The PC that is the main work computer is toast. ?ÿIt is old and very out of date in several ways. ?ÿNeed a replacement within few days. ?ÿI'm not into laptops so will only consider a PC.
What should I get? ?ÿWhat should I avoid? ?ÿWhich pretty bells and whistles are worth having? ?ÿBeing a Luddite, updates are rare. ?ÿFor example, AutoCad 2004 still satisfies my simple needs.
Ahhhh.....a fellow Luddite. Change is good so long as it is beneficial change. However if it is change for the sake of change well then........nope.
I went to Staples and asked the first computer geek to help me.
I used to buy laptops, quite a few of them, from the computer geeks of NZ's equivalent of Staples. I gradually stopped doing that, as they (both the geeks and the laptops) were at least one sandwich short of a picnic. Last thing I bought from them was a soldering iron, got it home, it not get hot. Took it back, geek plugged it in and said (while pinching the tip between his fingers) they take a while to heat up. I requested a test of another one, he plugged it and said "see" grabbing the tip, and I can still remember the colour of his face going from green to blue to red, and the sound of his sizzling pinkies.
I've never seen a cow dragged scratching and kicking into the next century.?ÿ This could be interesting...
ps - I'm a fellow closet Luddite also.?ÿ The last version of Windows that I liked was Win98...and I still have it on a PC?ÿcollecting dust?ÿin the corner with LDD2004 on it also.?ÿ No, it's not for sale. ??ÿ
Luddite here also. Use the old stuff until it won't do the job. ?ÿ XP was an improvement over 98, but nothing since then has seemed beneficial to me except when forced by need for compatibility.?ÿ If they could have released something that looked and worked just like XP but with the bugs fixed and whatever true improvements, I'd have been much happier. But that wouldn't have looked like progress and an excuse to sell new software.
I particularly dislike the "ribbon" menus that came with more recent?ÿ office software and the tendency for everything to be in a different place and pastel or minor differences in shades of gray.
I wasn't ready to go with windows 10 so I bought a refurbished windows 7 computer last year. They are still available.
I'm a?ÿLuddite and a cheapskate. Still use LDD2006 and buy all our desktop computers here:
https://refreshcomputers.net/shop/
Y'all fellow cheapskates have a great weekend.?ÿ ??ÿ
I in the process of replacing two computers that went down.
Hard drives usually are not affected by component issues like motherboard fries, heat problems from faulty fans and power units going out. They can give be placed in same model of computer boards and live again with very few issues to work out.
Found the carcass of two identical computers and I am taking my hard drive and useable components and installing them on the carcass and, poof, I have the same old computer and software up and running again with a new look.
Can also find a same version on EBay that has been refurbished with new components and insert your hard drive and you got the same thing up and running again.
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Computer Nerd here.
What I did for our office a few years ago is buy refurbished PCs with Windows XP Professional from Amazon Warehouse, and install new graphics cards and SSDs. We did that mainly because my boss didn't want to upgrade?ÿto Windows 10 yet.
A pretty basic setup sounds like it would fit your needs just fine, but I would definitely recommend getting a Solid State Drive for reliability and speed. With the power of the new processors and GPUs they are releasing, it is pretty easy to get something that is overkill for most basic surveying related tasks, but it means you have more time between changing equipment.?ÿ
I could be wrong but I think some of these "refurbished" computers are all new parts with an older operating system (7) that microsoft would not allow on a NEW computer.
James
Microcenter has a house brand "Powerspec" PC. These PCs come with very little bloat ware. I suspect you of all people would want to avoid unnecessary bloat. We have quite a few of them and they have worked well. Power supply had to be replaced in 1 of them. I-5 and I-7 processors all running Windows 7 Pro. Fans produce slightly above average white noise. They would seem like huge improvements in speed compared to your present set up. Agree with others about significant benefits of Solid State drives. 1 or 2 TB hard drives on ours and we will never use it all. Some of ours were bought "opened box". "refurbished", and "new". I suggest you compare them in your search, I think you will find they are very competitive cost wise.
If only for security purposes I'd move on to Win 10.?ÿ You can set it to run old stuff if you want to.
If you don't like to wait get a SSD drive.?ÿ Just using the internet is justification for a modern system.?ÿ You don't need to spend a great deal.
Last machine I bought is a refurbished HP workstation Z230, stripped down to the essentials, desktop.?ÿ I think is was shipped and returned - they can't call it new anymore. I have upgraded to a 500 Mb SSD and the ram to 32Gb.
I wouldn't buy something already a decade out of date.
My home computer is a ten year old high end laptop ($2,500 new) I bought for $300 from a friend eight years ago. Since then it's been through four keyboards, one hard drive, screen (broken hinges), one motherboard and three power bricks.?ÿ Bought a junker twin for the motherboard, screen, additional RAM and an OS upgrade from XP to Windows 7.?ÿ The only compute-intensive task these days is Photoshopping, so I see no need to upgrade until it finally gives up its magic smoke.
I went through that a couple of years ago, lightning too. I had a buddy assemble a machine for me since I didn't have the time, and he's also better at it. It costs time (money) to get smart.
Resist the urge to save money or get a used machine. Bad choice.
I got a Windows 7 OS since it sits nicely between old software and new, but it's still 64 bit, although will run 32 bit programs. It also has a minimum of the crap that makes Windows 10 so unpopular - the Facebook of operating systems.
Intel Core i7-6700 CPU @ 3.4 GHz, 16 GB of fast RAM.
I use AutoCad 2000 for most stuff. I had to get an install program from Longbow Software to load it though since the install is 16 bit, which W7 won't run. Just spend the $75 and circumvent the aggravation.
I use Eagle Point on another (way old) computer since they won't transfer it to my new machine although I own it outright too. It's a PITB. I don't know what you do.
I got?ÿ a solid state drive of 500 MB to run the OS and a big data drive since that doesn't have to be as fast. It boots up in like 15 seconds, or about my attention span.
Video card: Get a good one, a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB GDDR5 would be a good place to drop $500. Faster than you'll ever need, but supports a decent monitor or 4. You can't have enough of them.
Decent power supply won't burn out.
I got mine for $1400 or so, and it's great. I never wait for anything.
Newegg could probably make up one for you.
Good luck!
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