have a look later and see if I can find the email from Microsoft.

 

[midlife]

£500 is quite a high budget for unloved non gaming desktops, even new. Have a look at Scan, Mesh, PC Specialist .

https://www.meshcomputers.com/mesh-matrix-3000g-ryzen-3-3200g-8gb-256gb-ssd

 

[ColinJ]

£500 is quite a high budget for unloved non gaming desktops, even new. Have a look at Scan, Mesh, PC Specialist .

https://www.meshcomputers.com/mesh-matrix-3000g-ryzen-3-3200g-8gb-256gb-ssd

It is quite incredible how far and how fast computer specs have risen, while at the same time prices have plummeted...

My 5th computer was 'the beast' - it had twin 3.5" floppies, a CD drive, a small hard drive, 8 MB RAM, a slow 486 processor, VGA graphics, a 14" crt monitor and it cost... £2,000!!!

That was about 35 years ago when I was probably only earning about £12,000 a year, so roughly two month's pay (before deductions).

 

[bluenotebob]

Here you are @Binky ....

Email from Microsoft 15 July this year:

 

[MontyVeda]

I still keep meaning to try to side-load W11 on my incompatible laptop. If it works I'll try the same on my mum's laptop and my main PC.

 

[si_c]

A few things to note. Memory and Storage prices right now are apocalyptic - and Windows 11 won't run well on anything less than 16GB, so avoid 8GB machines like that posted by @midlife above.

Your best bet is probably getting something second hand at the moment - refurbished if you can, but that's a hard ask. Some guidelines - avoid 8GB RAM or 256GB storage or less. Avoid intel 10th Gen or earlier processors - a shocking number of resellers are marketing very old hardware for frankly disgusting prices. You're better skipping AMD processors if you can, there are a lot of caveats around naming which make it harder to parse than just 11th Gen, 12th Gen etc. I say this as someone who largely sticks with AMD kit.

I'm thinking something like this could do you well. Some significant downsides are that it's not easily upgradeable so you may find yourself needing a new PC sooner than might be the case otherwise, but it's within your budget and is decently specced for what you need.

 

[Binky]

A few things to note. Memory and Storage prices right now are apocalyptic - and Windows 11 won't run well on anything less than 16GB, so avoid 8GB machines like that posted by @midlife above.

Your best bet is probably getting something second hand at the moment - refurbished if you can, but that's a hard ask. Some guidelines - avoid 8GB RAM or 256GB storage or less. Avoid intel 10th Gen or earlier processors - a shocking number of resellers are marketing very old hardware for frankly disgusting prices. You're better skipping AMD processors if you can, there are a lot of caveats around naming which make it harder to parse than just 11th Gen, 12th Gen etc. I say this as someone who largely sticks with AMD kit.

I'm thinking something like this could do you well. Some significant downsides are that it's not easily upgradeable so you may find yourself needing a new PC sooner than might be the case otherwise, but it's within your budget and is decently specced for what you need.

Thanks for that.

One thing I notice is all pcs I've looked at so far seem to only have 1 drive, a SSD of varying capacity. 256/512/1TB etc.

My current pc has 256 SSD and a 1TB hard drive so having additional storage is handy for videos, photos etc. Are most pcs these days capable of having additional storage and is this something I should spec before buying?

 

[si_c]

Thanks for that.

One thing I notice is all pcs I've looked at so far seem to only have 1 drive, a SSD of varying capacity. 256/512/1TB etc.

My current pc has 256 SSD and a 1TB hard drive so having additional storage is handy for videos, photos etc. Are most pcs these days capable of having additional storag eand is this something I should spec before buying?

Yeah most PCs now will have a single SSD for storage - it should be an NVME drive rather than a traditional HDD however.

I'm assuming that for your current PC you have a 256GB SSD for windows and then a separate 2.5"/3.5" 1TB HDD - in which case you will likely be able to move it to a new PC - certainly that Dell I linked above will have space for an additional 3.5" drive, but worth checking for any machine you buy.

In a lot of cases now it's actually cheaper to get an external USB HDD for extra storage, USB is faster than the drive anyway so there is no performance penalty for doing this.