Well, right now even the minimum spec with a G3220, 4GB of ram, and a 320GB
drive performance is acceptable for most use cases. The main thing that you'd
be able to see a big difference in performance with right at this very moment
is the hard disk. An SSD is going to have the most dramatic speed impact from
day 1. The CPU might be underwealming going forward though, a few years from
now. Intel Atom systems from a number of years ago were perfectly fine
performance wise with GNOME 2 for most users. However those systems today
leave a lot to be desired. However keep in mind that these were $250 systems
at the time and the equivalent would probably be Penguin Nano today for $349
(maybe a little better than at the time). That said I'd probably suggest an
i3 or i5 and play it safe. A lot though really depends on how much you want
to spend and how long you want it to last and at what level you want it to
continue to perform at.
I'd probably go with this configuration (I'd probably classify myself as
being in the same boat as you for what I need):
Processor: Intel Dual-Core i3-4130 (3M Cache, 3.40 GHz)
Memory: 8GB DDR3
Hard Drive: 500GB SSD Hybrid
But, as others have pointed out even this is going to be fine (I'd anticipate
more performance degradation though over time):
Processor: Intel Dual-Core Pentium G3220 (3M Cache, 3.00 GHz)
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Hard Drive: 320GB
Right now my primary work computer is a system with an i5-3210 3rd gen cpu,
8GB ram, and a traditional spinning disk. It seems just fine to me for basic
use cases. The i5-3210 is at the lower end of the high end spectrum as far as
CPUs are concerned.
I also use a system with a 4th generation 3205U for entertainment purposes.
That CPU is at the low end of the spectrum and does have difficulty under
pressure with high quality video content- but personally it doesn't bother
me. My significant other though does notice that the system has performance
difficulties with high end video.
On the other hand a basic Penguin Pocket Wee does perfectly with a mid-range
CPU in it even with the higher end video content. The low end CPU in the
Penguin Pro 5 is also in the high to mid-range section as far as the CPU is
concerned.
Ultimately I don't think you can go too terribly wrong for basic use with the
Penguin Pro 5 either way you go. If there were two things I'd upgrade it
would be the hard disk for an immediate speed boost, and a ram upgrade to
ward off tomorrows application bloat, followed by a CPU upgrade, in that
order.
