Best place for new PC

Gassage

PC's

Hahahahahahahahaha.

That's all I have to say.

rlw

Look on the PC Pro (magazine) site where they make various recommendations.  I bought a Chillblast and have been really impressed with it.

thomasross20

I agree some of the Apple stuff is bloatware if you don't use it but in general I get the impression there's less bloatware and that the machine wont slow down for no reason after 6 months. 

Well, I went back to John Lewis but didn't pull the trigger. 

I just couldn't justify £2k on a laptop. 

I can't stand laptop touch pads. 

I could get a mouse but I'd be using it in the bedroom lying on a bed - not an ideal situation. 

If I got one, it'd have to be one of the desktops. 

However I can get by fine with the current PC for that. 

Current PC is pants for video (literally can't play back a 1080p video in the video editor I use). 

--> In the future I might get an iMac. The 27" screen is impressive. 

I actually think the OS is very intuitive. 

The peripherals / accessories cost way too much. 

The keyboard that comes with it is way too small. 

The mouse that comes with it is awful (IMO). 

When I was there, a little kid was pulling at his dad begging him to get an iMac instead of an Xbox and I felt disgraced for the whole human race (sometimes I hate my job working in tech, but at least I'm doing it for cars now and not computers). I actually felt like I was being inducted into a cult. 

So in future it's going to have to be a desktop. 

I actually think the iMac is really well priced for what you get.

Just couldn't pull the trigger.... I mean, I'm doing one music video, the album is almost done... how much more media am I going to be creating? £2k could go toward a nice car or something guitar-related. It would have been excess and I'm sort of glad I walked away.

ToneControl

Danny1969 said:

There isn't a PC laptop that's as well built as a Macbook Pro, or as well designed. They could make one but they wouldn't be able to sell it as there isn't a PC brand that has anything like the loyal customer base of Apple. So they wouldn't be able to charge enough for it. 

Sorry, that's fanboy talk, you need to do a bit more research

My Dell Laptop is 3 years old, same level of CPU as a 2015 MBP, and is better built, and better designed

Not as trendy perhaps. They've been selling loads of desktops and laptops beyond Apple specs for many years

The current top-spec Dell mobile workstation is much faster than a top-spec MBP -it has a mobile Xeon fitted, and a much higher res screen than a MBP can provide, (8M pixels, not 5M like the MBP)

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=xctop7510emea&model_id=precision-m7510-workstation&c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1

hywelg

Sorry your comment about lying on the bed with the laptop gave the game away. Youre going to be using it as a toy aren't you. Oggling porn? Save your pennies or grands.

If you want to spec your own desktop (and you really will not do any serious work lying on a bed) then I'd thoroughly recommend Armari in Watford. I've had two systems from them on the basis that they last. The first one I kept going for 10 years, This one is into year 5. You see, it costs me at least three days work reinstalling Windows, reconfiguring drivers, connecting obsolete printers, then reinstalling all the apps I use, then all the updates, etc etc so the longer I can keep it running the more time I have to run the business (make money). A PC you can upgrade as time goes on, my dual Xeon system has 2.2GHz cpus and I can swap them out for 3.5's if I thought I would get much benefit. Hard drives I can u/g to SSD, graphics card similarly. Memory has never been a problem but I could double it to 24Gb very cheaply.

And I can use my lovely Unicomp clicky key IBM PC style keyboard which is a joy to use. I hate my laptop keyboard and my Surface Pro touch typey thing. Typing 'Ladyboys of Indonesia' into google on a laptop keyboard will not give you quite the same experience.

thomasross20

My comment about the bed is because there's no room in that room to put a laptop on a hard surface. 

I'd be using it for video editing, maybe some mixing and watching jamplay when the missus is watching TV in the other room. 

bob21

@crunchman

You can to all intents and purposes turn iCloud off - and on a true AV/show machine any cloud service has no place whatsoever.

On my personal machine/devices, use it all the time and think it's great - but that's besides the point..

wave100

As far as I know Apple are doing 0% credit at the moment...

ToneControl

ToneControl said:

Danny1969 said:

There isn't a PC laptop that's as well built as a Macbook Pro, or as well designed. They could make one but they wouldn't be able to sell it as there isn't a PC brand that has anything like the loyal customer base of Apple. So they wouldn't be able to charge enough for it. 

Sorry, that's fanboy talk, you need to do a bit more research

My Dell Laptop is 3 years old, same level of CPU as a 2015 MBP, and is better built, and better designed

Not as trendy perhaps. They've been selling loads of desktops and laptops beyond Apple specs for many years

The current top-spec Dell mobile workstation is much faster than a top-spec MBP -it has a mobile Xeon fitted, and a much higher res screen than a MBP can provide, (8M pixels, not 5M like the MBP)

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=xctop7510emea&model_id=precision-m7510-workstation&c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1

and this is interesting, an all-Mac Pro video team moved to Dell machines like the ones I mentioned:

http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/corporate/case-studies/en/Documents/2015-sparksight-10022189-workstations-mobile-nvidia.pdf

don't get me wrong, I like my Macbook, but I'm unconvinced that the MBP and MacPro are anywhere near the most attractive options for more powerful PCs

Axe_meister

How much memory does your current computer have?
A memory and a hard disk upgrade should be easily doable. Any two year old CPU should be able to handle video editing.

