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I am not technologically-minded, and find the modern array of processor choice alongside everything else, incredibly bewildering.
I need to get a desktop computer for a home office to do the following things:
1. Lots of word processing
2. Lots of Zoom meetings
3. Lots of video production (for YouTube) using Movavi (or similar)
4. Sound production for podcast
and, of course,
5. Hanging out on here
I/we do no gaming or anything, and I have numerous other devices for wasting time.
I was thinking dual monitor, because some people have told me that such a set-up is the bees knees, but beyond that, I have no idea what I want or need.
I would probably prefer a PC, but don’t massively care as long as it’s VERY affordable (no more than £500; I currently have no income of any sort), and does the jobs I need it to do.
[I saw this one, for example, and wondered if it would do the job.]
So… suggestions? Happy to receive any, from just telling me what sort of processor and memory configuration I need, to pointing out complete systems.
Is that £500 including monitors or just for the tower itself?
You'd probably be looking at £200 for monitors which leaves £300 for the tower which isn't a huge amount for something to do video editing on.
If it helps we have a spare monitor lying around which you can have. (North East).
We have bought several PCs from Amazon as office refurbs for £150, they work brilliantly. The one Mrs Grips uses every day for work was that price, although I had to buy an SSD (£15) and a wifi adapter (£20) for it.
I personally prefer a single larger monitor - 28" 4k monitors can be had for £200 - but a single HD screen (£100 or less) is fine if you aren't working from loads of spreadsheets etc at the same time. Even if you are, learn how to use alt-tab if you want to save money.
Correct me if I am wrong but your video editing is likely to be shortening and moving clips around, yes? That is not very processor intensive, unlike for example removing shake from 4k go-pro videos or adding effects and so on.
Since you're on a budget, something like this would be ideal for that kind of general use - it's an old CPU but it'll be fine. It already has an SSD and wifi.
PS if you want to come round and try our PCs for video editing feel free.
Thanks for the replies so far.
@molgrips, I’m thinking that a dual monitor set-up could be quite handy when I’m looking at a document I’m researching and writing about it at the same time. Do you know what I mean? But, of course, I’m not absolutely stuck on on.
In any case, what does this set-up look like to you?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Dual-Monitors-Dell-OptiPlex/dp/B09BRF6QP8
In any case, what does this set-up look like to you?
Like blank space.
A solid office machine will have an i5 CPU and 8 GB RAM, plus an SSD. An i3 CPU should be OK if you are on a tight budget. Having a smaller SSD (250GB or so) for the OS and apps and a larger HDD for storage might save some money if you are dealing with lots of video files. Dual monitors are great when you get used to them. You will also need to factor in the price of a webcam, microphone, and speakers or headset if you are doing Zoom calls.
Like blank space.
I know. It’s weird, but in my OP, I tried to include a link, and the whole paragraph in which I did so simply didn’t appear. I tried multiple times.
Now, I tried to post an Amazon link without even trying to embed it, and it just shows up like that. Same with molgrips’ link, above.
My "dual screen" set up is a laptop paired with a 32" QHD monitor. The laptop does all the Teams calls and the big screen is great for giant spreadsheets and side by side documents.
It also means I can slope off to the sofa with the laptop. Just unplug the power and an HDMI and off I go.
I work on a lot of documents and PowerPoint simultaneously and find one big screen split across both just as easy as two but it might be me 🙂
I’m thinking that a dual monitor set-up could be quite handy when I’m looking at a document I’m researching and writing about it at the same time.
I don't think it's really necessary. You can easily fit two documents side by side on a regular cheap HD monitor. And once you get used to alt-tab you can flip between documents instantly so you don't have to have them both fully visible at all times. I mean by all means get two, but one is perfectly manageable if you want to save money.
Having said that a single 4k monitor has the same screen 'real estate' as four HD monitors and does not necessarily cost much more. But it may be smaller.
That setup is great but it only has a normal hard drive not an SSD which is crap these days and far far slower. However you can get an SSD for peanuts (£28) now so that's worth doing.
I mean by all means get two, but one is perfectly manageable if you want to save money.
Seconded. It's nice but not too bad without. You can pick up good monitors second hand on Facebook market place.
P.s. I have an old web cam with built in mic you can have for postage. Message me if you want.
P.s. if you go for one BIG screen consider the other people if screen sharing I came across this yesterday when struggling with this issue for a new monitor purchase
https://github.com/michiproep/ScreenshareHelper
So, another question I have is regarding chips. Is an older i7 better than a newer i5, for example? I realise there are subtle differences with each as well, but in general, if I saw a deal on an older machine with an i7 chip (say, 6th generation), and a newer machine for more money with a 9th generation i5, which would be likely to be better suited to my needs? Do chips get sluggish over time?
Don't forget refurb companies for monitors too. I've picked up a fair few 23" screens from between £13 each and £40 in the last few years.
Currently on a laptop screen and 2 23" monitors for work at home, and same in the office.
Generally I’d expect a three year newer i5 to out perform a i7 but you should be able to compare them here just take the cpu model numbers from the ads
https://nanoreview.net/en/cpu-compare
Is an older i7 better than a newer i5, for example?
