Computer Buying ~tips from ladies~ - they stopped selling the Barbie PC; what do

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Aunt Carol

Aunt Carol

four-letter word for a female
True & Honest Fan
kiwifarms.net
Joined
Feb 25, 2021
Putting this thread in Beauty Parlor because I don't want to argue with anyone. I'll admit I'm an idiot and wrongthinker, and I don't even have a penis to measure.

Computers make me nervous. They are not my area of expertise. I can follow steps and search error messages, sure, I've installed RAM and I know where my files are, but gathering all the data to price optimize every single part and assemble and then troubleshoot when it inevitably doesn't turn on -- the extra cost for not DIY-ing doesn't make me a sucker; it's for Quality of Life.

My PC is about 14 years old. I bought it from a very local place that built it to order, did a beautiful job of cable management, and went out of business about five years ago.

Anyone here have leads on a good place to order PCs online? I don't need a decorative case or anything like that. Ideally I'd do what I did last time: overbuy and then use the computer for a decade until I realized time had passed.

I do not use (this) computer for my job. Mostly I watch videos, write, scan things and read forums on the Internet; I do like vidya but haven't been playing much since my system has been getting rickety. I generally don't play big resource-heavy games.

I was looking at Framework because their upgradability philosophy seems neat, but I'm really more of a user than a hobbyist, and if they go out of business then I have a weird-shaped PC that's just gotten more complicated.

There is the option of looking at local PC stores again, which would give me the advantage of having somewhere I could drive to for repair, but I'm aware I lucked out with my previous shop. When I was looking for tech help for a physical problem with my current PC, I got a lot of fake locals, dead numbers, and this one guy who was either unmedicated or self-medicated and loved speech-to-text... but I wasn't looking to buy from a physical location, so maybe I need to screw up my courage again.


Honestly, I think I'm reeling from the little bit of shopping I did and realizing PCs don't have disk drives anymore.
 
Aunt Carol said:
Anyone here have leads on a good place to order PCs online? I don't need a decorative case or anything like that. Ideally I'd do what I did last time: overbuy and then use the computer for a decade until I realized time had passed.

I do not use (this) computer for my job. Mostly I watch videos, write, scan things and read forums on the Internet; I do like vidya but haven't been playing much since my system has been getting rickety. I generally don't play big resource-heavy games.
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I’ve heard good things about the prebuilts from Overclockers UK.
 
There's also the option of having a PC build hobbyist pick your parts for you. I see you want a pre-built for QoL and I get it, just wanted to mention this middle option in case you weren't aware. You can find them on r/buildmeaPC or browse already built machines on pcpartpicker.com.
 
I'd just look for a company with a physical shop, that sells refurbished workstations from corporates and go for a more expensive option that can handle 3d graphics, meaning that's not a weak or too dated model. Or buy a new one from a product line that appears in refurbished computer shops a lot.
The logic behind this is, that shit computer models and product lines don't make it to be refurbished in first place, as they are problematic.
 
It sounds like what you want is a refurbished PC, you can find plenty of them on Amazon.
Not great for ongoing maintenance, buuut if you dip your toes just a little into opening the spooky case then you'll be surprised how easy it is, because it's just Lego, if you can wrangle an IKEA cabinet you can replace RAM sticks/change a PSU/switch out graphics cards, cable management on the other hand is a fine art though it doesn't matter as much as people think.

If you're unsure about what is you're actually buying or feel anxious at all, then familiarise yourself with what the standards are, maybe theorycraft an ideal within what budget you're working with and see what's available to make it sure it's what'll work for you. There's no need to get the fancy current year stuff, you should always look first at "home/modest/entry" labelled items, which sounds like it'd be mediocre but in reality it's top of the range stuff from last year, and more often than not it's plenty enough for ebic gaymin anyway since current "standards" are always some silly 1488p 1945 FPS meme tech.
 
Mound Dweller said:
it's just Lego, if you can wrangle an IKEA cabinet you can replace RAM sticks/change a PSU/switch out graphics cards, cable management on the other hand is a fine art though it doesn't matter as much as people think.
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Yeah, I know this part, it's just that if the PC Lego doesn't work then I'm immediately in the deep end. IKEA I'm great with, because if it's wobbly after I assemble it then it's just wood-ish and my bucket of screws is compatible with anything that holds still.

