Recommend Me A New Desktop PC

greyteam1959

I know it's probably been asked many times on here but........
My desktop pc is about 12 years old maybe more & it has had various bits upgraded over the years.
Probably time for an upgrade I think.
Can somebody give me some pointers to a reasonably priced machine ?
I would prefer to buy from such as Amazon or Dell
Specs
New
Win 11
No monitor or keyboard required
DVD drive installed
Wireless capability
No gaming
Use is for the usual stuff, online banking, watching videos, etc etc

Vitor

- Use is for the usual stuff, online banking, watching videos, -

Any of the Mini-PCs in the £150 to £200 range would be suitable - NiPoGi Mini PC Windows 11 Pro, Ιntel Alder Lake-Ν95 (Βeats N5095/N5105, Up to 3.4GHz) Mini Pc, 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 SSD Mini Computer, Mini Desktop PC 2.5" SSD, 4K Double Display/Dual WiFi/BT : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Add an external USB DVD - HP USB External Dvdrw Drive Black (F6V97Aa) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Obvioulsy some will recommend keeping the old clunker and installing Linux Mint. 

GDB2222

Vitor said:

- Use is for the usual stuff, online banking, watching videos, -

Any of the Mini-PCs in the £150 to £200 range would be suitable - NiPoGi Mini PC Windows 11 Pro, Ιntel Alder Lake-Ν95 (Βeats N5095/N5105, Up to 3.4GHz) Mini Pc, 16GB RAM 512GB M.2 SSD Mini Computer, Mini Desktop PC 2.5" SSD, 4K Double Display/Dual WiFi/BT : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Add an external USB DVD - HP USB External Dvdrw Drive Black (F6V97Aa) : Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

I agree with this. I don't think many PCs come with a DVD as standard these days, so insisting on one being pre-fitted inside the case will restrict your choice.

I have a N100 PC, and it's fine for general browsing on the www, etc. 

greyteam1959

That's a good point re the external DVD drive & one I had not thought about.
@Vitor
That pc you link to has a £50 voucher at the moment as well.
What, if any are the snags with these mini pc's ??

EssexExile

I don't know much about these things but I just thought I'd mention that I now use a laptop with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. It's great as when I go away I unplug everything and take just the laptop. I bought it from the Dell outlet as "scratched and dented" but I can't find anything wrong with it.

greyteam1959

EssexExile said:

I don't know much about these things but I just thought I'd mention that I now use a laptop with an external keyboard, mouse and monitor. It's great as when I go away I unplug everything and take just the laptop. I bought it from the Dell outlet as "scratched and dented" but I can't find anything wrong with it.

Again fair comment.
Always used a desktop pc so I suppose I should consider a laptop.
And Dell outlet will be worth a look at.

Vitor

- What, if any are the snags with these mini pc's ?? - 

What you see is what you get, the CPU and RAM are soldered in so upgrading isn't an option. The M.2 SSD is usually swappable. Also there's generally no BIOS updates, although Windows 11 updates fine. I don't recall my SNUNMU Mini PC ever getting a BIOS patch, however it works fine.

These Mini PC are also inexpensive to run, probably same as a laptop for electricity. 

I also have a HP EliteBook laptop and a tower PC with a 5GHz overclocked 16 core CPU! Laptop is great for taking away but keeping in touch, using in conservatory, sitting at lounge table etc. PC I use for video-editing when power of the CPU saves me time.

As you already have a monitor, then getting a laptop plus dock lets you have desktop expanded over two screens which is surprisingly useful once you've tried it.

Frozen_up_north

greyteam1959 said:

I should consider a laptop.

And Dell outlet will be worth a look at.

Beware of Dell laptop keyboards. Mine had a key top flip up 2 or 3 weeks after purchase. No problem, it’s under warranty. Dell stated that any keyboard fault is down to rough use (really), and wanted £140 plus vat to replace it.

The problem is the use of weak “scissor” hinges between the switch and the key top.

I got some from eBay and fixed it for £3 and 2 minutes work.

I used to think Dell were a reputable company, not so sure now

Ibrahim5

A full size desktop PC is fully repairable, totally upgradeable, should be well cooled and ventilated. You only ever need to upgrade the components that are outdated. A mini ITX system is smaller but pretty similar, although motherboards are more expensive. At the other end of the scale are laptops which are difficult to repair and upgrade. Spill a cup of tea on a desktop keyboard and that will cost £10. Do that with a laptop and you may need a new laptop. Mini PCs are the same. Difficult to repair and upgrade and can have cooling issues. Often noisy fans. Hot components don't last as long.

GDB2222

I bought a mini pc, but I don’t think that the small size is an advantage. I’d rather have the same gubbins in a bigger box. I am not complaining about the price, though, as it was very cheap. So, if it wears out more quickly due to heat stress, that’s not a disaster.

Cisco001

If you don't mind used desktop, you could go something like this

HP Slim Desktop PC S01-PF2011/i5-12400/8GB DDR4/256GB SSD/DVD-RW/W11/B £210 CEX

HP 290 G3 SFF/i5-10505/16GB DDR4/256GB SS D/DVD-RW/W10/B £145 CEX

wireless requirement can simply solve by buying a usb wifi adaptor. AX3000 wifi 6 usb is around £13 at aliexpress.