W.f.h. New Laptop required GPU or XPS

getmore4less

If you have been working from home for the best part of a year you should have sorted out a proper working area by now.
Is there nowhere in your house you can set aside a few sqft for a decent desk and chair.

[Deleted User]

Dandytf said:

I'm guessing my i3 laptop Non HD screen is not going to work fast enough whilst I access new Employers systems etc.

Something that has been missed throughout all the comments is that the power of your PC / Laptop is irrelevant for most home working situations. The employer will provide your access via a virtual machine running on their systems, it won't matter whether you have a top end processor and loads of RAM, it will not change the speed of their systems - they just deliver the screen image to you and do all the processing at their end on the company servers.

All you need is a good sized full HD screen and (multiple screens highly recommended), decent keyboard, good internet and a good headset / webcam - that's where I'd direct my spending. Furthermore I'd put some aside for a good quality chair and desk.

A £300 laptop will be just as fast using an employers virtual desktop as a £1000 laptop.

I also spent £1000 on my core home working set up but as you can see, got a hell of a lot more kit for my money - only £500 was on the laptop, a second hand Dell G5 5587 gaming laptop with the rest invested in a thunderbolt dock (£130) to drive 2x 24" HP monitors (£130 ea) and a Logitech wireless keyboard / mouse (£100)  - (I did spend more than that on keyboard mouse to get top end for £200 but wasn't necessary).

At the start of lockdown I was using an old Dell Latitude i3 that I bought for £100 + £35 for docking station and that would also run twin monitors and perform exactly the same for home working as this setup so potentially could do all this for £395 and have £300 left over for a top end chair (as per photo) and still have £300 change from a £1000 to spend on an end of lockdown party.

debitcardmayhem

Deleted_User said:

Dandytf said:

I'm guessing my i3 laptop Non HD screen is not going to work fast enough whilst I access new Employers systems etc.

Something that has been missed throughout all the comments is that the power of your PC / Laptop is irrelevant for most home working situations. The employer will provide your access via a virtual machine running on their systems, it won't matter whether you have a top end processor and loads of RAM, it will not change the speed of their systems - they just deliver the screen image to you and do all the processing at their end on the company servers.

All you need is a good sized full HD screen and (multiple screens highly recommended), decent keyboard, good internet and a good headset / webcam - that's where I'd direct my spending. Furthermore I'd put some aside for a good quality chair and desk.

A £300 laptop will be just as fast using an employers virtual desktop as a £1000 laptop.

I also spent £1000 on my core home working set up but as you can see, got a hell of a lot more kit for my money - only £500 was on the laptop, a second hand Dell G5 5587 gaming laptop with the rest invested in a thunderbolt dock (£130) to drive 2x 24" HP monitors (£130 ea) and a Logitech wireless keyboard / mouse (£100)  - (I did spend more than that on keyboard mouse to get top end for £200 but wasn't necessary).

At the start of lockdown I was using an old Dell Latitude i3 that I bought for £100 + £35 for docking station and that would also run twin monitors and perform exactly the same for home working as this setup so potentially could do all this for £395 and have £300 left over for a top end chair (as per photo) and still have £300 change from a £1000 to spend on an end of lockdown party.

I see you have abandoned Lastpass for the good old fashioned Post-it

Dandytf

Thanks each response.

Iv'e this morning ordered XP's 13" 11th gen i5 8gb ram 512 Ssd.

Hopefully arrive mid next week.
That's my latest WFH requirements almost solved.
Is there No usb 2/3 sockets, what Dongle do i need as I could use one or two devices using usb 2/3

Got paypal credit upto 1450.
can pay laptop over 12 mths 0% interest.

Dandytf

@[Deleted User]
nice setup, you've made excellent points.
Guess todays purchase is going to be my HD Quality screen which my i3 lacks,

thanks

neilmcl

Dandytf said:

Thanks each response.

Iv'e this morning ordered XP's 13" 11th gen i5 8gb ram 512 Ssd.

Hopefully arrive mid next week.
That's my latest WFH requirements almost solved.
Is there No usb 2/3 sockets, what Dongle do i need as I could use one or two devices using usb 2/3

Got paypal credit upto 1450.
can pay laptop over 12 mths 0% interest.

What do you mean by "No usb 2/3 socket"?

As far as I can see the Dell only has a single USB 3 port, so if you're referring to expanding that then you need something like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anker-4-Port-Macbook-Surface-Notebook/dp/B00Y25XFGK/ref=sr_1_3

In all honesty, if I were going to buy a new laptop for working from home I wouldn't have bought an ultra portable, 13" laptop running Windows 10 Home such as this. I would've purchased a more business orientated laptop, with a docking port, W10 Pro, and decent monitor, separate keyboard and mouse, but hey, it's your money, well actually it isn't by the sounds of it 😉

Chino

Deleted_User said:

Something that has been missed throughout all the comments is that the power of your PC / Laptop is irrelevant for most home working situations.

More fundamentally, what responsible employer, other than maybe one- or two-man band operations, would expect or even want their staff to use their own IT equipment instead of equipment supplied by the employer?

getmore4less

How long has this call centre job got to last to pay for this?

I see dell have a deal £999  in stock ship today
https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/7nv5
according to that spec its 2 thunderbolt 4 ports.

Dandytf

getmore4less said:

How long has this call centre job got to last to pay for this?

I see dell have a deal £999  in stock ship today
https://deals.dell.com/en-uk/productdetail/7nv5
according to that spec its 2 thunderbolt 4 ports.

I'm today completing my 2nd Call Centre type job 10 years each,
New job will last as long as it lasts.
Only need another 9-10 years into 50's though gutted as a nice we Pension was building during recent years.
I think my chosen dell with vat went over 1K as I preferred 512ssd with gen11 i5.
Quite surprised I got paypal credit considering I have been re organising Credit Cards recently.
thanks

Dandytf

@Chino
Employers that require Staff to work from home during Shut Down restrictions.