On Fri, 17 May 2019 at 11:38, Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 05:05:52AM -0400, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
Hi all,
I'm looking to upgrade my PC that's served me well for about 8 years, but it's starting to be unreliable and I can't upgrade the RAM beyond 4GB. So I'm looking at a new desktop system that will be used mainly for many-tabs-open browsing and multimedia editing using openshot, audacity, etc. Of course must run Linux well.
I am currently looking at two NUC-form-factor barebones systems that use the 8th gen Intel i7, an Intel model available through CC < https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=570_7_1203_1157&item_id=130569
and a Zotac model available from Amazon <https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079H24SWZ/>. Both are about the same price. I would be installing 16GB RAM, an SSD and two screens.
Can anyone offer any advice whether to go with one, the other, or neither? Are there better places to buy?
Are you particularly attached to the tiny size for any reason? Remember smaller always costs more for the same thing.
My 6 year old laptop has higher specs than that NUC, never mind what my 6 year old desktop has in it. I guess they were a bit overkill at the time and the reason I haven't had to upgrade anything in years (and still don't).
Lennart: One problem with claiming "my 6 year old X has higher specs" is that it doesn't account for the generational differences in the Intel chips. Our desktops got "upgraded" at work, but I was thoroughly unimpressed because we went from an i5 to an i5, and from 8G to 8G ... but we also went from 3rd to 8th generation. A clunky Python script I run weekly to process web statistics went from 20 minutes to 2 minutes. (Part of this could be throughput on the motherboard, or from the change from spinning disk to SSD, but I think it's mostly processor.) An order of magnitude is nothing to scoff at. Evan: From a security point of view (Rowhammer, Fallout, RIDL, ZombieLoad ...) I would encourage you to consider an AMD processor. (Or better yet, ARM - but that's not really viable on the desktop yet.) AMD isn't totally immune to the plethora of recent attacks, but it's a lot better off. (I say this, but I'm writing you from an 8th gen i7 bought in the middle of that series of appalling revelations.) -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ gilesorr@gmail.com