HELP I need a new desktop PC

[niemeyjt]

No one has mentioned Libre Office to escape MS pay to type etc. I find it more than acceptable as an alternative for Word, Excel. Draw etc and it's free to download.

Er, I did.

But I would add that for some OnlyOffice may be a more familiar but less capable alternative.

Another Linux Mint vote here - and it does dual boot with Windows 11. On my PC it is dual boot, but Windows 11 is so unstable compared to Linux I mostly use just Linux now.

 

[Chubber]

Er, I did.

Sorry, N.

 

[XTiffy]

Plus 1 for LibreOffice. One big plus for me is that in LibreOffice draw it is possible to edit PDF files (and it is free!).

 

[Naylom]

There are a lot of choices, you need to decide how much time you want to put into switching the operating system and, if you do, does the new one support all the programs you like / need or you are happy with the alternatives. I would also suggest that if you are not literate in the new operating system then its worth making sure that you know where you can get support from until you are confident.

As someone mentioned Windows 10 is going to have a short shelf life so I think you are going to have to bite the bullet and do some sort of upgrade. If you are not a gamer and don't need huge amounts of power there are neat small mini PC's that do a good job. I use a UM790 from Minisforum (https://www.minisforum.uk/products/minisforum-um790-pro?variant=44785406279958) and its has more than enough power for running Fusion 360 and for doing IT development. There are less powerful options as well.

I saw a post suggesting an all in one solution, for what its worth I would point out that with this solution is you cannot replace the PC or monitor on its own which is why I like the mini PC solution - it doesn't take much desk space and gives you flexibility. HTH.

 

[trvlr]

one can always boot linux (whichever version) from an external drive; allows one to try and decide if one would like to use it... As well as determining if your current hardware is OK for it...?

 

[Diver Fred]

one can always boot linux (whichever version) from an external drive; allows one to try and decide if one would like to use it... As well as determining if your current hardware is OK for it...?

That is not always possible to do with Win10, MS made changes that making the boot sequence very hard to find and change especially for someone not very computer literate or confident. There is lots of advice on the web, some easy, some not so easy; search for "Changing Win10 Boot Sequence" - you need to change so that the Boot Sequence 'looks at' Drive A first (that will find the USB drive which is where you can have a USB memory stick with a 'Live' Linux system on.

I have used Ubuntu which has professional support by Canicol.