Calling all Techies! What is a Good PC in 2013?

P

PokePhD

PokéBeach Verified Seller
Member
Hey PB!

I've been doing some research on computers as of late. A brief background: I purchased my last personal computer roughly 5 years ago. Since then, a lot of cutting edge technologies (e.g. touch screens and Windows 8) have been developed. As a favor to a friend of mine, I've been looking at newer models since they are in the market for their first laptop.

Here's a list of features and applications they're after:
- Touch screen (mostly for aesthetics so not really necessary)
- Windows 8 (pretty much standard now if I'm not mistaken)
- Quick to process Microsoft Office Suite applications
- Hard drive with a lot of storage
- Price range between $600-800
- Cannot be a Mac

My friend is essentially looking to get a new workstation to continue working on several novels. As such, a high-end gaming PC with awesome specs (like mine) isn't really necessary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm a bit out of sync with the PC market myself!
 
This one is rather nice. 1TB HD, i7 processor, 8GB RAM.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/623568/lenovo-ideapad-u410-59359210-14.html
 
That is definitely a nice one!

I forgot to mention (and I'll add this to the OP): It cannot be a Mac. ;)
 
Well, there's your problem. You're excluding Macs.
Personally, I won't have a good opinion on this (because I think Microsoft is an evil company), but I have no clue as to any PCs that can run effeciently. The home computer I use now has Windows 8, and it's not much of an improvement from our old OS (Vista! Yay!) because it doesn't seem so user-friendly. Windows 8 has conviency of social life readily available, and that's about it. It is a pain.
Then again, it could just be my computer, since, tbh, it is a Gateway.
I can't even begin to spit my hatred for it.
 
Jumping from Vista to 8 will give you a skewed view of Windows. Both are considered very poor among users. People will pay to have their windows 8 computer changed to Windows 7.
 
If the computers main use is writing novels, you don't really need to worry about much. Back when I was still working in the electronics industry* PCs with 6-8G of RAM was pretty standard, which should be more than enough for processing Office applications quickly and easily. Hard drive storage is so cheap these days that that shouldn't be an issue either. Windows 8 is weird to work with if you're not used to it (I had to take tests and play around with it for a few months before release, so I got pretty good at it), but it does integrate with touch screens well, and if the new, app-based main screen doesn't work for your friend, you can always just keep it in desktop mode, which is very similar to Windows 7. I say this mostly because it probably wouldn't be easy to find a machine still running Win7, and since they're looking into touch capabilities anyway.

Since the touch screen is something their interested in, I'd say work off of that as your base, since that narrows down your options quite a bit. Touch screen PCs will definitely be more expensive than their traditional siblings, but since you don't need to spend a lot of money getting good specs, that shouldn't be much of an issue.

Honestly, as a fellow writer, I think one of the things you may want to keep in mind with them is keyboards on laptops. Especially if you're used to a desktop or a certain type of laptop, switching to an unfamiliar keyboard (especially if it's smaller, or lacks certain features they might be used to) can be a pain when the biggest thing you're using it for is lots of typing. You'll have a better and cheaper selection shopping online, but it may be good to browse through stores first so you can try out various keyboard styles. Once you know a certain brand or style has a keyboard that's good, you can use that as a base to order online.

After over 6 months of using my partner's laptop, I'm now finally more or less used to it, though I still make a lot more typos than I'd like and I'm not at peak efficiency. >.>

(* - this is a fancy term meaning that I used to work at Staples.)
 
As a quick note, Windows and all that stuff isn't really necessary for a work station for a novel. You could use Linux and Open/LibreOffice to dramatically reduce the price.

As I've always been one to build my own PC, I'm gonna skip the market observations for now.
 
Puff-Sun said:
As a quick note, Windows and all that stuff isn't really necessary for a work station for a novel. You could use Linux and Open/LibreOffice to dramatically reduce the price.

As I've always been one to build my own PC, I'm gonna skip the market observations for now.
Click to expand...

LibreOffice is much better than Open Office.
 
Macs are hard to figure out. DON'T GET ONE!!!!

I have WIndows 8, hate it. It's fine, supposed to be convenient, but it's just hard to figure out. I would recommend WIndows 7 instead of 8.
 
No they aren't.

I still to this day do not know how to right-click.

Your point is invalid.
 
^ Control + Click = Right Click on mac


I have a mac, but I do not recommend getting one unless you are heavily involved in music or graphics production. (Why I have mine)

Macs are good for musicians, artists, old people, and people who are not good with technology. In most other cases, a PC is the better option.


/me braces for the flames
 
I got my hardware in pieces and made my PC myself. Here's some details:
500GB hard disk
i5 with 4 cores CPU
4GB RAM
2GB graphics card, but with insane speed (can't even remember right now)
Windows 7 Ultimate
The whole operation cost 500 euros, which is about 600-650$ if I'm not mistaken, and I'm quite satisfied with the result.
Oh, and don't get Windows 8. 7 are much better.
 
SheNinja said:
No they aren't.

I still to this day do not know how to right-click.

Your point is invalid.
Click to expand...

If you can't figure out how to work a Mac but old people can, you're doing something wrong. LOL.

Your point is invalid.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top