The life of average PC is about 2 to 4 years. Especially with no computer experience.
Tech Support Alert (Gizmo's Freeware) https://www.techsupportalert.com/ offers tips, tricks and freeware program reviews for a variety of platforms. There is a comment section where you can read people's personal recommendations and reviews as well. If you're new to PC, it can help lessen the confusion.
I've had a personal computer in my home since about 1995. I bought my current one at Best Buy in 2012. Its getting pretty old but still works with regular maintenance. I am thinking about getting a new one so this thread is also pertinent to me.
Processor and RAM are what control the fastness of the computer. If you run programs or have peripherals which have great demand, you want to spend more money on better (higher) components.
You should have a fairly high power supply as well, especially if you run lots of USB and specialty cards (sound and graphics cards).
Graphics and sound come in two flavors.
Motherboard embedded and add-on.
Add-on cards usually give better performance and offer more features.
Some sound cards offer 5.1 or 7.1 surround with enhancements and most graphics cards offer HDMI and DVI as opposed to VGA.
Most better televisions offer HDMI which allows you to use an HDMI connection to the TV as a video and sound connection.
This allows you to use your TV as a monitor which in turn allows you to spend that monitor money on pc components.
I currently have 10GB of RAM in this PC with one more RAM slot available.
I have a 2TB WD internal hard drive and 12TB of external hard drives. I also have 4 TB of assorted USB thumb drives.
I have a Logitech camera w/mic, A dedicated 2GB ready-boost thumb drive and a Logitech mouse and keyboard.
I have a wireless HP printer/fax/copier
I have AT&T unlimited broadband internet
Using CPU-Z program, my system is as follows:
Processor:
AMD FX-6100 Six-Core Processor
Package:
Socket AM3+ (942)
Core Speed:
2992.32 MHz
Motherboard:
Gigabyte 2AC8
Chipset:
AMD RD9x0 rev 0.2
BIOS: (Basic Input/Output System)
AMI Ang-713 12/29/2011
Memory: (RAM)
Type:
DDR3 Dual Channel 1994.9 MHz
Graphics:
AMD Radeon HD 7400 Series
100 MHz core @ 1024 MBytes
I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
Fully up to date.
(Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft)
This PC was an out of the box model.
My next PC will be home built.
With the out of box PC you get a lot of programs you won't use.
The first thing I do is uninstall all the junk they preinstall.
You will need a good quality Antivirus program. (Consult Gizmo on what to look for)
You will need a good quality Ad-Blocking program
A good quality anti-spyware program.
A good quality cache/registry cleaner
A good quality disc defragmenter.
If you will be doing some light gaming a mid-grade PC will work if you use the game settings to turn down some of the graphics.
If you are a heavy gamer - you will get best graphics from a gaming system.
The biggest hardware problem with PC is dust/heat. If you have pets, it can also get clogged with pet hair. Heat destroys electronics. If you hear the fans running constantly, use some canned air to blow it out. Especially around the processor and graphics card heat sinks and the power unit.
For software related performance issues the most common is fragmentation.
Defragment regularly and clean the cache.
Spyware, trojans and viruses can also mess up your PC.
Keep that software up to date and run the scans regularly.
Also, don't click on stuff online randomly.
You are not going to win anything for free by clicking.
Most mounted antivirus software is a free trial.
I uninstall it and opt for a fully functional program of my choice.
If this is your FIRST PC, you might want to look into renting one to see what is involved. Those rental stores used to have PCs you could rent (I dunno anymore because I stopped renting stuff).
Using a properly protected, properly configure PC with the right browser and video player you can watch or listen to anything you want when you want it.
I haven't paid for TV services for 15 years. No cable bill, no satellite bill, no rental fees. Just one single broadband service bill per month.
I can read any book I want (or listen to it), I can upload my photo collection to the cloud and share with anyone. I can make my own music, my own videos and my own art.
I play games with my mouse and keyboard and I actually prefer it that way.
If you go out of box, plan on spending closer to your $700 limit but remember you can use your current TV and stereo for monitor and sound.
Best Buy
Fry's Electronics
Tiger Direct
Tiger Direct:
https://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Lprice=500&Hprice=999.99&Nav=|c:2627|&Sort=3&Recs=10
Example:
HP EliteDesk 800 G4 SFF Desktop PC - 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8700 3.2GHz, 16GB DDR4, 512GB SSD (Solid-State Drive), USB-C, GigE, Win 10 Pro 64-bit,
Grade A Refurbished, 1yr Warranty, vPro - RB-724962756576
Item#: 42133584 | Model#: RB-724962756576
List Price:
$1,499.99
Instant Savings:
- $800.00 (53%)
Price:
$699.99
$9.99 Shipping
Fry's Electronics
https://www.frys.com/template/pccomponents
Build you own PC with Barebones & Components (This is what I will be doing next time)
Best Buy
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/desktop-computers/all-desktops/pcmcat143400050013.c?id=pcmcat143400050013