rant about specs for casual use...

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

hello, just a bit of a rant about something.

 

excuse some grammar mistakes, english is not my native language. 

 

when i was fixing up my old gaming rig the other day, i started thinking,

because everything i tried to do on that machine was still fast and smooth, what are the minimum specs for casual use?

 

my old gaming pc specs:

 

core 2 duo e8400

4gb ddr2

60gb ssd as boot drive

1.8 tb of total hdd storage

radeon hd 6670 gpu

windows 10

 

everything i did on that thing; watching youtube and netflix, playing a few old games, need for speed most wanted 2012 and the like, installing stuff, web browsing etc. ran smooth..

 

so i was just wondering, for casual users, people who mostly just browse the web and type up documents, why do they still buy new machines with i5's or something in them?

 

if i can browse youtube, type up documents etc on a machine from 2008, why are people paying $500 for machines that are way overkill for that stuff.

 

 

 

[FloRolf]

You would know if you had a better machine lol.

But really, you can do everything on a machine like yours aswell. Some things might just be slow.

[hconverse02]

Dude...Because they can

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, firelighter487 said:

so i was just wondering, for casual users, people who mostly just browse the web and type up documents, why do they still buy new machines with i5's or something in them?

 

-speed

- power efficiency  

- reliability 

[Glenwing]

1 minute ago, firelighter487 said:

hello, just a bit of a rant about something.

 

excuse some grammar mistakes, english is not my native language. 

 

when i was fixing up my old gaming rig the other day, i started thinking,

because everything i tried to do on that machine was still fast and smooth, what are the minimum specs for casual use?

 

my old gaming pc specs:

 

core 2 duo e8400

4gb ddr2

60gb ssd as boot drive

1.8 tb of total hdd storage

radeon hd 6670 gpu

windows 10

 

everything i did on that thing; watching youtube and netflix, playing a few old games, need for speed most wanted 2012 and the like, installing stuff, web browsing etc. ran smooth..

 

so i was just wondering, for casual users, people who mostly just browse the web and type up documents, why do they still buy new machines with i5's or something in them?

 

if i can browse youtube, type up documents etc on a machine from 2008, why are people paying $500 for machines that are way overkill for that stuff.

Prebuilt computers have HDDs, they will feel slow regardless of processor, so people will always feel their current computer is slow or laggy and will want to buy a new one thinking that a newer and better processor will help, when all they need is an SSD.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, FloRolf said:

You would know if you had a better machine lol.

But really, you can do everything on a machine like yours aswell. Some things might just be slow.

i own a laptop with a quad core apu and 8gb of ram, so i have a better machine... this old thing feels just as quick most of the time

[minibois]

My PC (see signature for specs) is still decent for all uses except gaming (it can kinda game), including even photo editing. It does use more power than all these modern machines, so in the end an upgrade for casual use can be worth it.

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, Glenwing said:

Prebuilt computers have HDDs, they will feel slow regardless of processor, so people will always feel their current computer is slow or laggy and will want to buy a new one thinking that a newer and better processor will help, when all they need is an SSD.

yeah i can see that. when i put the 60gb ssd in this, it really helped. when it still had a hdd it felt quite slow as well. 

[Le Sulfur]

because under 500 dollars most machines don't come with an ssd

[Coaxialgamer]

Dat SSD is the main reason 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

1 minute ago, Le Sulfur said:

because under 500 dollars most machines don't come with an ssd

 

Just now, Coaxialgamer said:

Dat SSD is the main reason 

really? just the ssd? but all of my games are stored on the harddrives, and they run smooth, and the last time i used a hdd system, it was only slow when opening stuff. web browsing itself was fine...

[ProjectBox153]

Even with a mechanical HDD, Core 2 Duos are still very powerful machines. I've done Hackintoshing with them, all three of my servers use them, and they're under load 24/7, and more. I have a lot of Core 2 stuff. 

Just now, firelighter487 said:

 

really? just the ssd? but all of my games are stored on the harddrives, and they run smooth, and the last time i used a hdd system, it was only slow when opening stuff. web browsing itself was fine...

SSDs make a ton of difference though. They will make EVERYTHING faster. With an SSD in both machines, my old ass Core 2 Duo Toshiba overheating edition laptop is just as fast (if not faster sometimes) as my Sandy Bridge Core i3 laptop. 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

Even with a mechanical HDD, Core 2 Duos are still very powerful machines. I've done Hackintoshing with them, all three of my servers use them, and they're under load 24/7, and more. I have a lot of Core 2 stuff. 

SSDs make a ton of difference though. They will make EVERYTHING faster. With an SSD in both machines, my old ass Core 2 Duo Toshiba overheating edition laptop is just as fast (if not faster sometimes) as my Sandy Bridge Core i3 laptop. 

yeah, i ran geekbench on this machine and my quad core amd apu laptop, and it scored about 200 points lower. core 2 duo's have aged well...

[MrMcMuffinJr]

kaby lake gives a better netflix experience. but i dont see the need to have it just for netflix

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

4 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

Even with a mechanical HDD, Core 2 Duos are still very powerful machines. I've done Hackintoshing with them, all three of my servers use them, and they're under load 24/7, and more. I have a lot of Core 2 stuff. 

SSDs make a ton of difference though. They will make EVERYTHING faster. With an SSD in both machines, my old ass Core 2 Duo Toshiba overheating edition laptop is just as fast (if not faster sometimes) as my Sandy Bridge Core i3 laptop. 

and that was most of the reason for my rant. why buy a new machine? my old gaming rig is worth about €100 where i live without the ssd. put a €40 ssd into it and there you go.

