MSPNetworks Blog

We’re on to part three of our Desktop Buyer’s Guide. When comparing all of your options when shopping around for desktops, one of the main features you’ll see is how much storage they have. We’ve seen this with smartphones and tablets as well - you can buy an iPhone with 64 GB (gigabytes) of storage or 128 GB of storage, etc.

With your desktop (or laptop) the storage actually plays a bigger role in performance than it does with a smartphone, so let’s dive in and take a look!

Author’s Note on Why Computer Storage Excites Me:
If I seem enthusiastic about data storage, there is a reason. Data storage is a very exciting thing! Back in the late 80’s and early 90’s before rewritable CDs were a thing, we had floppy disks. Granted, we had even floppier disks before that and even before that we had punch cards, but I don’t want to date myself too much.

A standard double-density floppy diskette was 3.5 inches wide and held a massive (for the time) 1.44 MB (megabytes). A plain, unformatted text file with around 600 to 800 pages of text would fit on just one of these disks. A single mp3 file of a normal length song would take 3 or 4 disks.

A standard CD holds about 650 MB of data, and a DVD holds up to 4.7 GB of data. It would take 3,342 3.5-inch floppy disks to hold the same amount of data a DVD holds.

A single Blu-Ray can hold about 10 times that of a DVD, so if you were to stack floppy disks until you had the same data storage as a single Blu-Ray disk, the stack would be a little taller than a standard telephone pole.

My tangent is getting pretty long so I’m going to skip ahead to exabytes. It’s estimated that Google stores about 15 exabytes of data. It would take roughly 26.2 million Blu-Ray disks to hold that much data.

If you were to convert that back to 3.5-inch floppy disks, you’d be looking at covering a 100-mile radius with a pile of disks several miles high.

Data storage is fun! Sorry, let’s get back to our blog:

Let’s Go Back to the Role of the Desktop

Before we decide how much storage we need, we need to look at how we will be using the new desktop.

If this computer is joining your office network and you store most of your data in a centralized server or in the cloud, then you probably don’t need a lot of storage space. After all, you’ll only need enough room to store the operating system, your programs, and a little left over (you never want to completely fill up a hard drive in use).

If this is for your home office or for a college student, you’ll want more storage available. Gaming PCs and video production will need a lot more storage, as both videos and games tend to take up a lot of space.

HDD Vs. SSD Storage

When shopping around for computers and laptops, you’ll often see either one of these acronyms. Laptops will tend to use SSD almost exclusively, and desktops will be a mixed bag. Let’s explain what each means.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

Hard Disk Drives are the traditional heavy metal components that we’ve been using to store data inside a computer for over 30 years. Inside, they consist of a couple of tiny electric motors, a stack of magnetic platters, and a small arm that reads and writes data to the platters. Think of them like a tiny record player that spins the records 72,000 times per minute. Sometimes we refer to these types of drives as ‘mechanical drives’ because of the moving parts.

These hard drives tend to have massive capacity, but they are a little slower and require more electricity to operate. They are also sensitive to shock, so bumping one around while it is in use can lead to data loss. All of these reasons make them unpopular in laptops, where battery life and durability are important.

Still, if you need to store a lot of data, especially in the multiple terabytes range, this is your most cost-effective option.

Solid State Drives (SSD)

Solid State Drives don’t have moving parts. All of the data is stored electronically. Although these drives used to increase the cost of a new desktop or laptop, their relative prices have gone down over the years.

SSDs are faster and more durable than traditional HDDs. They also tend to last a long time as well, although there used to be rumors that SSD storage would ‘wear out’ after a few years of use, that just isn’t the case with modern drives. They consume much less electricity, so they are great for preserving battery life in laptops.

The drawback? SSDs have a smaller capacity, and higher-capacity SSDs start to climb in price. At the time of writing this, a budget 3 terabyte HDD costs less than a 1 terabyte SSD.

How Much Storage Do I Need?

This all comes down to the role of your computer, but I recommend always starting with an SSD. If the role of your PC is just to check email and surf the web, a 128 GB or 256 GB SSD is going to be plenty. If you will rely on your data being stored on your office network, you don’t need to worry about much else.

Gamers will want to spend a bit more to install more games. Breaking out the wallet to get a 512 GB or a 1 TB SSD might be a good investment. Depending on where you are shopping, it shouldn’t make a huge difference in the cost of the PC, especially since you are going to be spending more on the CPU, RAM, and other hardware just to run the games you want to install.

