Question New system questions

[n8chavez]

My current system is about to die soon after almost eight years, so I'm going to need to get a new one. I've been out of the hardware game for a while; my cerebral palsy now prevents me from working on hardware like I used to. I'm not really sure what's an option and what is not. I currently have a desktop system, which has 3 sata slots used for drives totaling about 12TB of data. Ideally, whatever system I get would need to be able to support an SSD and HDD. I'm also a gamer, so I need a system capable of running games.

Is it possible to find a laptop that meets those requirements, or am I stuck with getting a desktop still? I know there are gaming laptops, but to my knowledge they don't support both SSD and HDD.

Any suggestions?

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

A lot of hings have changed in 8 years. You might be surprised at how cheaply you can make the jump to an all SSD machine, and with the latest USB-C/Thunderbolt speeds, external SSD's or even NVME's might be viable.

With this in mind, things like the 14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro are worth considering. Obviosly there heaps of Windows machines as well, but I'm a bit partial to Apple stuff...

Have fun with your purchase, I love new gadgets...

 

[n8chavez]

A lot of hings have changed in 8 years. You might be surprised at how cheaply you can make the jump to an all SSD machine, and with the latest USB-C/Thunderbolt speeds, external SSD's or even NVME's might be viable.

With this in mind, things like the 14" M2 Pro MacBook Pro are worth considering. Obviosly there heaps of Windows machines as well, but I'm a bit partial to Apple stuff...

Have fun with your purchase, I love new gadgets...

Thank you for the suggestion, but I currently dual-boot Windows and Linux. I've never used a mac. Any suggestions for Windows systems?

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I currently dual-boot Windows and Linux. I've never used a mac. Any suggestions for Windows systems?

No drama's.

No Windows, idea's but I'm currently using Linux Mint on a 2011 MacBook Pro 13 as my daily...

...rather than dual-boot, have you considered a Linux machine with Windows in a Virtual Machine? I use VirtualBox and have several OS's to play with.

 

[n8chavez]

No drama's.

No Windows, idea's but I'm currently using Linux Mint on a 2011 MacBook Pro 13 as my daily...

...rather than dual-boot, have you considered a Linux machine with Windows in a Virtual Machine? I use VirtualBox and have several OS's to play with.

I have, but gaming as meh at best in linux running wine and VMs don't run them very well either. I'll stick to Windows for that reason.

 

[Shadowra]

There are gaming laptops but you'll be stuck with adding hard drives....
And you won't get the full power of the configuration. Laptop parts are miniaturized for use. This can create a downside.

For games, I always recommend a fixed PC.

 

[n8chavez]

There are gaming laptops but you'll be stuck with adding hard drives....
And you won't get the full power of the configuration. Laptop parts are miniaturized for use. This can create a downside.

For games, I always recommend a fixed PC.

I was thinking the same, but wanted to be sure. A desktop makes sense, since hardware can be changed out easier. Any suggestions on a particular system? Also, and recommendations on who I should go through? I don't have the ability to build it myself anymore.

 

[simmerskool]

I was thinking the same, but wanted to be sure. A desktop makes sense, since hardware can be changed out easier. Any suggestions on a particular system? Also, and recommendations on who I should go through? I don't have the ability to build it myself anymore.

I have had good luck with DigitalStorm, but gee my system dates back to 2016 so we're about the same age and my experience with DS is as dated. (Of course I've updated a few components over the years) VMware has been good for me, learning curve is not that steep (I figured it out) & VMw has excellent support the few times I had a question.

 

[Victor M]

A laptop is not a good investment unless you need the mobility. Desktop parts are upgradable. For a laptop, you will be buying a whole new one to do any upgrade. Also you will be paying again for a screen and keyboard which can be used and kept for a long time. So from an economic standpoint laptops are a bad investment - unless you require the mobility aspect. Laptops have over taken the pc market nowadays, people "imagine" the freedom they have with a laptop, - you can move to the sofa, you can stay at the desk, you can project to a TV. When in fact most of the time, people use it at the same desk. When you shift your sitting position, your typing goes haywire. So moving to the sofa to work is not really a good choice. The ads show people working in a park in the great outdoors. But the ad doesn't mention the distraction that comes from people passing by, and the traffic noise. Can you really concentrate working in these conditions? I might jot down a quick note, but I wouldn't choose to work outside of the office. If your office offers BYOD, then you might enjoy the convenience of having the same Windows config all the time. Young people do enjoy a Starbucks coffee and surfing at their store. But I myself in am not part of that "in" crowd. And I like privacy. Besides, hackers frequent these coffee places with free WiFi - plenty of targets, and there's no router firewall to stand in their way.

