Home PC for school kids (sorry!)

oh i should add - he has a gopro but he's always used either my ipad or mac mini for that - i suppose the ability to handle some light video editing would be somewhat helpful. its just videos of him sailing and cycling tho, he's not spending hours on sick edits! 

why not get him a mac mini - amazing machines that are good for years

I must say I’m converted having changed to a Mac mini for work this year. It had crossed my mind to get Mac’s for all the kids but Steam is very limited on macOS so it’s a non starter.

What's in the i5 laptop - a hard drive or a SSD, as Hard drives are an issue. We've an i5 and i7 laptops, 4k series, both on SSD and still fly and don't bog down.  Might be worth another 4GB memory too.

refurbed Dell i5-5300 with 4gig

An SSD hard drive might give it a second life if you can fit one.

Memory is an issue for video editing.

As above, an SSD, extra memory, and fresh install of Windows will probably improve the Dell immensely.

Also, open the case if possible and vacuum out any dust in there. Blocked cooling vents can cause the CPU to throttle to avoid overheating.

i've done a fresh windows install fairly recently and i do insist they keep their laptops updated (left to their own devices they will decline updates so they can get on with fun stuff!)

Im loath to throw £100 in new components at an old laptop - the battery is also knackered and they keyboard has a few buttons missing too. not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things as its mostly used on his desk with full sized peripherals but still - considering it was a cheap covid purchase, i feel we've had our use out of it.

so assuming we're looking at replacements, whats the sweet spot for either mini desktop or laptop that will provide brisk performance without over spending on a powerful gaming rig he doesnt need?

this for example looks like it has 4x the ram, a newer generation processer and an SSD but my instict says thats probably not enough money to spend? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dell-Optiplex-Desktop-Computer-D10U001/dp/B08SMSFV7R/ref=pd_ci_mcx_mh_mcx_views_1?pd_rd_w=TNgcj&content-id=amzn1.sym.6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a%3Aamzn1.symc.ca948091-a64d-450e-86d7-c161ca33337b&pf_rd_p=6aea875e-359f-49f3-864f-cff62d586b6a&pf_rd_r=J7X7GVFQ7BJK9P8SKYFY&pd_rd_wg=E0dur&pd_rd_r=91588b28-45dc-42d6-9bd7-5f5f8881facd&pd_rd_i=B08SMSFV7R

Bear in mind that will also need a monitor, keyboard, mouse...

Contentious opinion perhaps but I'm not a fan of small form factor machines. There's always something proprietary or otherwise ****ty going on when you have to work on them. It's a halfway house between a laptop and a desktop with all the disadvantages of both.

this for example looks like it has 4x the ram, a newer generation processer and an SSD but my instict says thats probably not enough money to spend?

That processor is from 2015, so pretty out of date.

It’s a halfway house between a laptop and a desktop with all the disadvantages of both.

Also this.

Peripherals and monitor he already has as that’s how he uses his laptop. I sensed that example was probably a bit old/cheap. Question remains what should I get? Or even where should I buy from? Amazon have lots to choose from but I’ve no way of knowing what’s good or bad!

To be brutally honest, this is a 'piece of string' question because your requirements are basically "a computer." Compare, "I want a bike, what should I get?"

Literally anything with solid state storage and say 8GB of RAM will do what you need. Stick to established brands.

Contentious opinion perhaps but I’m not a fan of small form factor machines. There’s always something proprietary or otherwise ****ty going on when you have to work on them. It’s a halfway house between a laptop and a desktop with all the disadvantages of both.

I like them, but they are basically a laptop repackaged into a cube. They will have a proprietary motherboard with the CPU soldered on and you won't be able to upgrade the graphics card, plus, they aren't cheap if you want a decent spec. For just doing general work, they are fine (depending on the spec, obviously), but you wouldn't choose one for doing profession video editing or serious gaming, etc.

It's the steam games thing that bothers me - will he be ok with integrated graphics or will he need a graphincs card?

You could put something like this together, and if no graphics card required you can knock £200 off that, but you'd need to spend an extra £40 or so on a CPU with integrated graphics.

You could also add a graphics card and upgrade the CPU at a later date if needed

Or a more modern CPU build with no graphics card:

thanks for that Matty. all my kids are pretty casual gamers, they've all got old Dell laptops they use when playing minecraft together or the odd steam game, but theyve never made any noises about more hardcore gaming equipment. weve got a couple of nintendo thingies and an xbox in their bam lounge for anything like that, but honestly, it doesnt see a huge amount of use.

the last PC i built had an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU and honestly i assumed that building was no longer a thing outside of the hardcore guys, but that could be an interesting rainy afternoon activity for us!

i see dabs doesnt exist anymore, where are we buying components from these days?

Scan.

As above though, I wouldn't bother. It's unlikely to be cheaper and it's a pain in the arse if there's a hard-to-pinpoint fault. Self-build these days is the realm of the hobbyist who cares about things like chipsets and voltages, for your use case you'd be better served by an off-the-shelf box with a two+ year warranty.

where are we buying components from these days?

I use CCL or OCUK, Scan are also popular but never used them.

@cougar

It’s unlikely to be cheaper

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/scan-home-amd-ryzen-5-5600g-16gb-ddr4-1tb-ssd-win-11

This is the closest thing I can find on Scan.

But it's £560 quid.

its only a refurbed Dell i5-5300 with 4gig that he got during lockdown

That's fine for general use. Put an SSD in it if it does not already have one.

Computing is not expensive these days. In our house we all have refurbished desktop PCs that were £150 or so, with £20 SSDs in. They're great. I upgraded the kids' ones with cheapo graphics cards GeForce 760 or whatever it was, they can play Roblox fine.

That’s fine for general use. Put an SSD in it if it does not already have one.

Computing is not expensive these days. In our house we all have refurbished desktop PCs that were £150 or so, with £20 SSDs in. They’re great. I upgraded the kids’ ones with cheapo graphics cards GeForce 760 or whatever it was, they can play Roblox fine.

For a potato powered office machine I'd agree, but considering teh OP said: 15yo Son + Steam, I'm guessing the usage patterns may be different, or may become different over the next few years.

Also bare in mind, the OP's laptop is an i5-5300...it's an absolute cronk these days..it won't even run windows 11, and windows 10 security updates will only last until Oct. 14, 2025

So any intel CPU of that vintage has a built in security experation date of approx. 24 months from now.

There's zero point in buying one unless you plan to buy another PC in under 2 years.

I don't like it as my secondary PC is running a skylake (gen6) i5 with an RX480, so it's still a semi decent gaming machine,but it is what it is.