New desktop PC - recommedations

[aidan.f]

I'm writing this on a hacked together carefully assembled by myself 10YO mini iTx PC AMD A4-5300 APU, some 'ol motherboard happy running Linux Mint from a 240 GB SSD
So why change?

     The fan is noisy  - not  'cos  it's  old just  always been that  way - have messed about  with BIOS and no success..
     Must now be slow by modern standards - it was not fast new..
     Better graphics could probably get a  bit more out  of my current monitor and allow future dual/higher resolution
     display.
     Reliability?

A refurbished small form factor or smaller office PC seems the best option, currently looking at
www.stonerefurb.co.uk anyone used / recommend them, or  other suppliers?







 

[CrinklyLion]

We buy a LOT of Stone kit (new) at work, and it it survives a secondary school setting reasonably well. I got the SmallestCub a second hand HP laptop from their refurb shop last year and it was cheap, in good cosmetic nick as described, arrived very quickly, and has worked uncomplainingly since. My current work machine is a 2016 Stone laptop and it has got a bit flaky in the last year or so, having been used so much that I've worn a fair bit of the lettering off the keyboard... it's getting replaced imminently (well, when I get round to sorting it out) with another Stone. My much-more-bothered-about-the-Shiny colleagues who have actual desks and a place of work all have higher spec stone desktop  machines to run their very many monitors each, and are happy (insofar as an IT team is capable of such) with 'em.

[Mr Larrington]

Got a refurb Dell laptop via backmarket.co.uk just before Christmas.  No issues, or at least not ones that could be laid at their door.

Edit: They do desktops as well…

[aidan.f]

Two useful replies, Crinkly is that  Stones own label kit you use please?

[pcolbeck]

I replaced my ancient desktop with a tiny Beelink PC. Its about the size of a think paperback novel. Silent (unless under a big load) and fast. Basically they use laptop chip-sets.
Works fine with Windows 11 Pro (that's what it came with) or Linux (currently running Arch) and drives my 38 inch ultra-wide monitor really well. I don't do games though so YMMV.
Lots of different ones to chose from here:

https://droix.co.uk/brand/beelink/

I have the SER5 with a Ryzen 5 5600H chip.

[Polar Bear]

One of our machines is an Intel nuc so similar in idea to the Beelink.  I also have an Akasa fanless case for it into which I will find time to transfer the very simple guts of the nuc in the coming months.  The fan is occasionally intrusive imo which annoys me as our other two machines are both fanless.

The nuc is a wee beauty with 4k output including chaining through a usb 3 type thunderbolt? port but also with hdmi output and a couple of usb's, an rj45? network connection as well as WiFi capability and Bluetooth.

It is our media pc but I will replace the ageing desktop tower system when it is due with another nuc, Beelink or similar.

I overspecced the nuc to give it longevity.  i7 instead of i3 or even i5 processor and 32gb ram.  I also bought the model which can take a second drive, SSD as oppose to m.2 but no problem for our needs.

I use a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and our "ZoomPub" Logitech webcam is permanently connected.  We zoom at least twice weekly with family and friends and often even more frequently.

[Lightning Phil]

Can you not just get a quieter fan and a better graphics card?  When did you last clean your PC, is there a build up of dust causing the fan to work harder to drive airflow and cooling?  Of course if you just want new shiny faster…

[aidan.f]

Phil,

The fan 'twas ever thus.. it's integrated graphics. IMO snot worth the bother and ££'s with risk of failure attached

[Bledlow]

Got a refurb Dell laptop via backmarket.co.uk just before Christmas.  No issues, or at least not ones that could be laid at their door.

Edit: They do desktops as well…

I got an ex-corporate lease Dell laptop direct from Dell slightly before your purchase. Typing this on it. It's fine. Solidly built & good keyboard, which is nice. Won't win any performance prizes, but it's good for my use.

They also do desktops.

[Mr Larrington]

I did look at Dell's refurb offerings but they seemed to be a lot more expensive and I didn’t need turbo nutter bastard performance, just the ability to start Windows in less time than it takes to boil a pint of water using wet-weed USAnian voles to power one’s kettle

[TimC]

I would avoid Dell desktops as they use proprietary case and motherboard formats which mean they are not easily upgraded or maintained if parts need replacing. They also unnecessarily over-engineer their cases (or case cladding) to add complication for its own sake.

Their laptops, otoh, tend to be rather good.

[Kim]

I would avoid Dell desktops as they use proprietary case and motherboard formats which mean they are not easily upgraded or maintained if parts need replacing. They also unnecessarily over-engineer their cases (or case cladding) to add complication for its own sake.

I once spent a fun afternoon deriving the Dell variation on the ATX power connector pinout from first principles.  Mongrels.

[sojournermike]

One of our machines is an Intel nuc so similar in idea to the Beelink.  I also have an Akasa fanless case for it into which I will find time to transfer the very simple guts of the nuc in the coming months.  The fan is occasionally intrusive imo which annoys me as our other two machines are both fanless.

The nuc is a wee beauty with 4k output including chaining through a usb 3 type thunderbolt? port but also with hdmi output and a couple of usb's, an rj45? network connection as well as WiFi capability and Bluetooth.

It is our media pc but I will replace the ageing desktop tower system when it is due with another nuc, Beelink or similar.

I overspecced the nuc to give it longevity.  i7 instead of i3 or even i5 processor and 32gb ram.  I also bought the model which can take a second drive, SSD as oppose to m.2 but no problem for our needs.

I use a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and our "ZoomPub" Logitech webcam is permanently connected.  We zoom at least twice weekly with family and friends and often even more frequently.

I’ve got a NUC driving the turbo and Tacx Desktop Application. There is something quite delightful about them. I’ve considered one to replace the high end laptop (with wide gamut screen) that I use for photo work. The laptop is old enough that it’s noticeably slow on current files.

[aidan.f]

Well after a lot of prevarication I got a secondhand  hp desktop from Rapid IT: https://shop.rapidit.co.uk/

....HP EliteDesk 800 G5 SFF | i5 9th Gen | 8GB RAM | 240GB SDD |

Windows 11 pro installed .. quiet and fast ...seemed a good price and is abs. fine for everything I have to do.

Adding Linux Mint would be out of principle rather than necessity.