Celeron or Pentium for Clerical Work?
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I have a user on an aging and slow Core 2 Duo PC. We need to get her a new one but not like the Core i5 or i7's we are getting our drafters and engineers. They want to go low cost but better than her very slow PC.
We are a Dell shop my preference. I saw a Celeron J1800 with other decent specs for $259 but just don't want to cripple her in the future. She only does spreadsheets (some with Macros) and e-mail. I am thinking this has to be better and faster than what she has now. It is 64bit dual core and supports virtualization.
I've also looked at Pentium models too for a little more.
I'd like to just core i3 but I've been asked to go cheap.
Suggestions?
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I found this. From what I can see, the Celeron will behave similarly to the old Core 2 Duo, except that it support virtualization, but does that really matter? It's not like you're going to run a hypervisor on their machine. Oh, and you'll save a ton of power.
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You'd be better off with a 3 year old i5 machine.
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@Dashrender said:
You'd be better off with a 3 year old i5 machine.
I'll keep looking...
She would be better off with an i5 hand me down if she could wait that long for sure. I am plan upgrading out AutoCAD and engineer users to the Dell Precision line with XEON's. She just keeps getting the hand me downs. I do have an old but meaty Core 2 Duo Dell Precision I could rebuild for her. The one she is on now is a crappy ZT that the last IT guy got for people and they were just that...cheap and crappy.
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I've been buying c2d's with 4-8G of ram and they work great. if she doesn't need a lot of local storage.......................GET SSD'S they make these computers spectacularly quick for 50% of office workers.
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My #1 question is why are you looking at processors? Buy a Dell Optiplex 3020 for $520 (per Dell Website, a vendor may do better).
That is with the 3 year NBD warranty. A vendor can spec you one with the base 1 year warranty and be even cheaper.
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Why is the machine's aging an issue? Why is it slow today, hasn't it been slow all along? What has happened to make it slow now and not before?
Why not just reinstall fresh and maybe update a little harder (more memory or an SSD will go a LONG way.) A Core2Duo is way more than enough for clerical work. Heck it is plenty for me.
With operating systems getting faster and faster there aren't the aging problems of past decades. Unless she has XP, every new OS is faster than the last. 8.1 is faster than 8 is faster than 7 is faster than Vista. So updating for the last four versions has made machines faster and faster.
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While I agree with Scott, the cost upgrading an OS hardly seems worth it when it's 1/3 the cost of a whole new machine. Even after you replace the OS the old machine could die resulting in the requirement to purchase a new one regardless, and making your OS purchase an extra expense.
If funds really are that tight I would really consider used machines with a new OS.
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@JaredBusch said:
My #1 question is why are you looking at processors? Buy a Dell Optiplex 3020 for $520 (per Dell Website, a vendor may do better).
That is with the 3 year NBD warranty. A vendor can spec you one with the base 1 year warranty and be even cheaper.
These are the models I've been buying. They have been pretty rock solid
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@scottalanmiller said:
Why is the machine's aging an issue? Why is it slow today, hasn't it been slow all along? What has happened to make it slow now and not before?
Why not just reinstall fresh and maybe update a little harder (more memory or an SSD will go a LONG way.) A Core2Duo is way more than enough for clerical work. Heck it is plenty for me.
With operating systems getting faster and faster there aren't the aging problems of past decades. Unless she has XP, every new OS is faster than the last. 8.1 is faster than 8 is faster than 7 is faster than Vista. So updating for the last four versions has made machines faster and faster.
It's just the history of these crappy ZT machines I've had to put up with. Don't want to get into details but everyone of them even with clean installs, have performed poorly...I've tried memory, new hard drives...over and over they've proven to be bad.
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@Dashrender said:
While I agree with Scott, the cost upgrading an OS hardly seems worth it when it's 1/3 the cost of a whole new machine. Even after you replace the OS the old machine could die resulting in the requirement to purchase a new one regardless, and making your OS purchase an extra expense.
If funds really are that tight I would really consider used machines with a new OS.
Funds aren't so tight as it is her manager doesn't think she needs a "new" one, so I have to battle those kinds of things...
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@garak0410 said:
Funds aren't so tight as it is her manager doesn't think she needs a "new" one, so I have to battle those kinds of things...
Show the true costs to her manager. If she does not agree, go to whoever controls the managers budget. Be sure to include the cost of your time. You are not free, even if some people think so because you are on salary.
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@garak0410 said:
@Dashrender said:
While I agree with Scott, the cost upgrading an OS hardly seems worth it when it's 1/3 the cost of a whole new machine. Even after you replace the OS the old machine could die resulting in the requirement to purchase a new one regardless, and making your OS purchase an extra expense.
If funds really are that tight I would really consider used machines with a new OS.
Funds aren't so tight as it is her manager doesn't think she needs a "new" one, so I have to battle those kinds of things...
Hold the phone - why are you dealing with this at all if the manger doesn't think she needs a new one? Is the user complaining to you? If so, is it simply in your power to replace when you think it should be? If not, if that's the managers decision, then give your opinion and walk away. Ask the employee to complain to their manager as you have no control over the decision.
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@Dashrender said:
@garak0410 said:
@Dashrender said:
While I agree with Scott, the cost upgrading an OS hardly seems worth it when it's 1/3 the cost of a whole new machine. Even after you replace the OS the old machine could die resulting in the requirement to purchase a new one regardless, and making your OS purchase an extra expense.
If funds really are that tight I would really consider used machines with a new OS.
Funds aren't so tight as it is her manager doesn't think she needs a "new" one, so I have to battle those kinds of things...
Hold the phone - why are you dealing with this at all if the manger doesn't think she needs a new one? Is the user complaining to you? If so, is it simply in your power to replace when you think it should be? If not, if that's the managers decision, then give your opinion and walk away. Ask the employee to complain to their manager as you have no control over the decision.
I spoke with my direct manager (the VP) and he said get her the OptiPlex 3020...solution solved. I hate it when I get caught in the middle between other managers...
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@garak0410 said:
I spoke with my direct manager (the VP) and he said get her the OptiPlex 3020...solution solved. I hate it when I get caught in the middle between other managers...
Office politics are a thing i do not miss.
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@JaredBusch said:
@garak0410 said:
I spoke with my direct manager (the VP) and he said get her the OptiPlex 3020...solution solved. I hate it when I get caught in the middle between other managers...
Office politics are a thing i do not miss.
Luckily I rarely get involved in them...heck, I am never involved with them...just in the crossfire once and a while.