It will depend. If you Google "CPU Benchmarks", you should be able to find sites that let you compare different CPUs. In general, I would go for a new generation i5 over an older i7, but you need to check the specification of the actual CPU. i5 and i7 are a simple ranking to make it easier for consumers to understand, but there are a bunch of different chips labelled i5, they are not all equal. Some are low-power laptop chips, some are high-power desktop chips. Not really comparable.
Bought one of those dell refurbs off amazon for about £100. As has been said - just stick an SSD in there.
Also I have a 28" 4k monitor (lenovo) that was £250 from amazon when I bought.
Chip is almost irrelevant. Better to go for more memory than faster chip (for most people)
Chip is almost irrelevant. Better to go for more memory than faster chip
pffff lol
So, another question I have is regarding chips. Is an older i7 better than a newer i5, for example? I realise there are subtle differences with each as well, but in general, if I saw a deal on an older machine with an i7 chip (say, 6th generation), and a newer machine for more money with a 9th generation i5, which would be likely to be better suited to my needs? Do chips get sluggish over time?
Yes, maybe and no.
Generally i3 might be 2 cores, it might be 4 and i7 might be 6 or 8.
Some tasks run only/better on a single core. So anything past an i3 is pointless.
Some tasks scale well, and then the sky's the limit.
Some benchmark tests are general scores, so add the two together so it looks like a new i3 matches an old i7, when in reality they might do different task better/worse. For what you describe a newer i3 is probably the better.
Does depend what you mean by editing though, and the software you use (I've never used movavi). I used NCH Videopad for a job last year and it really will run on a toaster (with a decade old dual core pentium processor and 4gb ram). It's not final cut/premier/avid though 🤣
Do chips get sluggish over time?
No.
CPUs are i7 etc, that's the family. The model number is after that, like Core i5-2400 which is the CPU in the cheapest refurbs that come up. The one you shared with me earlier was an i7 4770.
So you google for "i7 4770 vs i5 2440" and it'll bring up loads of geeky benchmark pages. CPU boss is a reasonable one, so you scroll down that page til you get to 'benchmarks' then there are a load of bar graphs for various different tests. I don't know what any of them are, but in this case you can see that that particular i7 is a chunk faster in most of them than the i5. But it's not clear how important that is. I mean do you want to wait 10 minutes for a video to process or 15? Does it matter? Is it worth paying over twice as much? Hard to say!
Not sure if that i7 supports Windows 11 though.
EDIT this is a better i7 for the same price as Laptops Direct, it has 16Gb RAM and an extra HD as well as SSD
I was intentionally simplifying it (I am a software engineer working in an embedded virtualized environment - so I realise that statement is far from true, but the originator of the thread just needs a basic office PC.
Therefore the sweetspot is:
i5
16bg ram
SSD (older PCs probably need SATA not NVMe)
good monitor
No.
CPUs are i7 etc, that’s the family. The model number is after that, like Core i5-2400 which is the CPU in the cheapest refurbs that come up. The one you shared with me earlier was an i7 4770.
So you google for “i7 4770 vs i5 2440” and it’ll bring up loads of geeky benchmark pages. CPU boss is a reasonable one, so you scroll down that page til you get to ‘benchmarks’ then there are a load of bar graphs for various different tests. I don’t know what any of them are, but in this case you can see that that particular i7 is a chunk faster in most of them than the i5. But it’s not clear how important that is. I mean do you want to wait 10 minutes for a video to process or 15? Does it matter? Is it worth paying over twice as much? Hard to say!
A very good rule of thumb is to consider the generation of the cpus too.
In your example above the i7 4770 is a gen 4 i7, the i5 is a gen 2. The first one or two digits if it’s a 5 digit cpu model number are it’s generation.
So you would rightfully expect a two generation newer higher tier cpu to out perform its older lower tier alternative.
The challenge comes when looking at newer but lower tier options
I'd recommend scavenging a half tidy screen and spending £500 on the base unit. IIRC I'm not far from you so drop me a message if the going down the custom built route interests you.
Im watching this thread with interest as I want to pimp my home office, on a budget.
I've gone down the youtube rabbit hole of 'desk setups' which is lots of tech entrepreneurs with paid promotions and invariably 'Grovemade' premium desk accessories
Im probably going for the refurbished dual monitor set up, with my work laptop on the side. Im a lawyer so its lots of open docs and flitting between them
although, my heads been turned by the youtube vids with a single 50 inch concave set up with flawless cable management, and lots of arty grovemade accessories
CiT QC-203 Mid Tower Case
MSI H510M-A PRO Intel Socket 1200 Motherboard
Intel Core i3 10105 Comet Lake CPU 4 cores, 8 threads integated graphics
8GB Adata Premier 2666MHz DDR4 RAM
Kingston NV1 500GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSD
CCL Choice DVD Writer Optical Drive
Aero Cool Integrator OEM 500W 80+ Bronze PSU
TP-Link Archer T3U Plus 867Mbps USB 3.0 WiFi
3 Year Collect & Return warranty
1.8m UK Plug to C13 Mains Lead - Black
Standard Build £25.00
Built to Order
Allow 5 - 6 working days
Free Delivery
£429.77
Something like this would do you well, need monitors and a windows licence though. You could get rid of the wi-fi card and DVD drive to make it a bit cheaper.