If the desktop is for your home office and you aren’t storing data on a centralized server or NAS device, it’s not a bad idea to get a second hard drive as your data drive. Let your main SSD handle your operating system and programs, and the second drive could be a high-capacity HDD. This is a good option for gaming PCs too, as even 1 TB will fill up pretty quickly.

If you store thousands of photos, videos, or music, that extra data drive will come in handy as well, and it’s going to be a MUST for video production. In fact, even video hobbyists will find themselves quickly needing to upgrade and expand their storage with external drives or network-attached storage. Video and photography take up a lot of space.

In Short:

Always shoot for an SSD for your primary drive, whether you are getting a laptop or desktop. If you don’t know how much space you’ll need, shoot for the 256 GB to 512 GB tier unless you are going for a more high-end system.

Most desktops have room in the case for at least one additional hard drive (except for the very slim models), so you can usually expand it later, but you’ll want to check if you are worried about it.

Your hard drives are where all of your data gets stored, so don’t go with the cheapest option, and always, ALWAYS have a backup!

Need help making your next computer purchase? Don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at (516) 403-9001.

In parts one through four we talked about choosing the right specifications for your desktop, depending on its role. We talked about selecting the right CPU, RAM, storage, and display options. This final post we hit a few other tips and ideas we came up with that didn’t fit into the other posts.

What Brand is Best?

Honestly, it’s going to depend on the day of the week and the exact specifications you want. Even then, when it comes to desktops, all computer manufacturers have access to the same parts. Dell, Asus, Lenovo, HP, Acer, and the countless other manufacturers out there will use the same basic components to make a desktop. Things don’t start to make a difference until you get way up there on the higher-end of computing, like gaming rigs and video production, and then you have plenty of companies that specialize in that.

Where the brand does start to stand out is for laptops and all-in-one devices. This is where companies can differentiate themselves. For example, HP and Microsoft both have high-end graphic design all-in-one desktops. Microsoft, HP, and Lenovo all have laptop options with pen inputs for artists. At this point we are talking about heavily specialized hardware that make these devices stand out, so we’re leaving the realm of the desktop.

When it comes to specialized hardware, we suggest reading a lot of reviews, sampling the device at your local big box store, and if it is for your business, having a chat with the experts at MSPNetworks.

Full-Size Desktop vs Compact Desktop

This is in reference to the size of the desktop case itself. Full-size desktops tend to be easier to upgrade and maintain, and can sometimes cost less. Compact desktops, also known as slim desktops, might still have upgrade capabilities but they will be more limited. 

The smaller design tends to be suitable for most office workstations, where gaming PCs and video production needs more space within the desktop for hardware and cooling.

Read Reviews and Benchmarks

There are plenty of sites that are dedicated to reviewing specific models of desktops and other computer hardware. If you are looking at a specific desktop at the store, go online and see if it has any reviews, including user reviews. Higher-end systems will usually have more in-depth reviews with benchmark scores, and you’ll want to pay attention to that when spending more money.

Be Aware of Bloatware

This can be a big problem when buying pre-configured desktops from some brands. Computers will come pre-installed with software. Some of it will seem pretty helpful, like Microsoft Office trials or antivirus. Keep in mind that if you are buying a device for your office, you’ll want to clean out the extra software, so you are only using your centralized antivirus and your licenses of Office, etc. 

Getting Rid of Your Old PC?

First, you’ll want to migrate the data and wipe the old drives thoroughly. It’s best to leave that to professionals, unless you plan on destroying the drives. Even then, depending on your industry and the compliances you need to fall under, you may need it done professionally. 

Otherwise, there are lots of options for recycling your PC, but we encourage you to not just throw it away, as a computer contains many harmful elements that can cause a lot of damage when not processed properly.

We also highly recommend not donating a PC used for your business unless you have professionally wiped or replaced the drives. It’s a great gesture, especially if the PC can help out a student or shelter, but you’ll want to make sure your data is absolutely unrecoverable.

Purchasing Workstations for Your Business?

Let us help. We can help you purchase one or many desktops, and make sure they are configured, optimized, and licensed so your staff can work effectively. We can also help with the infrastructure and networking side to make sure your office can handle your growth. 

On top of that, we offer 24/7 monitoring and maintenance to keep your computers running smoothly, and we can even provide tech support for your end-users.

Want to talk about how we can help you grow your business? Reach out to us at (516) 403-9001.

