What to upgrade to (1 Viewer)

[delia todd]

I would get a small but high performance laptop. It's just so nice to be able to drop it in a bag or move to deck/porch...

Dell XPS 13 Laptop | Dell USA

www.dell.com

Add and external monitor and cordless kbd/mouse combo and you can't tell it's a laptop you are working on. These days you can get a large LCD for under $200. Kbd/mouse combos prob as low as $50

Monitors | Dell USA

Shop award-winning monitors with LED, touch screen, OLED, 4K & 8K resolution, high refresh rate, and dual monitor solutions in various screen sizes at Dell.com.

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Dell Pro Wireless Keyboard and Mouse – KM5221W | Dell USA

View the Dell Pro Wireless Keyboard and Mouse (KM5221W) and enhance your productivity with this 2.4GHz combo, or shop all Keyboard & Mice Combos at Dell.com.

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If you ever need a DVD player, you can get externals for $30-40. These days I don't even keep mine connected since most software deliveries etc. are download only. I no longer use discs to archive photos, just because tiny portable SSD drives are huge capacity and inexpensive.

Dell hubs are expensive (if you need it) but i got my first one at local Staples and I think it was around $50. Enough to give me some extra USB ports.

I pondered a tablet/laptop combo and decided it wasn't necessary for me, even after years of carrying one on-sites and sketching directly on panels with stylus etc. These days I just don't need it enough to justify add'l cost.

Just one data point... ymmv and all that!

Thanks MR - certainly worth considering.

 

[Mono]

£200 off at Currys

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/hp-24df1030na-23.8-allinone-pc-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-white-10229599.html

 

[delia todd]

Thanks for that one Mono.

 

[delia todd]

Hi guys and thanks so much for all your input on my plea for advice and, to whoever it was that got me looking at AIO's.

I've decided to go with this one: PORTUS PRO AIO-107 24" ALL IN ONE PC INTEL i7 11TH GEN/ 16GB RAM/ 512GB SSD / 2TB HDD / R.SCREEN

Unless anyone can see a big flaw in that choice.

I read some Trust Pilot reviews and they mostly were very happy with the service, though some thought the keyboard was a bit 'cheap'. But they're easy enough to change if I don't like it, aren't they.

 

[Mono]

I must confess I haven't heard of Portus before but all computers are essentially made of components from the same suppliers just plugged together.

The spec looks good for the price. I might go for Windows 11 pre installed, rather than get used to Windows 10 and then have to update to Windows 11.

 

[Ted Y.]

The config seems OK for the price, except the screen resolution. I find it good for 10 years ago. But no other choise is available.
I think a person working with photos deserves better. Better resolution, anti glare (AG).

 

[Pinewood]

Hello Delia,

Please, do not forget to have a spacious backup drive, or rent space in 'the cloud,' since computers do crash and folks do occasionally remove things by accident. I have an artist friend, who kept all his photographs on an external disk which failed. He then found out that there is a difference between an external disk and a backup disk. Recovery costs were several hundred US dollars.

Stay safe,
Arthur

 

[delia todd]

The config seems OK for the price, except the screen resolution. I find it good for 10 years ago. But no other choise is available.
I think a person working with photos deserve better. Better resolution, anti glare (AG).

Thanks Ted. Oh well - can't have everything I guess and it's bound to be an improvement on my current laptop screen I'd think.

 

[delia todd]

Hello Delia,

Please, do not forget to have a spacious backup drive, or rent space in 'the cloud,' since computers do crash and folks do occasionally remove things by accident. I have an artist friend, who kept all his photographs on an external disk which failed. He then found out that there is a difference between an external disk and a backup disk. Recovery costs were several hundred US dollars.

Stay safe,
Arthur

Thanks Arthur.

I do have an external hard drive, but have ordered another 1tb one with the computer. I'll try (promise) to do some regular house-keeping and back up regularly.

Hopefully it will be quicker copying files with the new one than it is with this laptop.