On Fri, 17 May 2019 at 11:38, Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk@gtalug.org> wrote:
> On Fri, May 17, 2019 at 05:05:52AM -0400, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > I'm looking to upgrade my PC that's served me well for about 8 years, but > > it's starting to be unreliable and I can't upgrade the RAM beyond 4GB. So > > I'm looking at a new desktop system that will be used mainly for > > many-tabs-open browsing and multimedia editing using openshot, audacity, > > etc. Of course must run Linux well. > > > > I am currently looking at two NUC-form-factor barebones systems that use > > the 8th gen Intel i7, an Intel model available through CC > > < > https://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=570_7_1203_1157&item_id=130569 > > > > and a Zotac model available from Amazon > > <https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079H24SWZ/>. Both are about the same price. I > > would be installing 16GB RAM, an SSD and two screens. > > > > Can anyone offer any advice whether to go with one, the other, or > neither? > > Are there better places to buy? > > Are you particularly attached to the tiny size for any reason? > Remember smaller always costs more for the same thing. > > My 6 year old laptop has higher specs than that NUC, never mind what my > 6 year old desktop has in it. I guess they were a bit overkill at the > time and the reason I haven't had to upgrade anything in years (and > still don't). > Lennart: One problem with claiming "my 6 year old X has higher specs" is that it doesn't account for the generational differences in the Intel chips. Our desktops got "upgraded" at work, but I was thoroughly unimpressed because we went from an i5 to an i5, and from 8G to 8G ... but we also went from 3rd to 8th generation. A clunky Python script I run weekly to process web statistics went from 20 minutes to 2 minutes. (Part of this could be throughput on the motherboard, or from the change from spinning disk to SSD, but I think it's mostly processor.) An order of magnitude is nothing to scoff at. Evan: From a security point of view (Rowhammer, Fallout, RIDL, ZombieLoad ...) I would encourage you to consider an AMD processor. (Or better yet, ARM - but that's not really viable on the desktop yet.) AMD isn't totally immune to the plethora of recent attacks, but it's a lot better off. (I say this, but I'm writing you from an 8th gen i7 bought in the middle of that series of appalling revelations.) -- Giles https://www.gilesorr.com/ giles...@gmail.com
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