What do you think of this spec for my new pc?

[Bwana]

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[d000hg]

For your usage, a dedicated sound card is totally unnecessary and I'd strongly argue even a dedicated graphics card isn't needed. Firstly, you don't list playing games and secondly, the newest integrated graphics chipsets in modern Intel CPUs are leaps and bounds beyond the previous generation.

I would personally be tempted by SSD/Hybrid drive and an i7, and consider dropping to 8Gb RAM if I had to compromise on price to achieve that, but the SSD would by a LONG way make a bigger difference than i5 Vs i7 or 8Gb vs 16Gb.

[VectraMan]

The Acronis software I have works well for things like system restore. It's just a bit rubbish when it comes to actually scheduling backups.

Are you sure you want a desktop? You can always plug keyboard, monitor and mouse into a laptop and use it as such.

[SimonMac]

5) I would like to have the ability to wipe the hard drive and re-install the OS, in case the machine gets screwed up. I don't know whether they supply a bootable CD/DVD with the Windows7 install set for this purpose, but the Acronis hidden partition option sounds like it would suit my purpose. Has anyone used this?.

I would think about running Virtual Machines for any actual work, that way you can build a clean image and just reuse it each time you start a new project. I would recommend VirtualBox for the host

[Sysman]

I would think about running Virtual Machines for any actual work, that way you can build a clean image and just reuse it each time you start a new project. I would recommend VirtualBox for the host

Seconded. And in that case the more RAM the merrier. I'd stick with the 16GB config rather than try to save a bit there.

[vetran]

SSD if you don't have it already will really make you smile.

Go for a system drive = SSD 120GB + (for windows 7, you can run on less but its not good) and a standard data drive if you need lots of storage.

i5 will run this years development tools, you may regret with VS2018.

why not a laptop? Its much more convenient if a little pricier.

[Bwana]

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[Sysman]

This machine is really a stop-gap, to hopefully help me avoid Windows8 and leap straight from Windows7 to whatever the next version is (Windows9?), assuming that it turns out to be a good one.

Windows 8.1isn't that bad once you set it to start in desktop mode.

You can change the file associations so they point to the desktop style apps instead of the TIFKAM apps as well.

Disclaimer: I don't use Windows much at the moment so haven't really thrashed 8.1.

[d000hg]

As I said, neither an i7 nor 16Gb will give as much benefit as even a small SSD. You can get these pretty cheaply and in terms of bang per buck this WILL make more difference.

SSDs are not about booting faster. They're about making all your programs load and run faster, especially those reading/writing lots of files.

[Ticktock]

As I said, neither an i7 nor 16Gb will give as much benefit as even a small SSD. You can get these pretty cheaply and in terms of bang per buck this WILL make more difference.

SSDs are not about booting faster. They're about making all your programs load and run faster, especially those reading/writing lots of files.

And getting cheaper and cheaper. I just bought a decent 480GB SSD for my wife's birthday (I know, I spoil her) for £150.