cakediva
Drama Llama
Making the world a sweeter place one cake at a time!
Posts: 7,416 
Location: Fergus, Ontario
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Post by cakediva on Mar 19, 2015 16:51:37 GMT
I'm SO tired of my dinosaur desktop. It is SLOW and SLOW.
Looking at possibly getting a new one soon, but I confused about size.
Is it the memory I want to be larger? Like 8GB vs 16GB
Or is it the hard drive size? 500GB vs 1TB
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gsquaredmom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,078
Jun 26, 2014 17:43:22 GMT
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Post by gsquaredmom on Mar 19, 2015 16:55:47 GMT
Go with the biggest you can afford on every bit of it to maximize longevity. It sounds like you keep your computers for a long time. Programs are not written for efficiency and take up more space and time than they need to because of their sloppiness. Big hard drive, more RAM, faster processer, you will not regret.
Eta. If you have to choose between RAM and hard drive go for RAM. You can buy an external hard drive later.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,123
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Post by iowgirl on Mar 19, 2015 16:56:54 GMT
RAM - You do need a decent sized hard drive, but that is not what makes a "fast" computer. There are a lot of variables, but if you have plenty of RAM and a GOOD processor (I like Intel Core i7) it should be relatively fast.
Watch what type of antivirus you put on it. Even the fastest machine can get crippled with something like Norton or McAfee. I like AVG or AVAST - both are free, owrk well and do not bog your system down.
Keep up on regular maintenance like virus scan, malware scans, etc.
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cakediva
Drama Llama
Making the world a sweeter place one cake at a time!
Posts: 7,416
Location: Fergus, Ontario
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Post by cakediva on Mar 19, 2015 17:01:58 GMT
RAM - You do need a decent sized hard drive, but that is not what makes a "fast" computer. There are a lot of variables, but if you have plenty of RAM and a GOOD processor (I like Intel Core i7) it should be relatively fast. Watch what type of antivirus you put on it. Even the fastest machine can get crippled with something like Norton or McAfee. I like AVG or AVAST - both are free, owrk well and do not bog your system down. Keep up on regular maintenance like virus scan, malware scans, etc. OK - even more stupid questions (and I should really know this...sigh) Is the RAM the memory? |
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Post by peasful1 on Mar 19, 2015 17:03:04 GMT
both? If you aren't storing a lot of data you don't need a big hard drive but you can never really have too much of either. Having ample of each is what keeps a computer running efficiently (barring virus or malware activity). I have 32GB of RAM and it's dreamy. I also have 2TB of HD and for me, that's important because I store a lot of music and large, uncompressed photo files.
RAM is what your computer uses up to run programs and such. If you're only using basic programs, you don't need 32GB, for example. But when I am running multiple photo processing softwares at the same time, without all the extra RAM, it gets sluggish. There are delays between clicking something and it opening, for example.
HD is your storage space where data resides. Only you know how much you need there.
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Post by Dori~Mama~Bear on Mar 19, 2015 17:06:37 GMT
You want the largest memory you can find but you also want a fast processor as well. and you also want the largest hard drive because that is where you store everything. I have 4 gigs memory and 500 gig hard drive and my computer is plenty fast enough for me. I don't have a lot on it and I don't play the gaming games. My computer is an HP and husband (Christmas present) spent less than $400 on it.
good luck making your decision. I hear that windows 8 SUCKS! Husband got me one that has windows 7 on it. He said they are hard to find.
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cakediva
Drama Llama
Making the world a sweeter place one cake at a time!
Posts: 7,416
Location: Fergus, Ontario
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Post by cakediva on Mar 19, 2015 17:08:30 GMT
I'm seriously looking at a Mac, but what is stopping me is my accounting software for my business isn't compatible. I can use their online service, but then I'm paying $10-$15/month for it.
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CeeScraps
Pearl Clutcher
~~occupied entertaining my brain~~
Posts: 3,825
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Post by CeeScraps on Mar 19, 2015 17:22:53 GMT
You can purchase Windows OS and run it on a Mac. I use VM software for Windows on my Mac.
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Post by snappinsami on Mar 19, 2015 17:25:58 GMT
I got a MacBook Pro last year to use for work, and have never regretted it. It doesn't have a huge hard drive, but I don't actually store any files on it, only software programs, so it's fine for me. (All of my files are either on our external hard drive or in the cloud.) If you do decide on a Mac, you can always look at installing Windows on it so you can run your accounting software on it. That's what I did for the first 8 months or so that I had my Mac. I used Parallels first and then VMware Fusion and ran Windows 8 - MS Office (the windows version), Photoshop Elements, everything. At the end of the day, I'd shut down Windows and was left with my beautiful OSX. I've since moved over to work only on the Mac side, but my DH still runs Windows on his MacBook Air, because some of his work software isn't available for Mac.
But yes, in general, you want to go with the most memory, biggest hard drive, and fastest processor that you can afford to help your machine last longer.
Oh, and the tips about antivirus software was very good. I avoid MacAfee and Norton like the plague.
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iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,123
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Post by iowgirl on Mar 19, 2015 18:31:36 GMT
If you spend what you would spend on a Mac, on a PC - it should be pretty dang good too!
People buy $200 laptops and complain about them and then go buy a $1500 Mac book - there could be no comparison.
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