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Need a computer for business use

R

Replacement

Junior Member
I have an employee who is looking to get a desktop computer to work from. She asked me for a recommendation, I don't really know what to suggest. The work is not very demanding of a computer. It would be some basic programs that do not take a lot of resources to run, internet, outlook and other office products and a PDF editor. She was hoping to get Win8 and was planing on buying Office 365 (the yearly subscription to allow her use it for up to 5 devices).

She doesn't have a monitor or anything for a desktop set up. She has been working off a laptop and wants to have an actual desktop set up.

Her budget is around $600, would like to get mouse, keyboard, monitor and computer for this (this does not include the cost of the office and PDF software). She wants to get a computer that is already built so she doesn't have to worry about building one. She saw these at best buy and wanted to know if they were good or not and if there were better values out there for the money.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a computer that meets these needs and is of good quality, are there any brands to stay away from?

Her words
Here is one I found that is the ASUS brand I like and I would just need to buy a monitor:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+E...&skuId=7453044

This would be the other one I would like:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/HP+-+Pav...&skuId=7785046

But just looking, it looks the HP is going to be better. It has wireless, but then the ASUS has Adobe installed in it which has more features then the “free” product….
 
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im not trying to hate on bb, but their computers are usually crippled to make profits.

i would look for something similar on newegg or tiger direct. they will be complete systems without features excluded.

for what she needs, i think it will be pretty hard to go wrong with anything. i would actually focus on the warranty you get...
 
Torn Mind said:
Dells offer better bang for the buck if you like Dell. It's even better if you scour Dell Outlet.

http://www.dell.com/us/p/desktops?~ck=mn#!facets=51805~0~15816841&p=1

A 2.9 Ghz Ivy Bridge Pentium should be similar to a A8 clocked at 3.2 GHz
Click to expand...

Very nice! Dell Inspiron 660s with Pentium G2020 for $330 with a 7200RPM HDD and 4GB RAM. Heck, look for coupons. I routinely get 20% off coupons for Dell Outlet. One just expired yesterday.

20" IPS LED 1600x900 monitor $80 to go with the computer.
 
Be careful, you get what you pay for. I think going for the i-5 deal with 8 gigs of RAM is worth it. Dont expect any retail computer to be upgradable.

I kind of cringe when I see a computer valued in the $300-$400 value range.

I work with a lot of females at work and you would be surprised how many webpages they can open up at once. Got to have that weatherbug and e-mail, and chat software, online music, and whatever else you cant imagine.

Of course we also have a data base application, Scheduling Software for appointment, Voicemail to Email and a few other misc databases like ImageNow and local Databases that are in constant use. Then you have to be able to use Mergemail applications with the database. They keep wanting to add more things like the online Transcript Application for importing electronic transcripts and the Online Enrollment, and the online Graduation applications.
 
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Have you considered looking for a docking station for the laptop? Hook up a monitor/keyboard/mouse to the docking station and dock the laptop on the station.
 
piasabird said:
Be careful, you get what you pay for. I think going for the i-5 deal with 8 gigs of RAM is worth it. Dont expect any retail computer to be upgradable.
Click to expand...

CPU and RAM should be upgradable. They have standard fittings. If luck has it, a Dell probably has one 4GB stick, so he can get another 4gb stick for $25.
 
The problem with adding memory is that it is usually a crap shoot. Sometimes different kits will work well together, sometimes they don't
 
Torn Mind said:
CPU and RAM should be upgradable. They have standard fittings. If luck has it, a Dell probably has one 4GB stick, so he can get another 4gb stick for $25.
Click to expand...

Dell has a tendency to fill up all the slots with ram unless you specifically pay for larger dimms.
 
Dell and HP both offer complete lines of business vs. home PC's.
The business class machines have cases, PSU's, motherboards, etc. that are made of better quality materials, and cost more.
As others have suggested: check the Dell & HP web sites for refurbished business class PC's for the best pricing.
 
Both those computers you linked have APUs, (fairly weak CPU with better graphics than intel). For business use I dont think you need that.

I would look for a Pentium, or for more processing power, an i3. Personally, for the uses you specified, I dont think you need an i5. I do fairly heavy excel and data base (access) work in my job, and a core 2 duo E8500 is plenty fast. An i3 should beat this easily.

Personally, I have had bad experiences with Gateway and good experiences overall with Dell and Asus. But basically it is just luck of the draw as far as brand goes.
 
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