New PC advice needed

markjbloggs

Hi,

I need a new PC, primarily to run multiple large Excel files (incl macros) as quickly as possible. Budget is €500. Stability and no interruptions in the form of upgrades is a must. Can I get opinions on the following:

- Win 10 vs 8.1 : I have heard that it is impossible to disable Microsoft upgrades on Win 10, is this correct. If so this is a show-stopper for me.

- PC supplier : always been a big Dell fan but their website is now a disaster. Considering using ITCsales.co.uk, Dell factory seconds/returns.

- Core 5 vs Core 7 : Excel is the primary user, no games or other media so no fancy graphics needed.

- Solid state drive : never had one before, assume this would facilitate a quicker re-start in the case of a crash or software error??

thanks in advance,

M

Xterminator

Hi OP

seems quite easy to stop auto updates - set your network as metered.
http://www.howtogeek.com/224471/how-to-prevent-windows-10-from-automatically-downloading-updates/

Pc supplier is less important than ever, IMO, but i tend to go to my reseller who holds stock, and can deliver next day when the need is there. We use a lot of dell hardware and its fine. But if your in a hurry, Dell dont care.

Core 5 vs Core 7 For use described core5 is fine, absolutely fine.

Solid state runs quicker than mechanical HDDs. this manifests as quicker load up times, and quicker performance when reading and writing to disk. To the end user the pc is 'faster'; to both start up and just in general use. I assume it would rebuild quicker if you had to wipe pc, & reinstall windows but ive never bothered timing this! also the failure rate is lower because there are no moving parts. They are quieter and use less power.

i would recommend SSD with the proviso the you get less storage for your €.

Germancarfan

Reading your "large excel files as quickly as possible" comment
I'm going to take a punt that it's for risk or financial modelling

SSD will be quicker for the files to be read from and written to the OS , substantially so
i7 will be quicker than i5 especially if running complex macros (I'm thinking financial or risk models ?)

I'm guessing you want it on 24/7 with no interruption hence no updates.
Win 10 updates can be ignored - not really advisable but possible.

Ram and speed of same should also be considered. If speed is of the essence a DDR4 enabled motherboard would be appropriate.

If it's for general home use with excel as a by the by then ignore the above. Any i5 PC will do fine. If you are running some sort of models in excel then the above will help greatly.

markjbloggs

Germancarfan wrote: »

Reading your "large excel files as quickly as possible" comment
I'm going to take a punt that it's for risk or financial modelling

Correctimundo

Germancarfan

markjbloggs wrote: »

Correctimundo

thought so , as much processor speed as you can afford so and strip everything else off it. A good model should really be pushing your CPU . SSD will help you greatly with write back times as you commit data and read times as you load up the models.


Over time a GPU may be a welcome addition if you find it's generating the revenue you expected.