Inexpensive computer for home or office

The idea to write an article on this topic came up after studying the recommendations of pseudo-specialists who strongly recommend that buyers not entirely correct solutions. We are talking about bloggers who post their own video tips regarding the purchase of inexpensive PCs or laptops. Perhaps, to a person far from IT technology, the recommendations will seem true. At first sight. But, if you analyze all the tips, you can understand that bloggers are engaged in advertising - indicate the model of boards and the seller in the description under the video. As a result, an inexpensive computer for home or office becomes not such a cheap solution ($ 500-800). And most importantly, not effective.

Let's put everything together on the shelves, regarding the needs and functionality of computer hardware. We focus on the minimum market price of all components of a PC or laptop, not forgetting the durability of use.

 

Inexpensive computer for home or office: specifications

 

Immediately cut off all the equipment offered in the secondary market. We already wrote about the collusion between the manufacturers of iron and software. This is a proven fact. More recently (before the new year 2020), Intel removed from its servers software and drivers for equipment released later than 2012. Plus, Microsoft, in its updates, keeps track of old chips and refuses to install security packages. For the buyer of used equipment, this means that the purchased PC or laptop will not be supported properly. And this is the incorrect operation of applications and services.

The concept of "budget solution" means an optimal device for working on the Internet, multimedia and office programs, purchased at a minimum price. In detail by functionality:

• Work in office applications. Office tools - Word, Excel, Outlook. The minimum hardware requirements are 2 GB of RAM and a 32-bit single-core processor with a frequency of 1.2 GHz and higher.
• Multimedia. This is YouTube, listening to music and watching videos with built-in players. To complete the tasks, 4 GB of RAM and a 2-core processor with a frequency of 1.8 GHz and above are enough. The exception is watching movies in 4K format, which need a faster processor - 2.2 GHz and higher. Plus, the output device should also have 4K support. This is a 55 ”TV or monitor with a minimum diagonal of 24 inches.
• Work on the Internet. Work in browsers Google Chrome, Opera or Mozilla. Minimum hardware requirements. One point is the number of active tabs in the browser. The more open, the more memory is required. For example, for 10 tabs, the norm is 4 GB, 20 - 8 GB.

 

Based on the input data, any cheap PC or laptop is enough for home or office use. Sellers in stores most often work on a percentage of sales. Therefore, they are interested in selling a more expensive device.

 

Choose a chipset: Intel or AMD

 

At this stage, we caught the bloggers with their wonderful recommendations. By the way - all the stuffing on the AMD platform will be cheaper for the user than on Intel. But this difference is 10-20%. In the "expert" advice, you can find a summary table on the performance of Intel and AMD processors of the same class. But it is not clear why bloggers are silent about the energy consumption of chips. And this difference results in 20-30 watts (in percent - about 20-60%). All Intel chips obviously consume less power.

And what is so military about here?

Let's count. At a minimum. 20 watts per hour. A PC or laptop is used in the office for at least 8 hours. At home - 4 hours. Accordingly, the cost overrun per day is 160 and 80 watts. Tentatively, the equipment is purchased for a minimum of 5 years. We multiply 245 working days a year by 5 - we get 1225 days. In the consumed electricity, these are 196 and 89 kW. We translate into finances and get the same difference of 10-20% in the price of Intel and AMD processors.

For some it’s a penny, but due to the large heat dissipation of AMD processors, computers or laptops require decent cooling and frequent dust cleaning. And this is also the cost. Plus, all the software is tailored for the Intel platform. And this is higher productivity and uptime.

 

Price-functionality: choose a device

 

Laptop or PC - which is better. It is worth noting that mini-PCs, which are not sold in all computer stores, are simply required to participate. The advantages and disadvantages of all equipment will be discussed further.

A laptop. The beauty of the gadget is that all the necessary components are present in one device at the same time. This is a processor with other hardware, monitor, mouse and keyboard. For the user it means mobility, compactness and ease of use.

But the laptop also has disadvantages. The most important is the diagonal of the display. In the budget segment - 15 inches. This is the standard. You can buy a laptop with a screen of 17 or 19 inches, but the price tag on them is much higher. Plus a mouse and keyboard directly in front of the screen, which is not always convenient to use. An alternative is to connect the laptop to the TV, but the meaning of the purchase is then lost.

Personal Computer. You can choose a monitor of any size. Plus, the PC, according to sellers, is amenable to improvement. It is a fact. But according to statistics, for 5 years of use, less than 1% of buyers resort to a similar solution.

In the office, okay, for the PC there is a table with a niche for the system unit. And at home you have to organize a workplace. And also a bunch of wires and at least 2 sockets for connecting the unit and monitor separately.

Mini PC. Oversized box that is attached to the monitor or mounted on a table. A miniature device connects to the display and network. There are keyboard and mouse outputs. Plus, the presence of wireless interfaces for the same mouse, keyboard or remote control.

Among the shortcomings of mini-PCs is the inability to improve.

 

The bottom line of the decisions

 

PC + monitor. Minimum: computer $200 + monitor 24” $130 – total: $330.

Notebook - $ 250.

Mini PC + monitor - $100 + 24" monitor $130 - $230 total.

As you can see, the amount for the technique is 2 times less than the ready-made solutions offered by bloggers. Naturally, we are talking about minimum prices. Why such a run? The authors of the video receive an order from their sponsors - sell PCs or laptops. Naturally for a certain percentage. In fact, only the end consumer suffers, who simply overpays for advertising.

If the reader is interested in our expert opinion regarding the topic “Inexpensive computer for home or office”, then it is better to focus on the need and durability of use. We have repeatedly wrote on the minimum requirements for a PC with a reserve for the next 10 years.

No need to chase cutting-edge technology and unlimited functionality. There are optimal requirements that are declared by software manufacturers. These indicators should be guided. At the beginning of 2020, this is: a 2-core processor (Pentium or core i3), 4 GB of RAM (you can 8 GB with a backlog) and any SSD a drive with a capacity of at least 120 GB. All. The rest of the options for office or home systems are unimportant.