Old fella needs HELP!!

wacjac

wacjac

wacjac

Associate
Joined
30 Mar 2003
Posts
42
Hi folks, it's been about 12 years since I was last on here. I'm mid-fifties now and my brain isn't what it used to be sadly. It's frustrating to think I used to know this stuff inside out and used to build 20-30 PCs each year for people and always overclocked my PCs. Nowadays I have almost zero interest in PCs other then general surfing, YouTube watching, occasional photo processing and general office type things. Absolutely zero gaming etc. I've clung on to my current PC for as long as I can remember now and desperately avoided moving away from the comfort of XP (!!!).

As XP barely works on the internet now, I've got little choice other than to get a new PC with Windows 10, but I have absolutely no idea whatsoever now about what's what. I don't want to build anything but just buy a small form factor / mini-PC type thing (like the Lenovo ThinkCentre M620tiny etc)

I'm hoping to spend no more than £450-£500 on just the tower, don't need monitor or anything else. I'm hoping to see quite an increase in performance from the combination of faster processor, SSD, faster RAM, faster OS(?)

I'm upgrading from:- (copied from 'my computer' system properties) - Intel(R) QUAD CPU - Q6600 @ 2.4GHz - 2.61GHz 3.25Gb RAM - XP Professional SP3 (I did say it was on an old machine!!).

To be quite honest, it seems fast enough for what I use it for but I know it's now very old hat and it'll be just my luck the processor or HDD fail catastrophically and I'm knackered, so I want to get a new PC.

It's a shame OC doesn't do a good range of these small PCs as I'd happily buy one from here (I used to spend a small fortune here years ago!)

Can anyone suggest anything that they know is out there please? I'm looking ideally at :-

Intel i5
8Gb RAM
128Gb or possibly 256Gb SSD

It's the debate between cores/threads and i3 v's i5 which throws me, all this talk of turbo-boost and what seems like low clock speeds??

What does this seem like?-
9th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-9400T Processor (6 Cores / 6 Threads, 1.80 GHz, up to 3.40 GHz with Turbo Boost, 9 MB Cache)
Windows 10 Pro 64
8 GB DDR4 2666MHz
256 GB SSD 2.5" SATA6Gb/s Opal

I'd like to get the most future proof thing I can for the money as I suspect this may well be the last PC I own so I'd like to to last a good few years!!

Any advice would be hugely appreciated chaps.

Thanks
 
I did a similar build for my sister a while back. Grab an Intel NUC and a monitor with an accessible VESA mount on the back. Go for an i5 for a bit more grunt.

You'll need to include some storage (I'd suggest nvme but a sata SSD would be fine) and ram (laptop-style sodimm). With a short display cable and a wireless keyboard and mouse, it'll be invisible and need zero maintenance.
 
To be honest, why dont you explore laptop options.?
U can get good laptop for 500.
Hook it up to a monitor, external hdd, and ur off.

Thot for food.
 
If you've got a modern(ish) monitor with an HDMI port, along with a USB keyboard and mouse that you intend on reusing, given your usage requirements, the specifications you've listed would suit you fine.
The Lenovo ThinkCentre Tiny range are good on size and not too shabby on price if you shop around. The Intel NUc's are also good but I think will come in a bit more than your stated budget for an i5 model.

Either should easily see you through the next 5-7 years, though the smaller size would limit your options for expandability in the traditional sense. You'd have to use USB 3 for external connections, though both the M720 range, and I expect the NUC's will come with at least one USB-C port so you'd have that option.

Unfortunately with the pace of things these days there's never the option to really future-proof a purchase, just get what you need now and try not to worry or over-think things.
Ultimately, anything that you get with a SSD, be it SATA or NVMe, will feel way faster than your old machine.
 
If you wanted to save a bit of dosh you could easily throw an ssd in that machine you have and just install windows 10 on it. If you're not gaming it would be fine and with the ssd should be snappy too. Just another option.
 
