New PC needed for girlfriend

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Jason3022

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Apr 16, 2012
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My girlfriend is seeking advice purchasing a new PC. (in Ontario,Canada).
I thought I'd get opinions on what's recommended these days in the budget category.

She's open to either laptop or desktop, but very cost conscious.

Needs:
Ms-Office
Some Accounting software packages
Browsing
Internet


I'm leaning towards a budget Dell desktop, but not entirely sure how long something like this would last her:

Laptop:

http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/dell-laptops-netbooks-and-tablets/inspiron-15-3000-non-touch-intel/spd/inspiron-15-3567-laptop/ni153552_ft_h009e

Or this desktop:

http://www.dell.com/en-ca/shop/desktops/new-inspiron-small-desktop/spd/inspiron-3472-desktop/di3472_ft_s7104e
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Her current laptop is some HP that is ~ 7 years old and feeling rather sluggish not to mention other issues.

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Any Canadian wish to chime in on their opinion on where to shop?
Warranty issues / hassles / brands to avoid?

Is 4gb ram enough, or should the system have at least 8gb for the mentioned uses above?
Minimum acceptable CPU?
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Thoughts on Canada Computers vs Dell vs Best Buy etc.

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Solution
WildCard999
A SSD will ensure excellent speeds later on as long as the drive isn't filled up, I'd invest into a 1-2TB HDD later on. For her needs the G5400 is more then enough and if you build it yourself you can make it a bit more personalize for her.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium Gold G5400 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($85.50 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.75 @ Vuugo)
Case: Rosewill - RANGER-M MicroATX...
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J

jaslion

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Dec 17, 2012
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1. does she need the portability of a laptop?
2. 4gb is not enough even for basic tasks. It will fill up and cause slowdown due to the system having to use the pagefile
3. Doesn't really matter where you buy the pc as long as it's a quality pc.
 
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WildCard999

WildCard999

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Jul 18, 2014
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A SSD will ensure excellent speeds later on as long as the drive isn't filled up, I'd invest into a 1-2TB HDD later on. For her needs the G5400 is more then enough and if you build it yourself you can make it a bit more personalize for her.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Pentium Gold G5400 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($85.50 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock - H310M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($69.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot - Signature Line 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.75 @ Vuugo)
Case: Rosewill - RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $457.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-05-04 14:20 EDT-0400

Or buy a larger SSD and do a clean install of Windows onto her current laptop assuming none of her issues are hardware related, this would save you a bit of money.
 
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Solution
SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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What's the model name/specs of this old laptop?
If it's not in too bad condition - perhaps upgrade to SSD and additional ram may breathe a new life into it.

 
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J

Jason3022

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Apr 16, 2012
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I will report back on that - I'm not sure at the moment.

The HP laptop came with MS-Office at the time, so I suppose she'd have to repurchase that + Windows 10 + ssd + ram?

The 'other issue' I mentioned was frequent blue screen if she was watching videos/Netflix etc. I've tried blowing compressed air here and there and that didn't seem to help. Whether that's excessive dust build up or something going on with the motherboard I don't know. The fan would be going at full blast, then eventually blue screen.

 
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K

King_V

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Nov 1, 2014
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It could be that the heatsink(s) clogged up with dust. An ex-gf of mine had a similar problem (Toshiba laptop, I think). Once every year or so, we'd have to open it up and clear out the dust from the heat sink fins. Blowing air through when it was assembled wouldn't do it.

That *could* be what's happening with hers as well
 
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SkyNetRising

SkyNetRising

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Jan 4, 2016
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Upgrade to SSD doesn't require purchase of another windows license. You can clone contents of old HDD to new SSD. No need to reinstall anything either.

What's written on that blue screen? Can you make a photo of it and show here?
 
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