PC requirements for Skype?

Hudson1984

Hudson1984

Hudson1984

Associate
Joined
4 Jul 2013
Posts
139
Hi all,

this isn't really gaming, this is bare bones.

hoping you can help - you steered me in the right direction last time so i'm trying again.

So, tomorrow i'll be having my first online piano lesson. I also have "in house" lessons but i'm wanting to learn something particular which requires a teacher a bit too far away. Therefore - online it is.

Anyway, I was intending to use the now jobless gaming laptop as the hub but wondered if there's a simpler option. I don't really want to have to set it up everytime I go out there, run charger cable etc even with a USB hub getting things plugged in is going to be a hassle.

Now, we also have an old desktop I could "upgrade" if required to do this job, but perhaps I don't even need to upgrade

anyway,

what is the actual computing power I'd need to:
Run Zoom
Run 2 webcams at the same time - once being overhead, the other being a side angle view.
Run a Node USB mic (or similar USB Mic)
Suppose store some sheet music should I want to use the monitor to view music.

That's about all it needs to do. Basic as anything. Just would mean I could then leave it setup in there permanently and simply turn it one when I'm in a lesson or recording some practising.

don't want to spend more than £100. So there's a challenge for you! I'll see what the old tower we have has in terms of internals and maybe spend a few quid putting some upgrades in there. But other than that i'm really just after a bit of advice in terms of a spec I need - i.e. will it even need a graphics card? minimum RAM requirement? min processor I should aim for etc. Stuff like that, as if spending £100 on the old tower gets the job done better i'll go with that.
 
sadly, can't get it to boot up at the moment, so something's amiss.

It's a Dell Inspiron, running Windows 7 AMD Athlon (don't know which one), 4gb RAM, 300W PSU. Other than that i've no idea.

it's a question of do I just stick a new board and CPU in it, and see what happens, or keep what's there and get a new HDD, or is it beyond bothering with...

I don't know how low budget I can go with this really, it's got one job to do, nothing more so don't want to go mad, spent too much on the main PC to go overboard here.
 
Looks to be a DELL inspiron 546 sp CPU is an AMD Athlon 7550.

I mean I can get a like for like one on a ebay for £50, but if it won't do the job it's pointless.

would be nice to bring this one back to life and have something that'll do the job cheap
 
ok, is this worth it?

Lenovo Thinkcentre M92 PC Core i3 3220T 320GB HD. 4GB Ram with Win 10 Pro and Office 2019 Pro Plus.

Tiny PC.
Spec as follows.

Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit. Activated and fully updated.
Office 2019 Pro Plus Activated and fully updated.
Intel Core i3 3220T @ 2.8GHz
4GB DDR3 RAM. I can upgrade this to 8GB for £15.
320GB 7200RPM Sata 6.0 hard drive. I can upgrade this to a 120GB SSD for £15. A 180GB SSD for £20 or a 240GB SSD for £30.
USB 3.0 X4. 2 on the rear and two on the front.
1 USB 2.0.
Display Port X1
VGA X1
Ethernet.
Includes a new power supply.

this is currently £100 with offers accepted. I was thinking to offer the £100 but get them to up the RAM

SO, after some looking around, this PC will need to run:
Skype,
USB Mic
USB Webcam
DSLR - which will be used as a webcam via a video capture card.
24" Monitor
take some headphones.

I mean it's a pretty basic list, just want it to do the job well. I'll probably put some sheet music on the hard drive - but even then i'll no doubt do this with external drives as I can download via the office pc to look at on here. SO just needs enough room for Adobe, Windows, Skype/Zoom and possibly some other software for the video capture etc.
 
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