Your new desktop isn’t going to do you much good if you don’t have a screen to plug into it. Let’s talk about considerations to make when purchasing a new desktop when it comes to your display.

How Many Monitors Do You Want?

Some people wouldn’t consider having more than one monitor on their home PC, or even at work. It’s a strange concept if you haven’t tried it.

That said, we highly recommend you try it, especially at work. It can allow you to do more and spend less time moving applications around when you are trying to look at your calendar, your email, and your documents at the same time.

Having dual monitors is becoming such a common-place situation that many desktops support it from the get-go. You’ll want to check that your new desktop comes with two or more ports for monitors.

Typically these days, these ports will range from a few options:

VGA/DVI - The older connections that consist of a big plug with several little pins that need to be connected and tightened with screws. If you have older monitors already, they might have this type of connection. You can buy adapters for older monitors to plug them into newer ports, but many desktops, especially budget desktops, often still have at least one VGA port. They are gradually going away though.

HDMI - HDMI is pretty standard these days. This is the type of cable used on the back of your flat screen television. Modern game consoles and Blu-Ray players use it to connect to TVs. 

DisplayPort - Similar to HDMI, this is just another type of cable that can carry video and audio. DisplayPort is gradually becoming the standard, and from a deep technical standpoint there are differences between HDMI and DisplayPort, but if you are simply connecting a monitor to a nearby desktop, you can go with either. 

For budget desktops, just make sure that you have enough ports for the number of monitors you want to connect, and check your monitors to see what kind of cable they have. If your new desktop only has DisplayPort or HDMI, but your monitors are VGA, you’ll need to look for new cables or purchase adapters to plug them in.

Integrated Video Vs. Dedicated Graphics

You’ll likely see these terms when shopping around. Integrated Video is just that; your computer processes video and graphics from hardware that is built on the motherboard. Dedicated graphics means your computer has a dedicated device in it to render video.

Most office PCs don’t need dedicated graphics. Where dedicated graphic cards start coming into play is for video editing and gaming. In fact, this is where things start to get expensive, as high-end graphic cards can cost anywhere from $500 to $1,500. 

Plus, most graphic card chipsets have multiple models, and even get produced by multiple companies with several brands selling their own ‘flavor’ of hardware. Purchasing a graphics card is almost as complex as purchasing the rest of the desktop, when it comes to the number of options you have, and to determine what device will be the best fit for the job at hand.

Fortunately, if you aren’t worried about gaming, 3D rendering, or video editing, you can usually skip the expense, because what comes built into your desktop’s hardware will be adequate. 

Purchasing Monitors With Your Desktop?

There is a near endless number of display options out there, but before we wrap this post up, we wanted to at least cover some of the specs you’ll run into when purchasing a monitor.

Resolution - This is the number of pixels your monitor will display. The last decade has mostly standardized this, as most desktop monitors tend to have a 16:9 display ratio. In plain-English, that means they are wide-screen. There are a lot of more expensive ultra-wide monitors that break this rule, but most of the time you can count on a monitor either being HD, FULL HD, Ultra HD, or 4K.

HD is the low end, and looks okay on very small screens. This resolution tends to also be known as 720, and you typically only see it on budget laptops these days.

FHD is also known as 1080. This is the most common resolution. We recommend at least shooting for this.

UHD or Ultra HD has a pixel resolution of 3840x2160. This might not be supported by low-end desktops without having a dedicated graphics card or at least integrated video that supports higher resolution, especially if you want to have multiple monitors.

4K - 4K is technically a higher resolution than UHD, although depending on the brand of monitor, they will throw this term around to say it is UHD, or they will truly be native 4K resolution. Either way, these displays are much more expensive than what a typical office workstation needs, and really only needed for high-end gaming, video production, graphic design, and other visual tasks. In some cases, budget hardware might not support 4K, although this has been slowly changing over the years.

Refresh Rate - You’ll see this rated in milliseconds. This measures the speed that your monitor will update its image. High refresh rates give the impression that the time between you moving or clicking the mouse and the time it takes for the computer to register the movement is delayed. This used to be a bigger problem with refresh rates existing in the 10-to-20ms range, especially for gaming. Unless this really matters to you, you can almost ignore it. Gamers will tend to want 1-to-5ms.

We hope this guide has been helpful! Need assistance with your IT purchasing? Don’t hesitate to give MSPNetworks a call at (516) 403-9001!