2mm and 99 others said:
I'd just look for a company with a physical shop, that sells refurbished workstations from corporates and go for a more expensive option that can handle 3d graphics, meaning that's not a weak or too dated model. Or buy a new one from a product line that appears in refurbished computer shops a lot.
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Reading through everyone's suggestions, I'm now leaning more toward going out on safari to find a local shop again. I think I was falling for the fantasy of just clicking options and magically computer, which regardless of source isn't accurate for setup or file transfer etc.

And it's the first step to having a repair resource if it's beyond what I can do with Dr. Bing, or like the time my power source literally went *paf.*

"Get it together, dipshit" is good to hear from multiple sources.
 
Honestly Nonny you can just get a cheapass Chinese box mini computer from Amazon and plug in your existing monitors. You're not gaming or redering or running local LLMs to make custom pornos right? So go cheap. Get a laptop from Costco and plug your monitors into that thing. You will likely need to get a connections adaptor if your monitors are old (I got this one and it works fine to link my VGA monitor and my HDMI tv cable as well as some other junk. Be sure to buy one that supplies power!)

I'm running an 8 year old HP Spectre with a bad fan message and a worn out battery with 2 extra monitors so I can offer advice, insults and serve memes most efficiently. You can go super cheap but don't get one of the HP streambooks, you do need like 8g ram imo.
 
Is there a reason you want a pc and not a tablet? You can get decent prebuilts on ebay that are customizable. Don't go for anything that claims it's a gaming pc, in a prebuilt unless you're paying quite a bit, your graphics card is going to be old and shitty. If you've installed RAM, you can pretty much do anything. Getting the case off is the hardest part. So in case you do want to add anything in the future, you might want to get something that take standard parts and isn't small frame form.
 
Hello, penishaver here.

I do IT as a hobby and a living so I am breaking the first rule kinda.

You really dont need to have an overly expensive PC nowadays.
To be honest for the things you are describing you'd be well off with a cheap laptop.
Want something more longterm?: Get a second hand HP laptop, they are great and in general have good support by just running the HP support tool.

PC's for games really depend on what you play.
You like stardew? You can run that on anything, but do not expect to run Infinity Nicky, the Sims 5, or Inzoi well.

I'd say keep a budget of 250 euros/dollars, do note that going below 100 often gets you the lowest of the low and next year you might go shopping again.

Anything above 250 will last you the next 5 or 10 years if you dont do anything stupid with it (My sister used to use the empty space on her keyboard to keep an ashtray or a mug)
 
Aunt Carol said:
Reading through everyone's suggestions, I'm now leaning more toward going out on safari to find a local shop again.
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It's just more convenient in case something dies within the warranty time, so you can put the thing on their desk and not deal with packaging, paying delivery service & insurance etc., but not that important.
After the warranty time it's even less important and costs something, also it takes weeks to get it back. On the other hand, having the computer serviced professionally means the spare parts used should be compatible and functional (I had once received a dead keyboard when I was replacing it myself, and had to wait for another one) and plastic parts of the chassis that might break at disassembly should be replaced by them for free (I mean, one more replacement of display, hinges, fan etc., and my laptop will be ''naked'' like a poorfag's motorcycle after the first crash, cos I am not buying all the overpriced plastics.
 
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What do you actually want to do with it? You mentioned vidya- that's probably the thing that will eat the most RAM/CPU + need a decent graphics card, so look at the specs you need for playing games that interest you and then up them slightly.

If you think you might ever get into massive data crunching..... you'd need to do a lot for it to justify the cost, I have a custom >£15k PC for (owned by) work and after over 5 years it probably still hasn't paid back what it would have cost them for suitable s3 buckets for when I'm hammering it. Though they cheaped out on the wifi card so maybe actually....

I really want a Framework machine and absolutely cannot justify the cost.

I'm on a hand-me-down 2016 macbook and have discovered that.kitten-proofing is something I had not considered. The fuckers have nearly destroyed the screen casing, they are determined to electrocute themselves.

Refurbished + warranty is what I always go for. For someone who really ought to know this shit I know frighteningly little- I honestly don't give 2 shits about the newest intel chips slightly higher clock speed or whatever. Most work programs in my field are way more impacted by number of threads i.e. processors than clock speed, but for a home user (also I'm a consolefag) it does not matter.

