technology Planning on buying a new computer.

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

My computer is 7-8 years old, and I plan on buying a new one.

What should I look for if I just plan on browsing the internet? What's the price for a good computer?

[Early Sunsets 2,107]

If all you're gonna do is browse the internet, you can easily get away with spending $400 or less, or half that if you go the used route and don't mind doing a little work. Or just buy a Chromebook for $250. With the silicon shortage and other stuff going on right now, computers and computer parts are a bit more expensive than they should be. Definitely look for a computer that has a quad core CPU and 8 GB of RAM. For internet stuff and watching videos, that's all you'll ever need. You could probably get away with less RAM, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Oh, and my biggest tip is to get something with an SSD / solid state drive. If it says it has a hard drive or an HDD, avoid it. Even something brand new will feel slow if it has a hard drive. Or, you could replace the hard drive in your current computer with an SSD instead of buying a whole new computer, or have someone else do it if you don't feel comfortable (it's the easiest thing to replace on a computer. Plenty of walkthroughs on YouTube). My parents' computer is over ten years old and is still very useable because of that. That being said, if your computer is junk, don't bother. Fast storage won't do much if everything else is slow.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Booker

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Someone on another site told me that now isn't a good time to buy a new computer because working from home has caused computer prices to go up.

[Evil Pink One 13,507]

10 hours ago, CastletonSnob said:

Someone on another site told me that now isn't a good time to buy a new computer because working from home has caused computer prices to go up.

Yes and only buy the essentials for now.

[Fluttershutter 2,489]

If you just want to browse the internet I'd say stick with the one you have. Save your money and buy a new one when that breaks down.

[Fluttershutter 2,489]

11 hours ago, Califorum said:

Avoid Hard drives.

Why?

[Fluttershutter 2,489]

Hm, I don't know anything about that.

[Fluttershutter 2,489]

1 hour ago, Califorum said:

What do you mean?

My computer is old too and I never heard of SSD. I looked into it now.

[Northern Star 1,024]

I'd debate the part about HDDs being outdated...

I say this as I have ~15 TB of HDDs...and them being former enterprise drives, do beat the cheap SSDs in speed and reliability, in my experience atleast.

Also storage per $ is much better with HDD.

I will agree that if you are running windows 10, the OS definitely has to be on a SSD then.

They both have their place, and will for the foreseeable future, just like tape.