[Ryujin2003]

5 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

.Snip.. stuff about casual.. snip

 

 

 

It is all about experience. I have a faster PC than most of my clients. My wife's Spectre is faster than most of my clients PCs. And my clients are pretty much casual as fuck. Even my old FX setup is faster. So for me, casual use is about responsiveness. Not waiting 2 minutes to boot to OS. Or constantly waiting for the browser to respond.

 

Why? Because I'm spoiled. I don't want to wait. If I'm on a device that takes forever to do anything (and forever means not instantly), then I'm not happy with it. I want to spend my casual time watching cat videos, or tech shows with questionable thumbnails.

 

I don'twant to wait for the OS to load. Then wait for the browser to open. Now it hangs because I didn't let my OS load all the way before opening anything... Now my browser opens and there is lag when I type...

 

It's either a fluid experience or it's not. My wife is the same way. She doesn't game. She doesn't need a monster of a GPU. But she uses her computer for notes. When she presses the power button, the Damned thing better be ready to go. She watches YouTube. And bet your ass, if it's lagging or has issues responding while multitasking, she's upset.

 

But my version of casual generally isn't the budget HP on the shelf.

 

I used to be ok with my old HP Compaq running Vista.... I had one come into my shop the other day. I think to myself, "wtf? How is this acceptable?"

 

But it's based on experience. I have had constant experience with reactionary speeds on higher end computers. I will not tolerate anything less for casual. If it's slower than my smartphone, we've got a problem.

[Ryujin2003]

14 minutes ago, Le Sulfur said:

because under 500 dollars most machines don't come with an ssd

Less than 500, you don't get hyperthreading. Lower end chipset. Base model.

[Le Sulfur]

Just now, Ryujin2003 said:

Less than 500, you don't get hyperthreading. Lower end chipset. Base model.

Yes but people who are looking to buy a pc for casual use don't understand(or care about) that stuff, but explaining the benefits of an SSD to someone is really easy.

[linkboy]

I fall exactly into this category. I picked up a refurbished HP Elitebook 8770w last month and it's perfect for what I need it for. I'm mostly using it for general browsing, school work, and light gaming (Witcher 2, Oblivion, etc).

 

 

[Ryujin2003]

7 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

and that was most of the reason for my rant. why buy a new machine? my old gaming rig is worth about €100 where i live without the ssd. put a €40 ssd into it and there you go.

It's a slippery slope. My I had an i3 system, upgraded to AMD Phenom custom build (my first build), then to FX 6350 with HDD. Eventually upgraded to SSD. Then SSD RAID 0, now Ryzen with M.2 NVMe. Information access definitely improves the whole feel of a PC. I cannot go back to booting from SSD or even HDD without pulling my hair out.

[Ryujin2003]

2 minutes ago, Le Sulfur said:

Yes but people who are looking to buy a pc for casual use don't understand(or care about) that stuff, but explaining the benefits of an SSD to someone is really easy.

They don't seem to mind, but I'll generally get many clients back in a couple weeks. It's slow, they want me to check for viruses or bad hardware.... I told you to upgrade from the i3 model to the i5, but you didn't want to listen. Upgrade to SSD or replace the machine.

 

You can put NOS in a Pinto station wagon, but it's still a Pinto.

[Bouzoo]

22 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

 

really? just the ssd? but all of my games are stored on the harddrives, and they run smooth, and the last time i used a hdd system, it was only slow when opening stuff. web browsing itself was fine...

SSD is the main reason. Finally installed an 850 EVO (don't have an M.2 slot, 960 Pro was $50 only more ) instead of my 1TB 7200 rpm HDD in my laptop with i7 4700 HQ and you can't even compare them. Before that even a i3 with SSD would feel faster due to background tasks. 

Once you go SSD you don't go back. 

[ProjectBox153]

16 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

and that was most of the reason for my rant. why buy a new machine? my old gaming rig is worth about €100 where i live without the ssd. put a €40 ssd into it and there you go.

Other than my SSD (which I use for a lot of my computes, not just one), my Core 2 Duo rigs and all their parts were free. 

[Ashley MLP Fangirl]

3 minutes ago, Bouzoo said:

SSD is the main reason. Finally installed an 850 EVO (don't have an M.2 slot, 960 Pro was $50 only more ) instead of my 1TB 7200 rpm HDD in my laptop with i7 4700 HQ and you can't even compare them. Before that even a i3 with SSD would feel faster due to background tasks. 

Once you go SSD you don't go back. 

that's true. i can't use an hdd system comfortably either. 

[typographie]

29 minutes ago, Le Sulfur said:

because under 500 dollars most machines don't come with an ssd

 

14 minutes ago, Ryujin2003 said:

Less than 500, you don't get hyperthreading. Lower end chipset. Base model.

I can only speak for myself, but I've never met a truly casual user who has even heard of an SSD, let alone one that wants to pay extra for one. That's doubly true with regards to Hyperthreading or chipset features.

 

34 minutes ago, firelighter487 said:

if i can browse youtube, type up documents etc on a machine from 2008, why are people paying $500 for machines that are way overkill for that stuff.

If you're tech savvy enough to recognize that, you're probably not a casual user.

 

I'm not sure the premise of this question is sound. Casual users are fleeing towards laptops and iPads in droves, and desktop office PCs still seem to me to be dominated by Celerons and Pentiums. Is it even a fact that 'casuals' are buying a lot of $500+ PCs? That part seems to have been glossed over a bit.