I wouldn't go super cheap- you'll really notice it with the keyboard and trackpad, its horrible.

I think your safari to local shop is probably best idea-find an independent one run by a bunch of nerds, it will cost more but they'll give you what you want and if you're unsure about the specs they're talking about they'll be happy to explain. I'm sure people here can confirm if you're concerned you're being bullshitted.
 
Counterpoint: Looking for a local shop to buy a forums box is like looking for a cobbler to make you a new pair of shoes. Shit's cheap these days, and you can spend the extra on bourbon.

Or if you find local guys you can probably buy a decent refurb off them. Check out backmarket as well as ebay, I've had good experiences with them.
 
You're in the market at a bad time. Bleeding edge with DDR5 is prohibitively expensive. Your best bet is to buy used either a pre-built or building from used parts compatible with DDR4. Easy to find those on eBay, just make sure the seller accepts returns and install those parts as quickly as possible to test them. Buy your power supply, and drives new. Replace the drive of any prebuilt you acquire with a new one and reinstall windows or linux. If you are building a PC, I would advise you to look up the most recent chipset you can afford either on the AMD/Intel side and building backwards from that.
 
I think you should try making your own computer. I haven't done it, but my male friends told me it's just like lego and you can build it for what you need it for. I don't play games, so I just use a laptop, but i think even a cheap $500 computer is good enough for browsing Kiwifarms and stuff.
 
Asking for tech advice from women is like asking for makeup advice from men.

@Aunt Carol My advice is (assuming you don't care to play games with better graphics than Runescape) to wait a little bit and then buy the new MacBook Neo. It seems like a good deal, and it can do all the things women do, like Instagram, Cookie Clicker, and texting.
 
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Aunt Carol said:
My PC is about 14 years old. I bought it from a very local place that built it to order, did a beautiful job of cable management, and went out of business about five years ago
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I'm picturing a desktop PC. Do you want to stick with desktops, or would you like to give a laptop a try?

If you want something that just works and you want to stick with a desktop, consider an ex-corporate machine from one of the major manufacturers (i.e. HP, Dell, Lenovo). They're cheap, readily available, and in my experience they're rock solid.

Case study 1: ex-Mrs Pee bought an ex-Government Lenovo M93p Tiny about 5 years ago to set up a home office. It's been flawless, and runs Windows 10 LTSC like a champ. It could probably even run Windows 11 with some finagling but she doesn't want to lose the will to live, so Windows 10 LTSC it is.

Case study 2: about 7 years ago, I was involved in a start-up NFP that needed a small network of PCs but had zero cash to buy any. I picked up a joblot of 6 HP dc8200 desktops for peanuts (we're talking first gen i5 here... probably 2010-11 or so). When I stopped working with them a couple of years back, all these machines were still running fine - a couple of them have been running 24/7 since 2020.

As for laptops... the only current one I know of that's both (a) reasonably priced and (b) not a heap of dogshit is the MacBook Neo. I've never been a Macfag (in fact I was a rusted-on Windows user for decades and I used give Macfags grief all the time), but the combination of disillusionment with Microsoft and successfully using a trashpicked 2012 MacBook Pro as a daily driver for the last couple of years has changed my view on things.

If I was really jonesing for a brand new laptop instead of sticking to my usual MO of running obsolete hardware until it dies, I'd buy a Neo.
 
RNTard said:
I think you should try making your own computer. I haven't done it, but my male friends told me it's just like lego and you can build it for what you need it for. I don't play games, so I just use a laptop, but i think even a cheap $500 computer is good enough for browsing Kiwifarms and stuff.
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I have experience in pc building. You just have to know essentials in hardware and compatible, and watch some videos on YouTube about assemblage. It's easier than many think
 
lolcow yoghurt said:
I have experience in pc building. You just have to know essentials in hardware and compatible, and watch some videos on YouTube about assemblage. It's easier than many think
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Its a real pain in the ass to get to building your first PC.
If you fuck up by getting the wrong components you can REALLY burn through your wallet.
If its your hobby or aspiring hobby, go for it, cannot recommend to get into IT enough.

With component prices going up due to the AI bubble I would say wait for a bit till it comes crumbling down.
 
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