MiKeOnE10110 said:
If you wanted to save a bit of dosh you could easily throw an ssd in that machine you have and just install windows 10 on it. If you're not gaming it would be fine and with the ssd should be snappy too. Just another option.
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Good point. That should provide a night and day upgrade experience for the old machine, whilst getting you off XP
 
wacjac said:
I'm upgrading from:- (copied from 'my computer' system properties) - Intel(R) QUAD CPU - Q6600 @ 2.4GHz - 2.61GHz 3.25Gb RAM - XP Professional SP3 (I did say it was on an old machine!!).
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I legitimately think my smart fridge has more processing power.
Its always a tough one giving buyer suggestions to someone who isn't an enthusiast and doesn't want to spend money. Because really you care about adult things, like warranty and a shop to take it to that'll fix it. Which is why I always suggest Apple.
Get the new iPad Air pops, it does everything you need it to, has a good warranty, a guy to fix it/setup for you and you can use it in a comfy arm chair.
This may be sacrilege here, but honestly desktops are relics. You don't need one.
 
RachelsCorporateLife said:
I legitimately think my smart fridge has more processing power.
Its always a tough one giving buyer suggestions to someone who isn't an enthusiast and doesn't want to spend money. Because really you care about adult things, like warranty and a shop to take it to that'll fix it. Which is why I always suggest Apple.
Get the new iPad Air pops, it does everything you need it to, has a good warranty, a guy to fix it/setup for you and you can use it in a comfy arm chair.
This may be sacrilege here, but honestly desktops are relics. You don't need one.
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Whilst it can be useful to offer alternatives to the question asked, as we never know the extent of everything that's available on the market, suggesting a completely different type of product I don't think is going to help.
It's a bit like suggesting to some who wants advice on getting a toaster to buy an oven instead as they have a grill and you get much better toast that way.

iPads are great, I've had 3 so far, but not what the OP was asking about. The differences between the form factors when considering existing peripherals and situation, and not least iOS vs Windows as an operating system, makes an iPad an outside bet for a valid replacement.
 
atomixers said:
Whilst it can be useful to offer alternatives to the question asked, as we never know the extent of everything that's available on the market, suggesting a completely different type of product I don't think is going to help.
It's a bit like suggesting to some who wants advice on getting a toaster to buy an oven instead as they have a grill and you get much better toast that way.

iPads are great, I've had 3 so far, but not what the OP was asking about. The differences between the form factors when considering existing peripherals and situation, and not least iOS vs Windows as an operating system, makes an iPad an outside bet for a valid replacement.
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I would argue the statement that it is not a completely different type of product. We aren't pedalling products here, we solve problems. Its exactly designed to do what OP is asking and evidence suggests that it is extremely good at it.
Its quite the opposite of your analogy actually, if a customer walks into a store just looking to make toast but has been misinformed that only ovens exist to do that job. Well then. The smaller less catch all solution of a tablet is perfect, especially one that has a laptop level keyboard attachment.

Consider what your customer has said, their machine runs a Q6600 from 2007. Their peripherals are also likely from.. 2007. That is the pairing you would be making to a new machine, which does the job. Sure..
But I think we can do better than that, after all this is our OG OCUK forum dad here. And if it were my dad I'd suggest the air, it's a toaster (in a non literal sense) and it makes toast really very well. It also keeps my mum happy, because bargain desktops are ugly as sin.

Edit: he has to run a new operating system anyway. iOS is extremely easy to use, Windows 10 is garbage compared to XP back in the day, those two aren't even a close comparison other than the windows logo.
 
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The Intel NUC platform is really good;
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £532.87 (includes shipping: £15.90)​
​


The Lenovo you have also linked would also do the job fine, any i5/i7 from the 8th generation and up, 8/16gb RAM and an SSD will last you a good while. If you have made it this far with a Q6600 and XP then thise new generation will blow you away!
 
Perhaps we're all guilty of second guessing what the OP actually wants from his replacement. They gave a few usage scenarios, and a tablet could potentially do all of these, depending on other factors such as the ability to import photos, output to a printer etc. That could also be true of any new PC as the peripherals could be considered obsolete by modern stanadards and not supported by modern hardware or software.

