Upgrading to new computer

I had a dear friend tell me, "Nerds are like firefighters. In an emergency, you all look alike..." :)

So, I've built dozens of PCs and rebuilt a handful of laptops. My builds have been historically AMD. Probably 80/20% AMD over Intel. The first AMD chip I bought was a 333MHz K6 chip, which is my way of saying I've done this for awhile.

For the casual user, there really isn't a notable difference. Windows will run Windows on either. Linux will run Linux on either.

It pains me to say it, but about 5 years ago (give or take) Intel took the lead in performance over AMD. AMD has yielded the high-end stuff to Intel and has placed bets on other areas.

Now I just bought an AMD A10 for my son, and it's great. AMD is still a good value. But if I had high powered, CPU intensive stuff to do I'd pay the extra $$ for Intel.

Longwinded way of saying - I don't think you care. Buy whatever floats your boat. If you're into Value, them AMD or an older Intel i3 or i5 chip. If you're into Horsepower, then Intel.

If you really want to know the differences, then we can start a long thread. :)

As for upgrading an old PC, yeah, I tend to agree. But more along the lines of it's just too expensive. Those components inside use technologies that have been surpassed - and upgrading a new PC is often more expensive than you'd expect.

Said another way, if you had wanted to bump the memory up back in 2009 or 2010, you could have paid $50. Now that very same increase might be $150 or $250 because those chips aren't in demand anymore.

If you're a casual user, if you're not a nerd (like me), then I'd say set your budget and shop for something within that budget.

Others will swear by brands (HP, Dell, Lenovo). I'll simply say I've used them all and have had lemons and gems in all.

I would not use IE unless you've applied the security patch after the latest vulnerability was revealed yesterday. A zero-day exploit which one can pickup from an infected website, allowing a hacker to obtain the users account privileges. So if using the default Admin account, the hacker is given complete access to the system to do what they want. Which is the reason not to use an Admin account when surfing the Net.

MS Edge browser is not effected.

A Geek told me that Win7 and Win10 were very similar... Win8 was a problem and to avoid that.

I may have to find a refurbished unit with Win7. I'm going from Vista Home Premium. I never had a problem with Vista. But now... things are going south and it stalls, freezes, won't load properly... just on and on. And...more websites are starting to not support IE9. Very annoying.

cts

I had to make a similar decision last fall and my major concern was not wanting Win 8.* and all the new computers coming with that operating system instead of Win 7. I found refurbished computers on the Staples web site that filled all my needs as far as hardware was concerned AND had Win 7 installed. They were also available for a great price! Now that Win 10 is out that may not be as large a concern, though I have my personal doubts about Win 10 as well.

I haven't bought a PC desktop in 25 years, electing to build my own. But use AMD majority of times as they represent a better price to performance value. They may run a little hotter than Intel, so only buy the latter for notebooks. But, never experienced a failure or compatibility issue with an AMD product. Otherwise, don't see a difference. As CPU performance is dependent on which model you buy, not really if its Intel or AMD.

I personally believe, but have no "facts", that Intel vs other would only be meaningful for intense users, gamers, etc. not a typical home use.
bumpy