 

[n8chavez]

A laptop is not a good investment unless you need the mobility. Desktop parts are upgradable. For a laptop, you will buy a whole new one to do any upgrade. Also you will be paying again for a screen and keyboard which can be used and kept for a long time. So from an economic standpoint laptops are a bad investment - unless you require the mobility aspect. Laptops have over taken the pc market nowadays, people "imagine" the freedom they have with a laptop, - you can move to the sofa, you can stay at the desk, you can project to a TV. When in fact most of the time, people use it at the same desk. When you shift your sitting position, your typing goes haywire. So moving to the sofa to work is not really a good choice. The ads show people working in park in the great outdoors. But the ad doesn't mention the distraction that comes from people passing by, and the traffic noise. Can you really concentrate working in these conditions? I might jot down a quick note, but I wouldn't choose to work outside of the office. If your office offers BYOD, then you might enjoy the convenience of having the same Windows config all the time. Young people do enjoy a Starbucks coffee and surfing at their store. But I myself in am not part of that "in" crowd. And I like privacy. Besides, hackers frequent these coffee places with free WiFi - plenty of targets.

Yeah. I agree completely. I'm looking at desktop towers now. It doesn't make sense for me, given that I have to same with specialty hardware; like my ryzer naga left-handed gaming mouse and full keyboard. The fragility of a laptop also is a concern for me. Thanks!

@simmerskool, thanks for the name! I'm looking at them right now. If you have any other let me know.

 

[Zero Knowledge]

Budget & location? Then we can move on to some advice and flesh out options. You missed BF and the XMAS sales but there are a lot of bargains due to a lot of competition.

Do you want a laptop or tower PC? I would advise laptop and then buy a HDD dock/enclosure for your current drives.

If tower do you want to buy parts and build it yourself or buy the system whole and prebuilt?

 

[n8chavez]

Budget & location? Then we can move on to some advice and flesh out options. You missed BF and the XMAS sales but there are a lot of bargains due to a lot of competition.

Do you want a laptop or tower PC? I would advise laptop and then buy a HDD dock/enclosure for your current drives.

If tower do you want to buy parts and build it yourself or buy the system whole and prebuilt?

Tower, prebuilt. My hands don't allow me to work on hardware like I used to. I'd prefer under $4k USD. Location, USA.

 

[MuzzMelbourne]

Tower, prebuilt. My hands don't allow me to work on hardware like I used to. I'd prefer under $4k USD. Location, USA.

Wow, should get a very nice machine for that money...

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Wow, should get a very nice machine for that money...

Yup, nice budget.

 

[Shadowra]

Tower, prebuilt. My hands don't allow me to work on hardware like I used to. I'd prefer under $4k USD. Location, USA.

We can make beautiful things
Like a Ryzen 9 7900X3D with a Radeon RX 7900XT with DDR5

 

[n8chavez]

Ha! What can I say...getting hit by a car pays well! j/k I have the budget for $4k, but that doesn't mean I have to spend it. What are your thoughts on this config?

My Digital Storm PC Configuration

Check out my configuration for the Digital Storm Lynx

www.digitalstorm.com

 

[Digmor Crusher]

Ha! What can I say...getting hit by a car pays well! j/k I have the budget for $4k, but that doesn't mean I have to spend it. What are your thoughts on this config?

My Digital Storm PC Configuration

Check out my configuration for the Digital Storm Lynx

www.digitalstorm.com

Yah, you should have got the hoodie.

 

[Shadowra]

Ha! What can I say...getting hit by a car pays well! j/k I have the budget for $4k, but that doesn't mean I have to spend it. What are your thoughts on this config?

My Digital Storm PC Configuration

Check out my configuration for the Digital Storm Lynx

www.digitalstorm.com

Good configuration except for the graphics card, which risks bottlenecking your processor.
Switch to a 4070 or an RX 7700/7800

 

[n8chavez]

Good configuration except for the graphics card, which risks bottlenecking your processor.
Switch to a 4070 or an RX 7700/7800

Yeah, I was thinking that but wasn't sure if it was worth the $400 upgrade. What do you think about the 4060-ti? From everything I read, it seems the 4060-ti is 18% faster than the 4060. That might be worth the extra $150.

 

[Shadowra]

Yeah, I was thinking that but wasn't sure if it was worth the $400 upgrade. What do you think about the 4060-ti? From everything I read, it seems the 4060-ti is 18% faster than the 4060. That might be worth the extra $150.

Yep sure