Old PC. Decided to Keep and update / HELP. Running 2 OS on seperate SSDs?

pfpf

as my recent new threads show, i'm not a techie but can crack on when need be.

so next adventure. back in the day i built my own PC's, my current one is now getting old, probably 12 years+ old, its a low end gaming build but i don't game anymore.

sitting here now all i really do on the PC is check emails through Thunderbird. surf/shop. online banking. and have a few Word documents which act like bits of paper with scribbles on.

i occasionally have need to run a DVD but i can get a standalone unit to do that.

Budget, ideally £200ish pushing to £250 if need be. (is that possible?)

i don't want to find i'd be using something that felt slower in operation than i'm using now.

i'd like to be able to hardwire to my router as well as wireless add a wired mouse and i must have the ability to connect it to my large monitor.

i don't really know where to start as theres so many options. chrome book / surface laptop etc etc and then the "normal" laptops.

so if anyone could offer advice and strap in for the follow up questions i'd be most grateful.

thank you.

outthere24

Lenovo has always served me well, not to bloated with software and last a long time. Your budget is very tight though, maybe second hand..?

pfpf

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82027136#Comment_82027136

budget could be higher for the right unit. i've seen so many for £150 - £200 but wondered if these were just android boxes running Apps but looking like a laptop.

could you link me to something that you would go for today? i need a starting point to look at.

thank you.

flaneurs_lobster

Do you need the portability of a laptop? There's a price to be paid for that form and if you don't need it, don't pay for it.

Would a refurb desktop be acceptable? Even refurbed, that budget is going to be difficult.

Could look at Mini PCs, loads online but someone else will have to give opinion.

pfpf

no not really. don't want another big box so won't be looking at desktops. mini pc's is something iv'e seen when looking recently, i'll have another look at those as i guess that may be a good option. thank you. (again).

edit: without even looking for more than 10 secs this came up:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/NiPoGi-E3-Windows-Computer-Display/dp/B0FY4XC7WR/ref%3Dsr_1_5?crid=IWQC5R05C6TR&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.AiBVakDPVUmG5GXK9d631dtkF6KVFFIvm1AXKtFFMDbp8K3hCp8cwkjlFU-sftr1YqXpE4jf66n7Udc4Ks4X94Lqlo5QNfJalN_vXuOeti2bsUgMoYFDOiXyS0nboytMprTu6Vr0pxLtcWmVUCxvWW7fJcTsiX2U0xrcJ1-7axJ1GUrLlXTy7fmyhZHfyXDwIDFKIEMNo9r4ydknPkRtk6wbcj9a3AfP5a_rmzjUP40.n0a60ZcVx70J3D7_M9TcQjnyVRqE7d9vtup6momdCq0&dib_tag=se&keywords=mini%2BPC&qid=1780908773&sprefix=mini%2Bpc%2Caps%2C114&sr=8-5&th=1

probably the type of thing that would work well for me, just need to see whats around.

Frozen_up_north

You can do all you need on a mobile phone, or a tablet. Although doing much “word processing” would require at least a full size keyboard. Chromebooks are popular but will not run ordinary Windows programs from 3rd parties, that might not be an issue.

Banking is especially easy on a phone with fingerprint or facial recognition.

While the reviews of that unknown brand Amazon PC from, I guess, China, are positive, most on here only have experience of Dell, HP, Acer, Asus and Lenovo.

In no particular order, these are the points to consider:

Do not entertain refurbished laptops/PCs without carefully researching the particular item. For example there are lots of old office PCs on eBay that have been fudged to run Windows 11 Professional, the sub £200 Dell Optiplex models are typical and maybe 7 or more years old without up to date drivers and incompatible security hardware (early TPM that is not Windows 11 compatible). I scrapped one such PC and yet see plenty of the same types advertised.

To run Windows 11 you really need 16 GB RAM and a 500 GB solid state drive. 8 GB RAM and 250 GB storage work but that’s the absolute minimum. RAM has gone up in price significantly in recent months. Beware that some laptops have soldered in RAM and are not upgradable.

For a given task, laptops run slower than desktop PCs even with what appears to be similar specifications. It’s not surprising as heavy processing generates a lot of heat. Laptops are mostly designed to run on battery power for up to 8 or more hours with the emphasis on minimising power consumption.

