Looking to go back to old school desktop. What recommendations to look for, also a larger screen recommendation.
Thanks
Wouldn’t you know it… Windows 10 is end-of-life October 2025, and my laptop won’t upgrade to 11. So I need to buy one, too.
I think I won’t buy a “tower” any longer, I’m going to buy a “mini PC”, a little box that I can stuff out of the way (maybe velcro to the back of the monitor), all Bluetooth so no cables. I mostly use Google Drive and OneDrive, but I can keep some files locally on external USB storage.
A small-format CPU is a good idea. There are lots of choices today.
I prefer a larger display. For a monitor, a mini TV is worth considering and you can use your mini computer as a DVR to record OTA, cable and streaming video as well.
Then you can cast the DVR content to your smart TVs or just copy it to a thumb drive and take it with you.
Thanks, good info for an old school Dino 
Large high-definition displays are a good thing for old eyes, mine are over 8 decades old. 
If you do not need the mobility of a portable computer, then purchasing a desktop computer is a good idea. Typically, you can get faster speeds and more features in a desktop computer at a lower cost when compared to that of a portable computer. If you have a need to have a computer with slots so you can plug-in several types of boards, then a tower computer is a good choice. If you do not plan to plug-in boards, then the smaller chassis computers would be the way to go. For most home users, the smaller computers would be just fine. There are also all-in-one computers where the computer and monitor are integrated together.
I would recommend selecting a monitor with at least 4K resolution and a monitor size based upon the amount of space you have in the workspace. A monitor of 25 to 30 inches would be typical for most people.
Thank you for this info, good detail. You’ve given some great directions in
my decision for new system.
Appreciate this greatly.
Take care…
I just decided to build my own last time since I wanted something more modern and capable to run win 11. I think I spent around $400 on it and in the end I used my old desktop case because I was so use to it. I thought I would try out Linux mint on it first and have been mostly happy with it and never installed windows yet. I hate to learn new things but it was all a good learning experience and I have nothing but time and patience.
> Here’s a post from a year or so back that has the specs and a pic of a mini computer I bought in Sept 2022. For $300 it came with Win-11 Pro and has had zero problems so far. The integrated Intel graphics does a great job driving a LG OLED 65" TV.
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Ochotona, Don’t give up so quickly!
There are ways to install Win 11 on a machine that MS says you can’t. I have 2 older laptops that I was able to install Win 11 on. You just have to do some Googling to figure it out.
Thanks for the hint I will look into it.
Thanks a lot, now I think I want to buy one of those.
I think Amazon carries them, MeLE is the brand name. They don’t have a fan and they get hot when they’re running but it doesn’t seem to affect the performance at all.
Added: Just looked on Amazon, they have this one for $249:
" MeLE Mini PC Quieter 4C - 12th Gen N100, Fanless PC, 16GB RAM, 512GB ROM, Windows 11 Pro, 2.4/5G Wi-Fi, Full-Functional USB-C, 4K Triple Display Desktop PC on Home, Office, Education, Astrophotography"