Desktop Help Please 🥴

Heedtheadvice

Given your predicted use most requirements will be met with a medium power machine.

Business use is fairly basic in demands.

Photo editing a bit more demanding in that good high(ish) reduction monitor is desirable.

Music production/DAW really depends upon the chosen DAW. Some of the common pro daws are quite demanding in terms of cpu power, ram and disk space and are costly to buy. Others that are particularly good (and cheap) -Such as Reaper- are not as demanding  but nevertheless powerful and used semi pro and pro. That decision might impact significantly on your budget and machine spec!

If photo edit includes video then speed and more particularly drive space is more demanding.

As it is business use (husbands or daughters) backup facility is important so allow for that in your budget ( such as  couple of external drives - in the order of £100 maybe from your curry's card?

If your daughter is serious about music aspects then a second monitor could become invaluable for good functionality. Your machine should have that capability. You can then get a second  monitor at a later date if desired.

All in  all that might push your budget. That in mind(cost) for flexibility  and ease of upgrade plus better ergonomics I would steer clear of a laptop, definitely not get an All-in-one and go for a desktop or tower machine.

Several years ago I got  Dell refurbished tower  not the fastest machine even in it's day (i5 3xxx) SSD and hard drive for storage plus 16GB ram and it is still fine for all those tasks you mention. A more up to date similar model ( that can cope with win 11 - I am still on 10) should be fine. I use a 22" monitor but would love to get a second for DAW use and have three external backup drives.

I expect other posters will have more specific detail on up to date hardware but I would firmly advise much of what I have written (obviously!).....and you might note I am  big fan of Reaper, p.m. me if you want more info on it.

Not a fan of Curry's to buy a main machine from. You will get other posters agreeing  with that!!!

Lizbetty

Bonhomie said:

Lizbetty said:

Hello everyone!

I've deliberated a bit too long and our desktop PC (essential for my husband's business but running on Windows 8. something) is starting to fail, it looks like it has days if we're lucky. 

I'm lost. I've googled and I am so confused. 

Budget is about £600 ish. We have decided on a desktop -

Needs to be Microsoft/Windows
For photo editing and music production/DAW use (daughter is a musician/photographer, now left college and so needs home facilities for earning some pennies)
Also for office use for my husband's business/admin

No gaming or anything like that. 

It needs to be reliable, mainly. Can anyone help with the sort of spec I should look for please? 

We do have a £360 gift card (for a faulty item we had under warranty) for Currys so are drawn to them, although their selection seems a bit limited. The spec google suggested is coming up with 1 pc at Currys which is £1k plus and out of stock anyway!

I would really appreciate any help, I'm so stressed! Many thanks 😊 

Failing in what manner? If it's just the HDD failing; if you are quick you can clone it to an SSD and be up and running very quickly. Faster than before. 

It started switching itself off sporadically and makes a loud squealing noise 🙈 I think we tried to update Windows once and it wouldn't do it, my worst fear is my husband losing his work if it goes wrong. I'm thinking we could maybe upgrade it once we're up and running with a new one and my other daughter could use it for her college work. 

Bonhomie

Lizbetty said:

Bonhomie said:

Lizbetty said:

Hello everyone!

I've deliberated a bit too long and our desktop PC (essential for my husband's business but running on Windows 8. something) is starting to fail, it looks like it has days if we're lucky. 

I'm lost. I've googled and I am so confused. 

Budget is about £600 ish. We have decided on a desktop -

Needs to be Microsoft/Windows
For photo editing and music production/DAW use (daughter is a musician/photographer, now left college and so needs home facilities for earning some pennies)
Also for office use for my husband's business/admin

No gaming or anything like that. 

It needs to be reliable, mainly. Can anyone help with the sort of spec I should look for please? 

We do have a £360 gift card (for a faulty item we had under warranty) for Currys so are drawn to them, although their selection seems a bit limited. The spec google suggested is coming up with 1 pc at Currys which is £1k plus and out of stock anyway!

I would really appreciate any help, I'm so stressed! Many thanks 😊 

Failing in what manner? If it's just the HDD failing; if you are quick you can clone it to an SSD and be up and running very quickly. Faster than before. 

It started switching itself off sporadically and makes a loud squealing noise 🙈 I think we tried to update Windows once and it wouldn't do it, my worst fear is my husband losing his work if it goes wrong. I'm thinking we could maybe upgrade it once we're up and running with a new one and my other daughter could use it for her college work. 

He won't if you image/clone the drive now. Brand name and model number?

Heedtheadvice

Yes, from what you post Bonhomie has the right idea. Protect your data first and image/ clone to an external drive ASAP. An external hard drive is not that expensive and it would be another good use of your voucher....even from Curry's. Software to dovthe activity is free.

dogmaryxx

£719.99  but not Currys      AMD Gaming PC with Ryzen 7 5700G LN118967 - SR7VEGA816 | SCAN UK

Lizbetty

Heedtheadvice said:

Given your predicted use most requirements will be met with a medium power machine.

