Best Desktop?

[Posiesmum]

I’m in the market for a new desktop (all in one, no tower).
It needs to be speedy with a decent screen - I do a lot of online marking. Not Apple (sadly) as the platforms I use (RM Assessor and EPEN) are not fully compatible. Can spend up to £800.
Ideas?

[Mr Tom Morrow]

When we were away in May my Son had volunteered to reformat my tower PC.

Roll on a week and he Face times me and said my PC is not repairable but he had saved onto an external hard drive all my stuff thankfully.

I told him to get me the all in one type and so he got me this.

ACER Aspire C24-865 23.8" Intel® Core™ i5 All-in-One PC - 1 TB HDD

Much as it goes against the grain he used PC World but I'm happy with it. I think it was £589 or thereabouts. He got me some package from his work that gives me Outlook etc for £8.

I find it fine for what I need but don't know if it's powerful enough for your needs. Worth a look.

[wanye]

do you not have an existing monitor/keyboard/mouse you can use? that would knock £100ish off the price

does it need to be a desktop? a laptop may be better suited.

sounds like the software you want to run isn't too taxing, so pretty much any spec will do ok. because of this, i would suggest something basic. an i3 or i5 cpu, 8gb ram (although 16gb is better) and a 250gb SSD (500gb preferred) *or* 1tb+ HDD

something like this at £200 should do the job, but obviously, the more you spend, the better the spec. but £800 would get you a *very* nice laptop - amazon/HP-1EU56EA-...nguag e=en_GB

hth

*edit*
from what i can tell, the software needs very basic specs. just silverlight and java plugins for windows/browsers so unless you have other requirements, my suggestion above stands.

assessor2.tracmarks/Asse...eb/Marker.aspx
www1.edexcel.uk/fse/System-Requirements.pdf

[Posiesmum]

Thanks both. I have a laptop currently, but the screen is too small, and realistically I seldom need to take it to meetings. The material we use is highly sensitive (papers for exam series to came) so the boards prefer us to use their own laptops in meetings.
I don’t have an existing keyboard so I’d need the whole thing as new. The programmes I use are not highly demanding and I do appreciate that the key to speed is up to my broadband connection rather than the machine itself! I think the crunch feature is screen size as I do a lot of comparing if documents, so I may even need to consider two screens.
You’ve both given me a lot to look at - thanks so much!

[wanye]

is the laptop still useable? if so, an external monitor/keyboard/mouse will be more than suitable. maybe a docking station if possible too so you only have to plug one thing in each time.

a 24" 1080p monitor should do what you need and can be picked up for under a ton - amazon/Samsung-S24...nguag e=en_GB if you want to go bigger, then 26/27" models start from about £125 (ive got a 27" QHD and a 29" 4k monitor, but they are probably overkill for your needs)

and a keyboard/mouse - i like logitech kit, but personally, i like to try these sort of things out in person, to get a feel for things before buying. amazon/Logitech-Wi...nguag e=en_GB

then, you'll probably need a few other bits. a kettle lead (IEC) power cable, maybe some speakers unless youre happy using the tiny ones built into the monitor, a webcam for videoconferencing, etc


personally, i'd buy a laptop and docking station/external monitor rather than a desktop. but saying that, i have a mac mini as my main computer, so suggesting laptops may seem hypocritical

[snowbelle]

I have home office as I work at home three days per week, I use my work laptop ( also sensitive info ) which we use for meetings and I have a 24” Benq external monitor for spreadsheets and split screen data , I love it . DH and stepson are IT geeks and we are a house of gadgets.
I have a Logitech keyboard.
My monitor is On a movable arm so can be folded back against the wall I have a wireless mouse which cost the grand sum or £2:99 from home bargains and has lasted longer than fancy wired mice and trackball mice which I really don’t get on with .