[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Nothing you're proposing is likely to be limited by processor speed, IMHO. But everything you do will be limited by RAM and disk access time. The 8GB in the HP plus the SSD will make it a faster system for your uses, I suspect. Frankly, the only way I'd go with the Dell is if I intended to immediately swap out the HDD for an SSD. Which totally negates the price advantage.

Thanks CRussel. I've got another one I'm considering. It's got the i3 processor and 8GB, but a SATA hard drive. What do you think?

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron...pc&sr=1-1&th=1

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Found that desktop model at HP's site:

https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06442766

The processor is 3200U, a 2-core, 4-thread mobile processor with a Passmark score of 4675 which should be plenty for your needs, similar to older AMD A10's. The i3 8100 is a true desktop processor with 4 cores ans a Passmark score of 8000 (close to my 2nd gen core i7). There's hardly any difference between the two GPU's. So unless you plan to add at least another 4GB to the Dell, I'd also lean toward the HP. The HP appears to have HDMI but not DVI, so make sure you have or get a monitor with HDMI (watch out for heavily discounted DVI-only models).

One thing though - you mentioned Word but not Excel. If you do much with Excel the faster i3 in the Dell would become a much bigger factor IMO as Excel is very good at maxing out all 4 cores on CPU-intensive operations like big VLOOKUPs...

Thanks a lot for all the specs on the HP.

And the two core thing? That's the same as duo-core, right? And I thought that was really ancient stuff processor-wise. Am I wrong? (I was really leaning toward the HP, but the two core kind of throws me.)

What does this mean (below)?

I wouldn't buy a system with only 4GB that shares system memory for video.

And the HP in your link looks great, but I'm buying this for a friend and it's got to be new.

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

I'd take a look at this desktop:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...080_em_1p_6_lm

It's an HP 6-core i5 for $339. No SSD but the Optane memory is supposed to provide some of the same benefit.

Edit> The i5-8400 in this system has a passmark score of 11500, far surpassing the other 2 systems.

And we have all VGA monitors, so I'm not concerned about DVI. But thanks for mentioning it.

Considering a new one. Is it any better, worse? 8GB i3 processor (8th generation and I guess 9th is out already), SATA hard drive.

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron...pc&sr=1-1&th=1