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I am thinking of buying a new desktop but I am not very knowledgeable in computer hardware. I am a one man shop in upstate NY and I do just about 25o returns. I have narrowed my search to two desktop at Costco and I am wondering if somebody can help me to figure out which desktop to go for. I am hoping to get few years out of new Purchase:

HP ENvy 795

This was highest rated in consumer reports. It has 256 GB SSD + 1TB hard drive 32 GB RAM,  icore7-4 GB Graphic Window 10 home and it is on sale for $ 1,099.99.

DELL XPS 8930 Tower

It has Core I7- 8700K GE Force GTX-1080. 512 GB SSD Drive +2 TB hard Drive 16 GB Ram, Window 10 professional, Blue Ray Writer and it is selling for $ 1,699.99.

My problem is I donot understand computer hardware. so If somebody could help me decide I will really appreciate it.

Thanks for your help.

Naveen Mohan

costco desktop computer comparison.pdf

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First, never buy the "Home" or "Home Premium" version of Windows, always buy the Professional version, which is optimized for business usage.

Myself,  I have always  purchased a Dell Optiplex from the Dell website during one of their promotions, paying about 40 % less than what you are considering.

I am a one person office also and I find 8 Gig of Ram and a 256 GB Hard Drive comfortably adequate.

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You will NEVER regret getting the most RAM you can.  We have a RAM-intensive business.  Tax program, QuickBooks, Excel, browser windows for research, Adobe for pdf's, and more.   It's easy to add an external hard drive; harder to add more RAM if you're nervous about opening the case, getting a grounding strap, and mucking about with adding/swapping memory modules.

And always get Professional version software.

I agree with cbslee; give Dell a call (they always have promotions going on) and see what you can get from them.  Direct from Dell you can also get three years of next-day on-site support should something go wrong.  Alternatively you can call HP and see what deal they'll give you.  Good luck!

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I love Dell, however I have no problem buying from Costco.  I have had an issue with a computer I purchased from them and was beyond the return policy (90 days) however they were gracious enough to take it back and I was able to repurchase the same computer.  Turns out I had a problem with it as well but found out it was due to my encryption software not playing nice with Windows 10 updates, but non the less Costco has earned my trust over and over, whereas the only time I called into Dell for a problem, I ended up paying them over 100.00 to fix and hours without my computer.  Dell loves to lay everything off on software which of course is only warranted I believe for 30 days.  Costco will warrant it for 90 days and then you have an extended warranty for any hardware issues, as well as the concierge service is pretty good.

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I replaced the computer I use at the office this year.   The one I replaced had been used since 2009, and I never shut it down.  I did have to replace the power supply on it after about 2 years, but I think it was because the power supply in it was bad from the beginning and just got worse until we could diagnose the problem.  That computer was one my son built for me when he was in high school.  My new one is just an off the shelf Dell. 

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The one thing I've had bad luck with is optical drives (CD/DVD reader-burners).  The one installed seems to die after a while (this has happened to three different machines).  Fortunately, every time Dell has sent a new one and I've just popped it in.  First time they sent a tech; when I saw how easy it was I just told them to send me the drive after.  Two were machines bought at the same time, that had the exact same optical drive - so those might have just been a batch that was poorly made.  Third one was a much older drive but I'd renewed my warranty so it was still covered.  No other issues.  I do detest their keyboards, so I found and bought one I liked and just use that on any new computer.

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If you aren't playing video games, doing intensive graphic design type work or mining for crypto currency, you probably don't need a high end computer.

Client bought a new VERY high end computer - he only uses his computer to log into Aol via Firefox. I tried to explain that it was over kill but he insisted he needed the best.

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I'd make sure the computer you buy still has a CD reader.  There are still a few CD users kicking around, and I have found it was worth having that included as an extra.  A lot of the new PCs don't have it and you tend to not think of it. 

And I agree to get the business windows version too.

I've always had luck with Dell

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

If anyone is looking at a PC that has both an SSD & a HDD be aware that ATX will ONLY install to the C:\ drive.  In my case I have a 250GB SSD (C:\) and a 1GB HDD (D:\)

Having several years of ATX tax software will fill up a 250GB drive fairly fast when including backups.  Windows & ATX are the only programs on my SSD (C:\) all others are installed to the HDD (D:\) if they allow it.

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On 11/16/2018 at 2:20 PM, Roberts said:

probably don't need a high end computer

I tend to buy the fastest computer with other high end components because computers slow down over time and I don't want to be frustrated by the inevitable slow downs. My computer is 6 years old this month and still going strong. I replaced the C drive with an SSD a few years back and I've replaced the CPU cooler and the graphics card, but the rest is original.

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I buy my PCs from cyberpower.  It marketed as a gaming PC site but its really just high end.  You can configure almost every component with almost all having several options.  I too go for faster processors and more ram so I can get more years out of the machine.

My current 250GB SSD (C:\) has 188GB out of 232GB free.  I only have windows and ATX (2013-2018) on it.  Backups of ATX are pointed to the HDD (D:\)

 

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Your guru must be older. We cloned all of our hard drives to SSDs with no problems. Well, a lot of programs like QuickBooks detected the hardware change and ask us to re-register, but that wasn't so bad.

It used to be that windows got 'arthritis' and it was often better to start fresh and reinstall, but that hasn't been a problem for awhile.

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