[conspire] new computer?I

[Ivan Sergio Borgonovo]

On 11/22/18 2:05 AM, paulz at ieee.org wrote:
> First,  I am thankful for all of the constructive comments.
> 
> I did a little "window shopping" for components.  If I open my box and 
> put in new motherboard, new CPU, RAM and storage, I can expect to spend 
> $500 - 600.   That will get me more cores and more storage than I had 
> before.

That seems a pretty expensive box considering you were using a very old 
one that probably means you didn't need a very fast PC.

Furthermore a case for a cheap box is a very small percentage of the 
cost of the whole PC. With "slow" video board and "slow" CPU you don't 
need a beefy power supply neither any special investment in cooling.

A new power supply is not a really bad idea if the old one is OLD.
It is going to be more reliable and probably more efficient.

> One area that really affects the price is storage.
> 2T HDD  $50
> 4T HDD  $75
> 2T SSD  $250-350
> I've seen the benefit of cache on a HDD, but I need some more reason for 
> the delta dollars.

Do you do regular backups somewhere else? Even better, do you have a 
NAS/server at home?
Get a single fast smaller SSD.
An SSD will make your PC fly.

> Now if instead I get a laptop, I get a new display, keyboard, power 
> supply and case which I don't really need.

And a new UPS. A new display is cool for dual monitor, unless you 
already have 2 monitors and many laptop can't handle more than an 
additional one.

And you skip the work to assemble the PC and you'll generally have a 
better warranty coverage.

-- 
Ivan Sergio Borgonovo
https://www.webthatworks.it https://www.borgonovo.net