Business use is fairly basic in demands.

Photo editing a bit more demanding in that good high(ish) reduction monitor is desirable.

Music production/DAW really depends upon the chosen DAW. Some of the common pro daws are quite demanding in terms of cpu power, ram and disk space and are costly to buy. Others that are particularly good (and cheap) -Such as Reaper- are not as demanding  but nevertheless powerful and used semi pro and pro. That decision might impact significantly on your budget and machine spec!

If photo edit includes video then speed and more particularly drive space is more demanding.

As it is business use (husbands or daughters) backup facility is important so allow for that in your budget ( such as  couple of external drives - in the order of £100 maybe from your curry's card?

If your daughter is serious about music aspects then a second monitor could become invaluable for good functionality. Your machine should have that capability. You can then get a second  monitor at a later date if desired.

All in  all that might push your budget. That in mind(cost) for flexibility  and ease of upgrade plus better ergonomics I would steer clear of a laptop, definitely not get an All-in-one and go for a desktop or tower machine.

Several years ago I got  Dell refurbished tower  not the fastest machine even in it's day (i5 3xxx) SSD and hard drive for storage plus 16GB ram and it is still fine for all those tasks you mention. A more up to date similar model ( that can cope with win 11 - I am still on 10) should be fine. I use a 22" monitor but would love to get a second for DAW use and have three external backup drives.

I expect other posters will have more specific detail on up to date hardware but I would firmly advise much of what I have written (obviously!).....and you might note I am  big fan of Reaper, p.m. me if you want more info on it.

Not a fan of Curry's to buy a main machine from. You will get other posters agreeing  with that!!!

Thanks so much for this. That'd probably be my next question, which DAW so that's really useful thanks 😊 

The replies have made me realise Currys probably isn't the right place. We have two local computer companies, both with offers I'm just looking at. I'm thinking too we'd get better support if needed if we use them too.
I'm not sure how reasonable these offers are but probably better than the big shops? 

Lizbetty

Bonhomie said:

Lizbetty said:

Bonhomie said:

Lizbetty said:

Hello everyone!

I've deliberated a bit too long and our desktop PC (essential for my husband's business but running on Windows 8. something) is starting to fail, it looks like it has days if we're lucky. 

I'm lost. I've googled and I am so confused. 

Budget is about £600 ish. We have decided on a desktop -

Needs to be Microsoft/Windows
For photo editing and music production/DAW use (daughter is a musician/photographer, now left college and so needs home facilities for earning some pennies)
Also for office use for my husband's business/admin

No gaming or anything like that. 

It needs to be reliable, mainly. Can anyone help with the sort of spec I should look for please? 

We do have a £360 gift card (for a faulty item we had under warranty) for Currys so are drawn to them, although their selection seems a bit limited. The spec google suggested is coming up with 1 pc at Currys which is £1k plus and out of stock anyway!

I would really appreciate any help, I'm so stressed! Many thanks 😊 

Failing in what manner? If it's just the HDD failing; if you are quick you can clone it to an SSD and be up and running very quickly. Faster than before. 

It started switching itself off sporadically and makes a loud squealing noise 🙈 I think we tried to update Windows once and it wouldn't do it, my worst fear is my husband losing his work if it goes wrong. I'm thinking we could maybe upgrade it once we're up and running with a new one and my other daughter could use it for her college work. 

He won't if you image/clone the drive now. Brand name and model number?

I'll have a look and let you know, thanks 😊  It is an old one 😄 

Cisco001

i5 10400 PC for £600 is too expensive.
I can find i5-13400 for £550

the custom made one without details. TFT screen monitor probably a piece of junk for photo editing.
Desktop with Ryzen 5 5600G could be found around £400.

Newcad

Suggestion:

Ask your daughter and then when you get the (expensive) 'I need' adjust downward to suit a more realistic budget.

Heedtheadvice

" That'd probably be my next question, which DAW "

Answer is not necessarily Reaper!

As your daughter is still studying then it often makes sense ( not only for Daws but all sorts of things ) to use the identical system that is used for study at that time. Often you might be able to get that software at an educational price.

If only constrained by her own choice then I would highly recommend considering Reaper for free unlimited time trial, lots of support videos, vast functions, flexibility and an excellent forum ...with then just £60 or $ approx for hobby and small business licence for several years use. However for pro use there are sometimes constraints made by associates ....but thousands of pounds for the popular ones are probably not for now.

You don't need anything special for Reaper ( computer wise) so suggest concentrate on getting your data backed up/imaged etc. as the priority