Office\University PC

ED209

ED209

ED209

Soldato
Joined
5 Nov 2014
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Hello All,

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a PC for the other half.

I've been tempted by the new Intel 250KF\250K but unsure what would be the best for the current budget.

Any suggestions would be great.

Purchase Timeframe: Within the next 2 weeks.

Budget: 1k (lower the better just do not want to spend anymore than I have too)

Usage: Microsoft word, libreoffice, software like read and write (Has quite low system requirements). Her course requires a lot of reading of books etc so software is used to assist with the reading.

Preferences: She does not have a lot of desk space so the smaller the better (Just needs to fit the gpu in). I already have a spare GPU (Palit Jetstream 2070S just for the 2 x monitors she will be using) which she can use for multiple displays.

Current Hardware: None

Peripherals: Already have Keyboard\Mouse\monitors and just need the base unit

Special Needs/Requirements (inc Wi-Fi): Wifi required, cannot think of anything else atm.
 
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ED209 said:
I've been tempted by the new Intel 250KF\250K but unsure what would be the best for the current budget.
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Would be more than sufficient, but given the low usage requirements I'd personally get the K, a motherboard with 2x DP (or 1x DP/1x HDMI) and not bother with the 2070 Super.
 
Tetras said:
Would be more than sufficient, but given the low usage requirements I'd personally get the K, a motherboard with 2x DP (or 1x DP/1x HDMI) and not bother with the 2070 Super.
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Could do, Didn't think you could get motherboards with 2 x HDMI\DP ports.

I will take a look and see what I can find.
 
ED209 said:
Could do, Didn't think you could get motherboards with 2 x HDMI\DP ports.

I will take a look and see what I can find.
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More common on MATX boards, funnily enough, e.g. B860M DS3H (AX if want WIFI) has 1x HDMI and 2x DP.

Only snag is, most of the cheap MATX B860 boards have terrible VRMs, albeit not likely to be an issue for the quoted usage.

Edit: not sure if the presence of flashback matters with the 250K.
 
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ED209 said:
Usage: Microsoft word, libreoffice, software like read and write (Has quite low system requirements). Her course requires a lot of reading of books etc so software is used to assist with the reading.
Click to expand...

honestly this does not sound like hard work (PC requirements, not uni requirements :P ) as it's literally just office work with no GPU requirements
the cheapest, and the way i would recommend, is just to get a second-hand business PC from ebay or the likes, these will run dual screens no issues too
 
tamzzy said:
honestly this does not sound like hard work (PC requirements, not uni requirements :P ) as it's literally just office work with no GPU requirements
the cheapest, and the way i would recommend, is just to get a second-hand business PC from ebay or the likes, these will run dual screens no issues too
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Agreed. Even a MacBook Neo or Air or HP Ekitebook 14" would work fine.
 
NUC or a laptop if going new, second hand dell or what have you office PC from the past decade otherwise.

Shouldn't cost more than £300-600 depending on direction, there's nothing in her use case that requires much power.

Hell, you can get a Mac Mini M4 for under £400 and they're surprisingly powerful for moderate to heavy video editing loads let alone light office use, tiny footprint too.

See here for a size example:

macmini2.webp


Edit: I'm not a fan of Apple hardware/software usually but the M4 wins me over, a lot of power in a small footprint and they've not hiked the price of it alongside the big RAM costs we've seen. It has 16gb at the entry level and you'd spend almost half of £400 on that alone at the moment with a self build, for a new machine with on par general performance on windows I'd expect to be north of £1000-1200 if not more.
 
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Tbh with that planned use and space being at a premium I'd forget about the gpu and just buy a laptop - nicely self contained, and can take it out and about if needed.

If there definitely won't be any advantage to the portability of a laptop then +1 for something like a mac mini, or some other sort of mini pc (Minisforum make various options which look decent) that will sit very nicely on a small desk, or even mounted to the back of a monitor etc.
 
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