Desktop or Other?

[ScottAD]

I really don't game any more on PC, or anywhere really. Most of my computing is school or work related so I want to sell the gaming rig which is not long in the tooth, 2500k long.

I may sell everything including the monitor and just run something on the 4k TCL tv but I would like opinions on keeping a desktop versus using a SFF like the Compute Stick or NUC to connect to the TV. My usage would be browsing and working in MS Office applications suite.

Budget ~$500 something reliable and cheap.

 

[JWade]

I use an alienware alpha I got from delloutlet, well within your budget

 

[Valantar]

For office work, I'd say using a TV is an ergonomic nightmare, but that's (at least somewhat) down to personal preference. Regardless of that, if you don't play games or use any other applications that demand some real performance, you should be more than happy with a NUC or something similar. A Compute Stick would probably be annoyingly slow as a main computer, especially if you're coming from a 2500k. Do you have a transferable Windows license? Otherwise, $500 for a not-slow SFF PC is difficult. Asus' VivoPC series has some nice ones, but they're barebones units (no storage, RAM or OS). Same goes for Gigabyte's Brix units.

In terms of performance, you won't get anything as fast as your 2500k for that price, so as such I'd recommend you keep it. Sell your GPU if you don't game, and use the integrated graphics (although you won't be able to use that on your 4k TV ...).

 

[ScottAD]

For office work, I'd say using a TV is an ergonomic nightmare, but that's (at least somewhat) down to personal preference. Regardless of that, if you don't play games or use any other applications that demand some real performance, you should be more than happy with a NUC or something similar. A Compute Stick would probably be annoyingly slow as a main computer, especially if you're coming from a 2500k. Do you have a transferable Windows license? Otherwise, $500 for a not-slow SFF PC is difficult. Asus' VivoPC series has some nice ones, but they're barebones units (no storage, RAM or OS). Same goes for Gigabyte's Brix units.

In terms of performance, you won't get anything as fast as your 2500k for that price, so as such I'd recommend you keep it. Sell your GPU if you don't game, and use the integrated graphics (although you won't be able to use that on your 4k TV ...).

License isn't a big deal. Will just buy one online for 15 bucks but I can always keep the monitor. I may just keep the desktop, always wanted to tinker with smaller stuff just to see if it's worthwhile. Most of my browsing is on an acer chromebook from 3 years ago.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

+1 to alienware. Picked up a steam machine for 225 a while back, installed an SSD and got rid of steamos for windows and its an awesome second computer.

Ive found nice 24" monitors for 50-60 bucks on slickdeals as well.

I think to try and find something with around the same performance on a laptop would end up costing you at least double.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I have an Acer i3 mini-ITX system that I use for a music jukebox that is reasonably fast and very quiet and is 1/4 the size of a regular desktop. So prebuilts can be small and quiet.

The issues I have with NUCs is only the slowest ones are fanless *, which means the others have small (and so noisy and whiny) fans. A bigger case means better airflow so less cooling is needed, and bigger fans that spin slower with less noise (and lower-pitched noise). * (There are some expensive fanless industrial models with much larger cases that act as giant heatsinks)

The Windows compute sticks all seem to have both noise and reliability issues.