I'm late to this show, but here's my two cents worth.
If you don't need a laptop I would definitely buy a desktop.
Comparatively speaking you always pay more for a laptop than a desktop.
They're harder to build and maintain, and what everyone wants today so
they can take their computer everywhere they go. And we always pay a
premium for what's in vogue.
A 250 Gb SSD is pretty small unless you don't hae much data on your
system. I have a 250 Gb C-drive because I have two more 1 Tb drives. So
all I have on my C-drive is Windows and my installed programs. And that
takes up 50 Gb. That leaves 200. And SSD drives need room to breathe due
to the way they work. The rule of thumb is use 80 percent of the drive
space.
I've been buying custom built systems for years. So I just did a quick
check at my builder on the drive prices. It was only 80 dollars more for
a 500 Gb drive.
Same with RAM. The least he sells is 16 Gb. And it's only a hundred
dollars more for 32 Gb. So bumping up from 8 to 16 should be only 50 bucks..
One thing to clarify about the life cycle of SSD drives is that they
have a set amount of writes, not reads. So even if your SSD hits that
limit in five years you will still be able to read everything on it in
order to clone the drive to a new drive. This is also a good reason to
buy a bigger drive than you think you'll need. But SSD drives do vary in
how much can be written to them. It's called the endurance rating. I
think my 1 Tb drives have a 300 Tb rating. But a discount drive may be
half that. Look for names like Samsung and Western Digital, not Billy
Bob's drive barn. (smile)
Regarding the display adapter? which is what Michael was referring to
when he said video ram. That's dependent on the mother board and
processor you get. Some of the onboard display adapters of today are
perfectly adequate for typical use. But you'd have to spend some time
googling for reviews on the system you're looking at. Again, I've always
bought custom built extremely high performance systems. And just a few
months ago, when I bought my latest one, my builder, for the first time,
said this onboard display adapter is more than enough for anyone that
isn't a big gamer or doing things like video editing, animation, etc.
And he was right. Ironically a screen reader is a good gauge of this. I
have a fairly cheap and small one tick above the norm monitor so I can
run it at a refresh rate of 75 hertz rather than the standard 60 hertz.
And it makes a noticeable difference. It's not a big leap. So I wouldn't
worry about doing the same. My point is that the onboard display
adapters of today are much better than they used to be. Conversely, a
fairly inexpensive dedicated display adapter would probably do more for
a less powerful system. But it's a tough call that only builders that
benchmark their systems can know for sure.
And as someone else mentioned, many of the keyboards on today's systems
have the F-keys redefined in the bios to do other things. I don't know
if any mass manufacturers will change this for you. And it's not always
required. I say the latter because I've used Microsoft Natural keyboards
for many years and they have what amounts to an F13 key that toggles
them back and forth.
Good luck,
Tom
On 11/24/2017 3:51 PM, Carol and Roger via Talk wrote:
Thanks Michael,
Yes, it looks like I am most likely heading for another desktop. I will
neeed to do a bit of looking around to find just what I want. I am
making a list of people's recommendations to have available once I start
my shopping. It's silly, but i want to make sure I have a working
microphone, grin. It is tough to join in with webinars and SKYPE and
other things without one. I still use my CD/DVD burner, so I will need
one of those, also. These are little minor things I don't want to
forget. I figure a 256g SSD should work well with at least 8g ram. I
want enough USB ports so I can hook up more than two items and I want
them where I can reach them, not where I have to climb under my desk,
grin. I am thankful to all of the people that have given me ideas today.
Carol
On 11/24/2017 1:56 PM, Micallef Michael at FITA via Talk wrote:
Hi,
My suggestion is this,
In case of a desktop:
As a drive go for an SSD of at least120 specifically for the operating
system then add an another sata drive of about 1 or 2 terrabyte for
the other Regarding RAM nowadays this is quite cheap, so go for
between 12 or 16GB so in the future you avoid to upgrade the ram.
In case of a laptop
As a hard-disk go for 1TB SSD with 12 or 16 GB RAM, I bout my laptop
for about €1,000with these mentioned specifications and windows 10
operating system.
One another thing regarding Video ram go for a dedicated one and do
not relay totally on those on board video rams.
Thanks,
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk
[mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Carol and Roger via Talk
Sent: Friday, November 24, 2017 3:00 PM
To: Window-Eyes Discussion List
Cc: Carol and Roger
Subject: need new PC recommendations
Hi,
I must get a new PC. I am looking for suggestions for one that will
meet the best use criteria for speech. Is 8g ram enough or should I
get 12? Should I get both SSD and SETA frives? If I neeed SSD, how
large should it be? Generally, which would be the best brand? I know
this is a personal choice. I have had Dells for the last two
computers and am wondering if something else would be better. I have
Office 2007. Can I use 2007 on a win10 system or Should I get 2016?
My current PC is almost 8 years old and is beginning to do some wierd
stuff, so I thought I had better take care of getting a new one before
this one gives up.
Finally, does anyone use a hybred and what do they think of it. I
know I do not want a notebook, so it must be either a hybred, a decent
laptop or another desktop. Thanks for any suggestions. Oh yes, I
would like to get one on sale today, grin.
Carol
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