General > General Technical Chat
Quandary: gotta have a PC at the workbench but what kind of setup is best?
rdl:
You can get a decent quality clamp on monitor mount for way less than $100 and wall mounts are even cheaper.
David Hess:
--- Quote from: SiliconWizard on July 03, 2021, 06:01:47 pm ---
--- Quote from: David Hess on July 03, 2021, 03:42:29 pm ---There are a lot of things to recommend small form factor PCs.
--- End quote ---
Yep. I also gave a few. I wanted to add that the reason they can be cheaper than full desktop computers or laptops was not one of them, for me, and the approach I personally suggested relied on Mini-ITX motherboards, which gives you options for building something pretty powerful already. And yes, passive cooling is pretty nice. But don't expect such a config to be cheap.
--- End quote ---
I do not currently have any but for me the big advantage of a small form factor system would be maintainability compared to a laptop, plus of course a much better selection of features. The keyboards, displays, and limited expandability of modern "stylish" laptops make me want to puke.
peteb2:
So folks just an update... Thanks millions everyone for your much appreciated input. So what did i do.... ? Well... i've just completed a build & installed a fully legal copy of Win 10 Pro onto a "barebones" Gigabyte Brix miniPC. (How very not a real tech for me to use Win eh? I own too much test kit that sadly only boogies on Windose so i'm stuck). I love the smallness of the thing... This exercise would be the most dosh i have ever splashed out on hardware.... I went gangbusters with the RAM at 64GS, a 1TB M.2 for the C-drive and 4TB SSD. Yeah this is the 1st time i have not spent the hours hashing up some old secondhand huge-hours run Watt-monster dunger into a machine at home. Sure my Lab come w/shop has really only seen a Surface Pro 3 & all the silly junk hanging off it for dual screen etc which all now lies in an old cardboard box looking for a new home once i transfer the stuff on its SSD i need off it.... I know i have gone the wrong path to some extent but past experiences has seen me just pile up the data sheets by the 10s of thousands & the service manuals publications & of course the designers' papers on 100s of subjects etc... it goes as messy as the bench gets at times. So i'll pull the data on the Surface across soon but seriously my final question, what oh so important 'bestist' electronics S/W should i now put on this thing.... I'm even stalled at Browser choice because my old fave Firefox has become a bloated nightmare... As always any advice truly appreciated... :popcorn:
tautech:
Pete I have some SW goodies here if you want to drop by with a reasonable size USB stick.
AaronLee:
--- Quote from: peteb2 on July 29, 2021, 04:48:22 am ---So folks just an update... Thanks millions everyone for your much appreciated input. So what did i do.... ? Well... i've just completed a build & installed a fully legal copy of Win 10 Pro onto a "barebones" Gigabyte Brix miniPC. (How very not a real tech for me to use Win eh? I own too much test kit that sadly only boogies on Windose so i'm stuck). I love the smallness of the thing... This exercise would be the most dosh i have ever splashed out on hardware.... I went gangbusters with the RAM at 64GS, a 1TB M.2 for the C-drive and 4TB SSD. Yeah this is the 1st time i have not spent the hours hashing up some old secondhand huge-hours run Watt-monster dunger into a machine at home. Sure my Lab come w/shop has really only seen a Surface Pro 3 & all the silly junk hanging off it for dual screen etc which all now lies in an old cardboard box looking for a new home once i transfer the stuff on its SSD i need off it.... I know i have gone the wrong path to some extent but past experiences has seen me just pile up the data sheets by the 10s of thousands & the service manuals publications & of course the designers' papers on 100s of subjects etc... it goes as messy as the bench gets at times. So i'll pull the data on the Surface across soon but seriously my final question, what oh so important 'bestist' electronics S/W should i now put on this thing.... I'm even stalled at Browser choice because my old fave Firefox has become a bloated nightmare... As always any advice truly appreciated... :popcorn:
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Hope it works out well for you. Years ago I went with a small form factor (NUC, etc.) PC, and have never looked back. I've bought at least 10 of them over the years. I love how it takes up so little space on my desk/workbench and is easily accessible (I'm bound to be plugging things in and out of it at least on a daily basis) and I can easily take it with me wherever I go and just find an HDMI monitor, keyboard, mouse and I'm good to go. Taking my work home at night is as simple as slipping the PC into my bag. Laptops have never been adequate for me, with a small screen, fixed crappy keyboard, and annoying touchpad.
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