Thanks for the advice. The MB is pre-UEFI, and maybe the sensible thing to do is to upgrade to a better MB+CPU and migrate as much of the hardware as will migrate. I still have a lot on spinning disks, so something like a tower or mini-tower is not the right form factor to have -- unless, of course, I chuck all the older hardware, and move to nvme/ssd configuration (these days cases don't seem to come with lots of drive bays). I've never tried a Beelink, but I have a delightful Minisforum that seems to be the wave of the future. Old towers with spinning disks are certainly the wave of the past. On 1/19/24 17:53, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
| From: Peter King via talk<talk@gtalug.org>
I don't remember you telling us what the older (now also failing) machine model is. AMIbios from 2009 suggests to me that it predates UEFI. If so, it probably isn't worth investing any time to fix it. Publish or perish (unless you have tenure)!
(This system's problem could be as simple as a broken power switch.)
A notebook or a miniPC might be a good stopgap. You get to tune that suggestion to match your requirements. Shopping too hard will waste your time too.
A mini PC ought to just plug into your exiting desk setup. When you are no longer using it, it takes little space in you cupboard, bookshelf or the back of your desk. It is easy to stick in a bag to carry to another site.
These BeeLink Mini PCs look OK to me but are not as deeply discounted as they have been. You might well prefer Minisforum. Support isn't a strong suit (but then your experience with Lenovo has been disappointing).
All these are from amazon.ca. The listings have coupons that come and go so the prices wander. And there are so many listings of the same devices from the same vendor! Some have an additional 10%-of-list-price coupon that I cannot see because I've used mine up.
<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FBeelink-Computer-4-0GHz-Screen-Display%2Fdp%2FB09SYSPSSM%2Fref%3Dsr_1_12&data=05%7C02%7Cpeter.king%40utoronto.ca%7Ca97ddf7fa2d44dd6541c08dc19417faf%7C78aac2262f034b4d9037b46d56c55210%7C0%7C0%7C638413016304615956%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KiIfTsoqjCi3rn4MMBit7E0irCAeb6bGTr51tb2ISCE%3D&reserved=0> $367 Ryzen 5 5560u 16G RAM / 500G NVMe SSD This is a notebook CPU. Low power in both sense. Easy to update RAM and SSD but you cannot add, only replace.
<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FBeelink-Computers-5600H-32GB-500GB%2Fdp%2FB0C3VKV6DJ%2Fref%3Dsr_1_2_sspa&data=05%7C02%7Cpeter.king%40utoronto.ca%7Ca97ddf7fa2d44dd6541c08dc19417faf%7C78aac2262f034b4d9037b46d56c55210%7C0%7C0%7C638413016304772226%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=fo48%2B7lWtqgEhYznIOWb7Q0cg7OfL2%2BrhT%2FB93HXE5c%3D&reserved=0> $570 after coupon Ryzen 7 5800h 32G RAM / 1T NVMe SSD This ups each of the specs in the previous box.
<https://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.ca%2FBeelink-7840HS-Computer-Desktop-Display%2Fdp%2FB0CH7XHM7M%2Fref%3Dsr_1_5&data=05%7C02%7Cpeter.king%40utoronto.ca%7Ca97ddf7fa2d44dd6541c08dc19417faf%7C78aac2262f034b4d9037b46d56c55210%7C0%7C0%7C638413016304772226%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=YnmSEYMuqZk5Y3uiwLT5UpPVchyXfwhKxis2HfcrpIM%3D&reserved=0> $749.99 after coupon Ryzen 7 7840HS 32G RAM / 1T NVMe This adds a better processor with a better iGPU and faster RAM.
Fun alternative: Best Buy has the Asus Ally gaming console, open box, for $549.99. It has essentially the same guts as the 7840HS system but only 16G RAM and 512G SSD. It has only one port (USB C / USB 4 / power) but a docking station fixes that. --- Post to this mailing listtalk@gtalug.org Unsubscribe from this mailing listhttps://can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fgtalug.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Ftalk&data=05%7C02%7Cpeter.king%40utoronto.ca%7Ca97ddf7fa2d44dd6541c08dc19417faf%7C78aac2262f034b4d9037b46d56c55210%7C0%7C0%7C638413016304772226%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=mAXaFHcCcw7zmy5lK%2BlW%2Fn0LfWumaf2HFbMAKC7x%2Bfs%3D&reserved=0
-- Peter King peter.king@utoronto.ca Department of Philosophy 170 St. George Street #521 The University of Toronto (416)-946-3170 ofc Toronto, ON M5R 2M8 CANADA http://individual.utoronto.ca/pking/ ========================================================================= GPG keyID 0x7587EC42 (2B14 A355 46BC 2A16 D0BC 36F5 1FE6 D32A 7587 EC42) gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 7587EC42