New all in one advice

deuce22

New member
Hi.

I am looking for a new PC. The general specs I need is:

At least 8gb Ram
At least I5 Processor
Window 10 pro

I will be using this for my new business and it will be used for around 8 hrs per day 5 days per week. I have been told that there is a difference in build quality between personal and business PC's and this was confirmed with Dell, who advised me to buy from the Optiplex range. This came with a 3 year warranty and 10 pro as standard.

i then went to PC world and was told there is no difference between the 2 and that is why they give 12 months warranty for both. I was looking at an all in one HP for £600, but it only came with Windows 10 and not pro. The sales advisor told me it was an extra £180 for 10 pro.

The 2 things I would like to know is. Is there a difference between the quality of personal and business PC's? If I did buy a personal one with Windows 10, is there a cheaper way to get 10 Pro?

Thanks.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The 2 things I would like to know is. Is there a difference between the quality of personal and business PC's?
Not really. It's the same hardware. An i5 8400 is going to be an i5 8400 regardless of whether it's being sold in PC marketed for home office use, business use, or gaming use.

PC Specialist sell workstations PCs where some of the hardware is exactly the same as in consumer rigs. And for many professional uses, consumer hardware actually offers better performance per pound than 'workstation' hardware.

If a company like Dell chooses to sell "work" PCS with longer warranties and Pro Windows vs Home Windows, then obviously what you're spending your money is different. It's always possible some companies have more rigorous quality control checks for hardware branded "work" though I wouldn't assume that to be the case without very explicit detail on the point. But it would still be the same stuff from the same Intel / Samsung, etc factories inside.

Since PC Specialist build and sell custom PCs and laptops, users here can't advise on options from other companies like Dell or PC World.

At least I5 Processor
Note that "i5" is also a branding thing, but in technical terms is meaningless.

You can get i5 ULV (ultra low voltage) CPUs from the 6th and 7th Gens (e.g. i5 6200U) which have only 2 cores.
You can get i5 ULVs from the 8th Gen that have 4 cores and 8 threads, though are very prone to power-throttling in many systems.
i5 -S series CPUs like the i5 7400 are proper quad cores. And the 8th gen ones have 6 cores.

A desktop dual core i3 CPU (or even a Kaby Lake Pentium) will be as good as, if not better than, a dual core i5 ULV CPU.

And don't forget screen resolution. 1080p (1920x1080) is very useful for being able to display documents side by side on the screen, while very small 1080p screens mean the text is so small it's hard to read. For modern business use, you will want 1080p resolution on a ~24" screen.

For something with a:
Quad core desktop i5
8gb RAM
Solid State Drive
Win 10 Pro

maybe:


Chassis & Display
VanGuard Series: 23.8" Non-Touch Screen (1920 x 1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7400 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H110-T: (Mini-ITX, DDR4, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
250GB Samsung 850 2.5" EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
--FREE Assassin's Creed: Origins with select SAMSUNG SSDs!
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card
2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N CARD
USB Options
4 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Speakers
2 x INTEGRATED SPEAKERS
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £768.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/vanguardii-24/F62ARsCeSy/
 
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deuce22

New member
Thanks Oussebon for that info.

Is this built from brand new?

I would prefer an all in one. Are these any good? Can you give me a price for an all in one with similar specs?

Thanks.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
The above is an all in one, and PCS would build it for you from brand new components. Other than the testing they perform before it leaves them, it would be new and entirely unused :)

I wouldn't get an all in one, personally, as there are fewer upgrade options. And if the monitor/screen dies, that's quite a lot of bother. Whereas with a regular PC you'd simply buy a new monitor. But that's just personal preference - if you need an all in one for space reasons or whatever else, they're perfectly viable machines.
 
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deuce22

New member
Ok thanks.

Not sure if an all in one is the way to go now. I haven't got limited space, I just thought they looked neater. As you say though if anything happens with the monitor, it could be a problem. Would the whole system need to be replaced?

A new 24 inch monitor is around £150, would it be more than this to fix an all in one?

Any chance you could give me a price for a tower PC with similar specs?

Thanks.
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
If the screen had a fault I'm sure you could just replace the panel, much as with a laptop. The inconvenience is more that you'd need to send the whole system off for repair, instead of just RMAing the monitor or replacing it. I't pretty unlikely the screen would develop a fault though.

A new 24 inch monitor is around £150
A 24" monitor is about £100. You can even get height-adjustable ones for ~£130 or so, if you shop around.

A regular PC with similar specs would be:

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i3 Quad Core Processor i3-8100 (3.60GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z370-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive
256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
AOC 23.6" E2470SWH LED - 1920 x 1080,1MS, D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £752.00 including VAT and delivery

Unique URL to re-configure : https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z370-pc/7JVEQJ62Hm/

It has a faster SSD, an ATX motherboard (more upgrade options). You could shave ~£10-20 off if you shop for a monitor elsewhere and find a deal.

Note that the i3 8100 is a quad core CPU like the i5 7400, and is actually a bit faster, despite being called "i3".
 
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deuce22

New member
Thanks very much for all your time and help.

I'll go through it all and make my mind up which way to go.
 
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