Beware of laptops with backlit silver keys… my OH has a nice Asus one, it’s fine except in some lighting you cannot see the white letters on silver! I think most have black or dark grey keys. Backlit keys are nice, I personally wouldn’t buy a laptop or PC keyboard without backlit keys.

Don’t be fooled into buying a computer with a larger than necessary drive, you will need to back it up regularly and that eats up a lot of external storage. Don’t fall for anything larger than 500 GB…

Vitor

OP's budget is rather low as RAM shortages have pushed laptop prices up for new devices. For £250 you'll be getting a clunker with slow CPU and poor screen. As OP seems to keep assets for years, I'd avoid cheaply built devices from Asus, Acer etc. and stick to Dell, HP or Lenovo.

Very few laptops come with RJ45 socket for wired ethernet. I suggest getting a USC-C connected dock which will have HDMI, USB and RJ45 ports for monitor, wired mouse and ethernet, making undocking/docking one plug.

Chromebooks I'd rule out as Google as made them end-of-life with the announcement of the new devices.

GDB2222

Do you need to change your present PC? My rather elderly PC works fine for the sort of things you are talking about. The main drawback is that it's not W11 compatible. I was going to retire it, but the W10 extended support option came along, so I'm still using it.

I bought a W11 miniPC for £100, but I've not got round to transferring over to it yet. It's an N100 CPU, which seems adequate. It came with 16GB of DDR4 RAM, so you might be looking at a higher price now, although probably well within your budget.

pfpf

thanks all. i'll do a bit of research. i may end up keeping what i have for now.

SammyBoyd

The Mini PC to which you link has a relatively weak processor designed for laptops. Perhaps better to look at older(though fully compatible with Windows 11) Mini PC, with a Desktop processor proper.

Examples from an earlier thread:

ebay.co.uk/itm/236621229920 £109.99 i5 8th Gen with 8GB of RAM Six month warranty
ebay.co.uk/itm/377133283516 £119.99 i5 8th Gen with 16GB of RAM

These are Mini PC with built in optical drives. 2 litres in capacity. By comparison, a normal Desktop Tower can be 40 litres in capacity. Small Form Factor, perhaps 7 to 10 litres.

AI powered comparison of the processor of the Mini PC in your link and these:

AI Overview

The Intel Core i5-8400 completely outclasses the AMD Ryzen 3 3250U in pure processing power, delivering nearly 2.5x to 3x faster performance. The i5-8400 is a dedicated mid-range desktop processor designed for heavy multitasking and gaming, whereas the Ryzen 3 3250U is an entry-level, low-power dual-core chip built for budget laptops. 

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	AMD Ryzen 3 3250U	Intel Core i5-8400
Device Type	Laptops / Mobile	Desktop
Cores / Threads	2 Cores / 4 Threads	6 Cores / 6 Threads
Clock Speeds	2.6 GHz Base / 3.5 GHz Boost	2.8 GHz Base / 4.0 GHz Boost
Power (TDP)	15W (Highly efficient for battery)	65W (Requires dedicated desktop cooling)
Integrated Graphics	AMD Radeon Vega 3	Intel UHD Graphics 630
PassMark Score	≈ 3,740	≈ 9,230

Key Differences

• Multitasking & Heavy Loads: The i5-8400 has three times as many physical cores. It excels at handling multiple applications at once, video editing, and modern demanding programs. The Ryzen 3 is strictly meant for basic web browsing, typing documents, and streaming. 

So whilst the Chinese made Mini PC is new and looks cute, you are sacrificing performance and still getting similarly old(as in their release dates) components within.

SammyBoyd

You can find even cheaper examples, with a six month warranty.

Here for £87 delivered: ebay.co.uk/itm/318408789900

Plus, you save on needing to buy an external DVD drive. 😉

A substantial amount left in your reserve fund if you wish to upgrade RAM and storage.

A mere £12 for another 8GB module: uk.webuy.com/product-detail?id=SMEM8G26661

Note that the PCIe/NVMe slot is limited to PCIe 2.0 x 2, with a total bandwidth of 1GB/s. Expect between 800MB/s to 1GB/s with an NVMe drive. None of that matters if using a SATA SSD with half that capability anyway.