Axe_meister

You could even consider an MS surface pro 4 or even an apple 12" iPad with Bluetooth keyboard

Danny1969

ToneControl said:

Danny1969 said:

There isn't a PC laptop that's as well built as a Macbook Pro, or as well designed. They could make one but they wouldn't be able to sell it as there isn't a PC brand that has anything like the loyal customer base of Apple. So they wouldn't be able to charge enough for it. 

Sorry, that's fanboy talk, you need to do a bit more research

My Dell Laptop is 3 years old, same level of CPU as a 2015 MBP, and is better built, and better designed

Not as trendy perhaps. They've been selling loads of desktops and laptops beyond Apple specs for many years

The current top-spec Dell mobile workstation is much faster than a top-spec MBP -it has a mobile Xeon fitted, and a much higher res screen than a MBP can provide, (8M pixels, not 5M like the MBP)

http://configure.euro.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=xctop7510emea&model_id=precision-m7510-workstation&c=uk&l=en&s=bsd&cs=ukbsdt1

I'm a laptop engineer, have been for 15 years. I repair all makes of laptop from basic things like screen replacements to component level repair of laptop motherboards. It's the money I made in this area of I.T that enabled me to build 2020 studios. 

I'm very familiar with Dell laptops but no they are not as well designed or as well built as a Macpro. Spec and build quality are not the same thing. A Macbookpro palm rest is basically one large piece of alloy milled out for the keys, the actual metal is tapped to accept screws directly. It's expensive to build something like this .... the thought that goes into the routing of the cables, the 40 odd screws that hold the keyboard against the alloy palmrest so there's no give at all .... the DC socket that never breaks, it's great design. 

Your average Dell \ HP \ Acer or whatever laptop is build using molded plastic fitted with brass threaded inserts. The keyboard is held with clips and or a couple of screws. It will give in the middle because it's sat on a plastic palmrest. Over time the brass threaded inserts will pull out the plastic, especially around the hinge area .... Dell Inspiron 1545's, just about ever Acer I ever fixed. The DC socket is weak, Asus being the worse, Acer's are terrible. The Dell socket isn't bad but it wears internally leading to the smart inner pin not making contact so the laptop can't talk to eprom in the charger and the machine then won't charge. I have made many a happy £75 + VAT by changing a faulty DC socket on a Dell board

I have never fixed an Apple DC socket, I have never seen a broken one .... cos it's well designed!

Most Dell Precision's are basically  spec'ed up latitudes. I can flash a Latitude board as a Precision and sell it on a Precision part number, because it's the same part. In fact when you get a board from Dell it comes with a disc called "for service technicians   only" and it contains the option to  flash the board to what you want, ie an X1029 Dell board  can be flashed as a Precision M60, an Inspiron 8600 or a Latitude D800. You can get a Precision in a great spec but a great spec and build quality aren't the same thing. 

Also I think there's a danger in buying on spec alone as too much power in a laptop chassis will produce too much heat and that leads to throttling down and slower performance. Laptops with powerful discreet GPU's tend to have a shorted life than laptops with integral modest onboard video. The Macbook Pro is a good balance in this regard and although it doesn't have much in the way of ventilation it copes well because  the actual laptop body it's self is a heatsink ... because it's make of alloy , not plastic ...because it's well designed

thomasross20

Axe_meister said:

How much memory does your current computer have?
A memory and a hard disk upgrade should be easily doable. Any two year old CPU should be able to handle video editing.

I think it's more to do with the video card. Lightworks requires a dedicated graphics card. I've yet to check if I can do that upgrade on this machine. I have 4GB RAM and it's 2.9GHz 64-bit (and 512GB memory but not that that matters too much). Think it's integrated graphics so need to check about upgrade option. If so, would be great.

thomasross20

OK mine is a Lenovo C440 with integrated graphics. Will Google to see if I can add my own graphics card and upgrade RAM. 

Axe_meister

Ok add an extra 4GB.
You can then dedicate more memory to the graphics. Would be interesting to know if it has a motherboard based GFX/CPU based GFX or a deprecate GFX with build in memory (unlikely in an all in one)

thomasross20

It isn't looking good. 

TBH I think I need a new machine. But not until I've recorded my album as I'm not risking losing files and having incompatible hardware / software. Saying that.... I'm pretty sure the only thing that wouldn't work (going to Apple) would be my Toneport so could get a Focusrite Solo and buy some guitar emulation software. That wont be cheap, and considering I'm 3 songs away from completing this thing...

thomasross20

Axe_meister said:

Ok add an extra 4GB.
You can then dedicate more memory to the graphics. Would be interesting to know if it has a motherboard based GFX/CPU based GFX or a deprecate GFX with build in memory (unlikely in an all in one)

What's a deprecate GFX? I don't think I can add a video card...

Could maybe add more RAM but I don't know if that will make much difference..? Maybe for general speed but it wont help with the video editing, which is where the real problems lie.

Danny1969

Some all in one's have intergrated video (via the CPU) but also a slot for a discreet card. Then you normally have 2 x LVDS headers and if you fit a card you move the LVDS cable to it's corresponding header. I've done this on HP Touchsmart all in ones and some Acers ..... never worked on a C440 though so not sure if it's an option. 

thomasross20

I mioght have to take it apart but there's next to nothing online saying this is an option.

Danny1969

The FRU number for the board is 90000853 google that and look for a slot on the board that's bigger than the mini PCI slots used for the wi fi and BT cards. If the board dosen't have the slot then there's no option to upgrade the video