Computer Advice needed, please.

Norman-B

A new PC/Mac or just upgrade my old desktop?
I have lots of time on my hands now I'm on my own and I'm keen to set myself a task of photo slideshows and some simple video editing. I have 100's of photos and many video 'clips' of my grandchildren. I do have a 10 year old Windows Laptop (i5) but I rarely use it. So my PC time is spent on my 5 year old Desktop, i3-2100 CPU@3.16GHz, 2 core with 4GB memory. I have an Ipad but just view the net on this. Making a slideshow is taking such a long time and trying to put a simple video together takes ages. Is it worthwhile upgrading the Desktop (more memory) or do I have to bite the bullet and buy new?
A cumputer buff friend is strongly suggesting I buy a Macbook Air to solve the issue but I'm really unsure. I'm also very unsure what to look for if I go down the PC route. I confess to having little knowledge of PC/Macs. Any advice most welcome.

arciere

A Mac is just an expensive computer, that's pretty much it.

Could you upgrade? Highly unlikely. Video editing takes a lot of CPU time, rather than RAM. It's usually much more difficult (sometimes impossible) to upgrade the CPU on a 5-year-old computer.

My suggestion would be to buy a new one. Maybe not a Mac, so you can get a better unit for less.

Norman-B

Thanks for your kind reply. Can you offer suggestions on what I look for in new/cost?

pbartlett

since you will be doing video editing, the cpu speed is important.

your i3-2100 has a cpubenchmark score of about 1700 so very low

in comparison, a £429 dell desktop with an i3-10100 has a cpubenchmark score of nearly 9000

when looking for a new desktop, put the processor into cpubenchmark and have a look

also you will need 8gb memory and a ssd not a spinning hard drive

Norman-B

Thank you. Can I use the version of Windows 10 in my desktop in a new PC?

getmore4less

Do you have SSD.

Model and spec of current PC

Norman-B

HP Compaq 6200 Pro. I have a 120GB SSD (which takes a while to load). 4GB Ram.Unsure what else I can add. PC is now 5 years old.

arciere

Unlikely that the bottleneck is the SSD.
Having said that, 120GB is tiny nowadays. You can still keep it as secondary disk, but you'd be better off with a new SSD (which will probably also be faster).
Prioritise CPU, then RAM and SSD both at the same level, then a separate graphics card if your budget allows.

Norman-B

Thanks again.Would £400-£500 get what I need?

pbartlett

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktops-and-all-in-ones/new-inspiron-small-desktop/spd/inspiron-3881-desktop/cd388105

or

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/shop/desktops-and-all-in-ones/new-inspiron-24-5000-all-in-one/spd/inspiron-24-5400-aio/cd540002

Laz123

I've been video editing for over ten years. It's important to edit the right type of files to speed things up. It's also a good idea to have the file on another drive and edit on the 'c' drive.

What type of files are you editing and what is the video suite?