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My ten year old PC is becoming a bit flaky, and wont support Windows 11; time to replace it. The last time I purchased a store-bought PC was in 1994, and it didn't work out real well. I've built all of them since, but I'm getting older and getting the configuration just right isn't quite as fun as it used to be. If I land the job I'm currently pursuing, Manager of Generation, with an Indian tribe on a vast reservation hosting multiple mixed-source micro-grids in diverse geographical locations spread across a million acres, I anticipate doing a lot of administrative stuff, along with a bunch of graphics-intensive AutoCAD things and computation-intense electrical system simulation functions.
I know we have people here who do these sorts of things - what do you recommend? Buy or Build? If Buy, what should I buy?
Will Rogers never met me.
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If you want to save space and Full HD suffices, this all-in-one might be interesting:
DELL Inspiron 7000 All-in-One Desktop, 27" FHD Touchscreen, 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U, GeForce MX550, 64GB RAM, 2TB SSD.
Another option might be to purchase a PC with an AMD Ryzen 9 processor, it's integrated Radeon graphics are probably more than enough for AutoCad and you won't need to buy an expensive graphics card.
I would also recommend a monitor with a higher resolution than Full HD.
modified 10-May-23 5:04am.
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If you have access to Microcenter (or something similar), you can choose the parts and then have them build it for you.
I decided to build my own cough cough gaming computer because I love to live dangerously.
It's completely mismatched, over powered in some aspects, underpowered in others, but it's my computer and it's kinda fun.
For work, I've always had my computers pre-build (dell) and shipped as per company specs.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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Maybe a nice laptop with a docking station and a couple big displays?
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I've got a nice laptop, but I detest them. They're useful for connecting to relays in the field, though...
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger, I'm 74 and just build a PC last year. Go to Custom PC Builder | Newegg[^]. They will match the pieces for you and it is easier to assemble as it used to be.
Never to old my friend!
Good luck on the new gig.
Give me coffee to change the things I can and wine for those I can not!
PartsBin an Electronics Part Organizer - An updated version available! JaxCoder.com
Latest Article: Simon Says, A Child's Game
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Thanks for the suggestion, Mike! I buy all my components from them, but I've never tried the Builder. I'll check it out!
Will Rogers never met me.
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I've been building my own since the late 90's, since I cannot get a pre-built unit that has everything I want at a price I'm willing to pay.
I built my current desktop a year ago January, and spent 3 months researching before buying. It's not like the 90's where the CPU choice was Intel or AMD, and then pick speed. There are dozens of CPUs, and figuring out which to buy can push one towards insanity.
For that reason, try the builder since you have nothing to lose.
Crypto mining pushed up demand for GPU, and with that the prices. You'll spend far more than you expect on a decent GPU, but in the end you'll be unhappy if you don't.
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I would buy a Dell XPS. I have bought dozens of Dells over the years for myself, family members and a former employer. I have never been disappointed. I know the Dell XPS desktops are a bit expensive, but they are well worth the price. If you buy directly from Dell, you can configure your purchase on their website and they will build it to your specs. It works great!
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
modified 10-May-23 9:25am.
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The age-old question... What do you value more, your time or your money?
If it were me, I haven't used a desktop in a looooooong time. You can get gaming laptops now that are beefy enough to do most things. Ironically, I wouldn't use one for gaming, but for photoshop, CAD, etc. they do great. Just buy one and be done with it. Can't say which brand I'd recommend, but I can say don't get a Gigabyte Aero laptop. It's always been wonky for me and the vents make it so you can't close the lid while using it.
If you used to build PCs for years back in the day and you want to go desktop, not much has changed. Really. Sure, instead of IDE or SATA drives you go NVMe, etc. these days. But, the basic principles are still the same, except for some reason everything comes with LED lights now.  If you've never really got into the building part then just buy one. But, as nerds, we all know you'll never get the exact bang for your buck or configuration you really want with a prebuilt one.
But, if you know you're about to get the job, then just buying one will free up some time to help prep for the job. Only person that can say which is most important or how much time you got is you man.
Anywho, unless you're a gamer ironically, getting a gaming laptop is plenty powerful enough to do your work.
Jeremy Falcon
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I get the point, Jeremy - I'm cramming and jamming to become an expert on microgrids with solar and diesel generation installed at a remote location. Time is rather precious right now.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Noice. Here’s to rocking the gig and bringing the awesome. ![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif)
Jeremy Falcon
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GamersNexus has reviewed a lot of pre-built gaming PCs over the last few years. A lot of them have been either crippled with bloatware, or catastrophically bad cooling.
