High-end desktop Windows PC

[Platypus]

Surface 3 i7

Didn't you see the "high end" requirement?

[Platypus]

A high-end PC would normally include a fancy graphics card and unless you're a gamer or into GPGPU/CUDA/etc you won't need that. A bog-standard i7 with a big SSD and 16-32Gb RAM would be night and day to any pre-SSD PC.

Nice dual monitors are awesome but they are separate to the PC in my book, i.e. you refresh your PC and monitors in different cycles.

I'm not sure I fully agree. I now run 3 monitors driven from a pair of high(ish) end Nvidea cards. The cards are large and need a case large enough to accommodate them and a PSU with enough umph to drive them, so the gaming case I have allows for that. So in retrospect, I'm glad that I went for an "over the top" spec as it's allowed me to grow the system through the additional of 3 additional HDDs and the additional video card since purchase.

I'm no expert, just speaking from experience.

[d000hg]

Didn't you see the "high end" requirement?

You might be surprised, though it's hardly the most cost-effective route

I'm not sure I fully agree. I now run 3 monitors driven from a pair of high(ish) end Nvidea cards. The cards are large and need a case large enough to accommodate them and a PSU with enough umph to drive them, so the gaming case I have allows for that. So in retrospect, I'm glad that I went for an "over the top" spec as it's allowed me to grow the system through the additional of 3 additional HDDs and the additional video card since purchase.

I'm no expert, just speaking from experience.

Well yes, but do you need a pair of high-ish end graphics cards just to drive 3 monitors? I doubt it, can't you normally buy previous-gen chipsets repackaged in a low-power, low-profile card as the technology moves on? What used to need a mains-power fan will probably be in the next iPad

[woohoo]

Unless you're doing something fairly unusual, you don't need a high-end PC, especially if a PC that pre-dates USB2 has been good enough (I doubt this, are you sure?) Even cheap PCs are very powerful indeed now and I'd be focusing on SSD and a nice chunk of RAM, not that RAM is pricey either.

Well it's a contractor forum with lots of IT people around so I guess it's not that unusual for technical people to want a high end PC. A fast processor with multiple cores is important to me, should help with build times as I can assign more cores to the build. A fast SSD will make a major improvement for me also. Running VM's needs a fair bit of memory and if you running multiple monitors helps to have a good card. Especially with 4/5k monitors becoming more affordable.

I guess if you want to run the odd game on it also helps if it's a decent spec

[d000hg]

Most contractors here work on site...

[woohoo]

Most contractors here work on site...

Going out on a limb thinking that I'm not unusual in studying or working in the evening. I quite like the Surface wish I bought it rather than the Lenovo Helix, it struggles to power 3 monitors, can do it but if you watch netflix brings the system to a halt.

[unixman]

Not your requirement but a year ago I researched and bought a fairly high end laptop. I found that for all the bells and whistles, together with the oomph, you have to lean towards "gaming" hardware, as platypus mentioned. Even though I don't play games.

The laptop has 1920x1080 panel and I use it with 2 external monitors at similar resolution. 16 Gb RAM/1 TB disk, quad core i7 Haswell. About £730 at saveonlaptops.

9S7-16GD11-1408, MSI CX61 2PF-1408UK, 3203713416 - Save on Laptops

One thing I regret is not getting an SSD, but on the upside the disk is 7.2K, rather than the 5.5K usually found in domestic kit. Also I would have liked displayport for running more external monitors.

Runs Linux Mint 17 like a boss.

[minestrone]

Going out on a limb thinking that I'm not unusual in studying or working in the evening. I quite like the Surface wish I bought it rather than the Lenovo Helix, it struggles to power 3 monitors, can do it but if you watch netflix brings the system to a halt.

The surface 3 really looks like a monster of a machine especially if you go to the top end of the price range.

As much as I love my Samsung new series 9 which is a great laptop with a boot up of 5 seconds, I want a surface 3.

[Unix]

Get a MacBook Pro top spec 15 ince, it's as powerful as any PC you can build, retina display and you can run Windows using Parallels or Bootcamp. You can also hook up displays.

It's the best computing device ever, anyone that disagrees with that is clueless.

[woohoo]

Get a MacBook Pro top spec 15 ince, it's as powerful as any PC you can build, retina display and you can run Windows using Parallels or Bootcamp. You can also hook up displays.

It's the best computing device ever, anyone that disagrees with that is clueless.

This isnt general, stop it with the idiotic posts.