Are you looking to purchase a new desktop for your business (or for home)? We’ve put together this handy guide to help demystify the computer-buying process. This is the first part of five in our series, selecting the right CPU.

First, Determine the Computer’s Role

You can narrow down your search a whole lot just by deciding exactly what you want the desktop for. There are many major differences between a computer suitable for someone in your billing department and for someone who needs to edit video.

For the sake of this article, we’re going to focus a little more on the lower-to-medium end, because as you get into audio/video production or gaming, the roof can be raised to almost no limit.

Remember, You Can Usually Upgrade Down the Road, But...

A desktop computer that is designed for basic office work can usually be upgraded, but don’t expect to take a low-end desktop and upgrade it to a high-end gaming system. Laptops are a whole different story. Some can be upgraded a little, others can’t, but as a rule of thumb, assume you won’t be turning a low-end laptop into a high-performance rig.

Making Sense of the Specifications

When shopping around, you’ll typically see a few components listed on the desktop’s spec sheet. Let’s talk about one of the big specifications to pay attention to, the CPU.

CPU/Processor

The CPU determines, in essence, how much your computer can do at once and how quickly it does it. There are two brands you’ll run into; Intel and AMD.

Intel has tried to simplify this otherwise complicated specification by tiering out their CPUs, the Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, and Core i9. The higher the number, the more powerful the CPU is. AMD is starting to follow a similar path to simplify their naming convention, but both brands make both low-end and high-end CPUs. Let’s look at some of the most common you see today:

Intel Core i3 - This tier is okay for real low-end work. We’re talking editing documents, checking email, and surfing the web. The latest generation of Core i3 processors are strong enough to handle streaming video services like YouTube and Netflix without too much trouble.

Intel Core i5 - The i5 will do what the i3 can do a little faster, and you’ll have no problem streaming a little video, doing some light photo editing, and maybe playing a game or two if it isn’t too taxing on your system. This is a pretty solid choice for the typical office workstation.

Intel Core i7 - This is where the price starts to climb. Core i7 CPUs are geared towards high-end systems for video editing and gaming.

Intel Core i9 - The i9 tier is fairly new, and at this point is pretty overkill for what most people need out of their desktop. If you are building out a computer for 3D animation, rendering, gaming while streaming, scientific calculations, etc., then this might be the way to go, but the price tag for this CPU alone can be several thousands of dollars.

AMD Ryzen 3 - AMD’s low end model is, to simplify things, on par with the Intel Core i3. You’ll be able to edit documents and surf the web, but not a whole lot else without straining the system.

AMD Ryzen 5 - Conveniently enough, the Ryzen 5 is in about the same tier as the Intel Core i5. You’ll pay a little more than the Ryzen 3, and get some more performance out of your desktop. Expect to handle typical office work, stream video, and light photo editing and gaming.

AMD Ryzen 7 - Seeing a pattern? The Ryzen 7 is AMD’s answer to the Intel Core i7. Just like the i7, the cost of the CPU starts to climb pretty significantly compared to the lower-end models.

AMD Threadripper - Here’s where we get into overkill territory for most use. The Threadripper is designed for heavy loads like 3D animation, gaming while broadcasting your stream, and other intense computing that a typical workstation doesn’t tend to experience.

When Does the GHz Matter?
The nice thing about Intel and AMD arranging their CPUs into tiers is that you can almost always ignore the clock speed. When helping non-technical friends and family pick out a computer, I always tell them that the CPU speed, which is measured in gigahertz, is for nerds to care about. The higher the number, the faster the CPU, and the more it costs. Until you get to the point where you are building a server or high-end gaming PC, you can definitely just worry about the tiers instead of the GHz.

Does the Number of Cores Matter?
Cores are the number of processors built within the main processor. Typically, shoot for at least four cores unless you are on a serious budget. For gaming and video editing and higher-end tasks, more cores can start to matter, but even then, most of the time it caps off at eight. There are processors out there with dozens of cores, but typically these are designed for servers or specific situations.

One more tip: Usually, getting last generation’s CPU doesn’t save you much money, and as long as you get something recent you should be good. You don’t need to get bleeding edge or wait for the next line of CPUs to come out either, unless you are really trying to hit the very peak of high-end performance and are willing to spend top dollar to make it happen.

Next time, we’ll demystify other pain points of the desktop buying process! Keep in mind, if you need help purchasing computers for your business, don’t hesitate to reach out to MSPNetworks. You can call and talk to one of our experienced IT professionals at (516) 403-9001.