If we have any further input from the OP with ideas or thoughts perhaps we can continue the discussion.
Idon't think that the modern tiny desktops are ugly as sin though. They may not be attractive, but a small grey/black 7x7" square isn't that offensive, and if you want a very tasteful space grey option there's always the Mac Mini.
 
Been out in the wilds for a couple of days lads, sorry for not replying!!

Some great replies and food for thought here. Thanks to all who took the time to respond, I mean that.

Some of you will have realised that I used to be very heavily into PCs, building, overclocking etc, and am no newbie. I'm at the age now where they are just a pain in the arse to me and I have no interest other than surfing and basic home needs. We already have iPads, Android tablets etc in the house but it's a new small-form desktop I want. I'm not an Apple fan tbh, but iPads have their uses (holiday). To give you an idea my current case (Abit) stands 22" tall and looks like something out of a history program...it served its purpose for many years and saw many upgrades. Yes, someone mentioned XP....I've fought hard over the last few years to not upgrade as I know it inside out and back to front. Sadly I have no choice other than to move to Win10. I've been on my kids' laptops over the last few years and cannot stand any version of Windows beyond XP, so this will be fun for a while until I get used to it.

Since my original post I've now decided on a Lenovo ThinkCentre 720q TINY i5-9400T 1.8GHz/3.4GHz - 8Gb RAM x 256Gb SSD, Wifi, BT, 3-year on-site warranty and Win10 Pro - a sniff over £400 and 7" square!! Although not a machine for life (what is?), it should see a couple of OS upgrades as they happen and I can always upsize RAM and SSD if necessary.

As BizKid.09 said 'If you have made it this far with a Q6600 and XP then thise new generation will blow you away!' - I hope so!! It'll be nice just being able to stop the ******* upgrade nagging and be able to get to all websites I want at last!!

One last thing.....'Get the new iPad Air pops'...that made me laugh!! POPS!!! I'm still a teenager in my head and can hike 30 miles in a day ;o)

Thanks again all, advise appreciated.
 
wacjac said:
Lenovo ThinkCentre 720q
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You are indeed going to be blown away by the better performance. But I would upgrade both the SSD to 0.5 TB NVME and the RAM to 16 GB (i.e. part no 10T700AAUK) because you know how things bloat over time.
 
wacjac said:
One last thing.....'Get the new iPad Air pops'...that made me laugh!! POPS!!! I'm still a teenager in my head and can hike 30 miles in a day ;o)

Thanks again all, advise appreciated.
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Glad I got a chuckle that was only going one of two ways.
If you enjoy a good hike when covid is over I can recommend the Glendalough distillery in the Wicklow mountains, its a real fabulous hiking spot. No one ever regrets a trip even better when it rains!
 
RachelsCorporateLife said:
Glad I got a chuckle that was only going one of two ways.
If you enjoy a good hike when covid is over I can recommend the Glendalough distillery in the Wicklow mountains, its a real fabulous hiking spot. No one ever regrets a trip even better when it rains!
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Oh, don't get me started on the subject of Southern Ireland....I absolutely LOVE the place. The last two (normal!!) summers, the wife and I have had a 10 day road trip over the entire place each time - there's very little of SI we haven't seen!! The people make it. Bloody expensive though!

I've also, just 3 weeks ago, returned from 2 laps of the NC500 as I love the Scottish highlands so much. Mind blowing!!

Within the next 3-4 years when the wife retires we will be moving to one of the two above.
 
wacjac said:
As BizKid.09 said 'If you have made it this far with a Q6600 and XP then thise new generation will blow you away!' - I hope so!! It'll be nice just being able to stop the ******* upgrade nagging and be able to get to all websites I want at last!!
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Windows Update hasn't changed in this regards on Windows 10 (ie it is still the same mentality as back then (actually, I would say it is worse ie "must install updates even whilst the user is using the PC, unless you pause updates" (not recommended pausing updates))
 
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