IF you go with a GPUless system you'll probably be OK as long as you do a clean OS install. Otherwise I'd suggest finding something they reviewed that actually had non-screwed up cooling or being willing to do fan swaps or a full system transplant to a new case if needed.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
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Regardless of what you do or buy, if you were to do a clean install, and IF the machine has a NVMe system drive, you may run into an issue where the Windows 11 installer does not have drivers for NVMe drives.
See here:
The Lounge[^]
Get me coffee and no one gets hurt!
modified 10-May-23 10:11am.
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I build my desktop PC's but, in your case, I'll second a laptop with a docking station. You may have to go onsite. Also, you will use it for a real work, so you need something robust. You sound like you're not looking forward to the hassle of building a new machine.
So, as it was mentioned - Dell Inspiron is a good choice and even XPS if you want to treat yourself. And if you want a portable workstation then XPS-17(or another laptop with 17" screen).
Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
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I hand built my system. It's a lot more difficult than it used to be.
Check the specs on everything to make sure for example, that your ram clears your cpu cooler, and your coolers fit in your case, that kind of thing.
Also power and heat. Systems are pushing thermal limits these days, so it's not uncommon to find even commercial PCs running on liquid now.
Mine is an air cooled system - maybe the last air cooled desktop I'll own for the foreseeable future.
I had to downgrade from my target CPU and I played it safe and got a 4080 instead of a 4090 GPU.
I also dumped a ton of money on Noctua fans and slaved over my cooling situation until it was all as perfect as I could get it.
I'm happy with the machine but I never want to do this again.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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That's the fun part! I check and double check everything - even though ATX is supposed to be a standard, not every manufacturer obeys it. I buy cases that have more fan mounting locations than the motherboard can support. I buy motherboards that have more RAM slots than I expect to need. I get a better CPU than anything I run really needs. Overkill is always the order of the day. Recently I had to do some upgrades; I installed a new monitor after breaking an old one ( never attempt to re-assemble a Colt .45 ACP Model 1911 whilst sitting in front of the display ) when a spring-driven part went through it. I wish I'd taken a picture of the quite colorful but useless display afterwards, and had Hunter Biden sell it for me. Anyway, the new display whined constantly about having the wrong resolution set, so I upgraded the video card to one that can handle it. Turns out that my PC can't handle that much data flow, and I have to reduce the setting for it to function at all. Curiously, this card doesn't have an integral fan, and doesn't need one! It works great without extra cooling!
I might even keep this one as a file server and build something new. I actually enjoy it, but the learning curve on this job is huge. I've read thousands of pages of equipment manuals during the past week, pored over site plans and design documents, and just acquired today another 15 - 20 thick documents I haven't even unzipped yet. Time is becoming precious - just a trip to the jobsite is a four-hour round trip. I've not heard of Noctua fans; why do you prefer them?
Will Rogers never met me.
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Noctua fans are very quiet, move a lot of air per noise/RPM, and last forever.
They are overengineered monsters. I don't know a single person that has them that doesn't love them.
The only downside is they can get spendy, but it's one of those products where you'll be reminded of where the money went.
To err is human. Fortune favors the monsters.
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I am pretty happy with my BeQuiet! setup. I haven't got the fans to high speed yet, not even with 3 LoTRO instances, 2 VM Instances, around 15 browser tabs, a couple of office apps, a zoom conference and something else all at once.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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After HP, Lenovo is the second one I would not buy if I have another possibility. I have had several in my hands (some of them from family / relatives to repair / configure something) and I didn't like it.
They might be good machines, but I am not comfortable with them.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Nelek wrote: Lenovo is the second one I would not buy
My current system is a 3 y/o lenovo ideacenter tower that I bought on impulse off the shelf locally. I was really disappointed when I pulled the cover...very little room for upgrades/expansion as there are only 2 SATA headers and memory maxes out at 2x8GB!  The spinner was swapped for SSD immediately and fresh Win10 pro installed.
While the system generally performs OK, it starts getting sluggish when available memory drops below 2GB. Debugging some ASP.Net apps is excruciating as it may take up to 10 minutes to startup from a simple edit! (and of course Edit and Continue almost never works, so stop, edit, start, and wait for another 10 minutes!  (sometimes I miss the simplicity of classic ASP!) 
I'm already in the mindset of replacing it now, and leaning towards the build camp after this last experience.
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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I'll look into it, though I have never liked Lenovo since IBM spun it off.
Will Rogers never met me.
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For "field work", I can't see using a desktop or standard laptop; I'd be for a "Toughbook" with all the obscure port options, etc. Extra monitor.
"Before entering on an understanding, I have meditated for a long time, and have foreseen what might happen. It is not genius which reveals to me suddenly, secretly, what I have to say or to do in a circumstance unexpected by other people; it is reflection, it is meditation." - Napoleon I
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