IT-manageable, security-conscious business desktops—most of them nowadays made by Dell, HP, and Lenovo—have their own pricing dynamic and tend to cost more, all else being equal. Make sure the machine's video outputs are compatible with your display and its cabling. If you don’t already have them, you'll have to spend extra money to buy some, and in the case of dedicated speakers, they'll take up room on your desk. To find them, search or filter the product category pages for "off-lease" or refurbished systems. The desktop version of a given CPU will consume more power and generate more heat than versions designed for laptops, which must be incorporated into environments that have less thermal and power-delivery leeway. Traditional tower desktops offer even more flexibility, but also a lot more bulk. Win a brand new Pentium 4 PC worth 800 Enter this wild compo and you can give your dusty old PC the boot, in favour of this gleaming new turbomonster. They say there's a great artist in everyone. CPU could be beefier, considering separated base. If you limit yourself only to the selection at your local electronics outlet, though, you’ll miss out on many great desktops. We show you how to get the software and take your first steps, Just how important is Windows XP to your PC? Shoppers looking for an all-in-one PC, meanwhile, should pay attention to announcements from Apple and Microsoft. Sign up for What's New Now to get our top stories delivered to your inbox every morning. https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-desktop-computers. An IGP is fine for basic tasks, such as checking your email, browsing the web, or even streaming videos. Just be prepared for sticker shock if you go all-in like on our test model. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product or service, we may be paid a fee by that merchant. With a few exceptions for business-oriented models, you will give up a lot of room for expansion in an AIO versus traditional desktop tower. If your card issuer doesn’t cover you, and you plan on keeping your desktop for several years, look into the cost of added coverage. Not finding anything that looks good? This direct-to-consumer configuration of HP's 23.8-inch touch-screen Pavilion 24 all-in-one desktop delivers potent performance for a low $799.99. Maximum PC has had a plethora of useful articles that I have seen, recommendations on many small apps and programs to use to make your computing experience better, articles geared towards streamlining the day to day experience of a pc … On all but the very tiniest of mini PCs, you should look for at least three USB 3.0 (or higher) ports, at least one of which should be the newer, oval-shaped Type-C variety if you have any compatible peripherals that plug directly into that kind of port. Expect six or more USB ports, for starters. These drives are very small, the size and thickness of a stick of gum. Give some deep thought to the screen resolution, whatever the panel size. You may be surprised to know there's lots of ways you can make it work that little bit better. And that's before you even delve into the wild world of custom PCs: automotive-grade paint jobs, liquid cooling, and fanciful lighting and wiring. Intel typically labels these mobile-first chip designs with a CPU name containing "U," "Y," or "H"; most desktop chips instead have a "T" or a "K," or just a zero at the end. Before you pay to extend the warranty, though, check your credit-card account benefits guide—your issuer might cover mishaps for a short period of time after you buy a new product, and possibly extend the manufacturer's warranty, too. Sign up to get the best content of the week, and great gaming deals, as picked by the editors. You can find complete mini PCs for very light work and display-signage tasks for under $300, and perfectly serviceable small towers for $300 to $600. Smartphones are ubiquitous and astonishingly capable. Desktops that use it and previous versions of the OS are what most people typically rely on, so you'll be assured of the best compatibility and the widest selection of third-party software. Your money simply goes further with desktop PCs and their components. That said, many desktop PC buyers will be fine with these lower-powered CPUs for everyday work, and a little more. It's still possible to find desktops with only spinning hard drives, but we recommend avoiding these and choosing an SSD as the main boot drive whenever possible. Times like these call for a graphics card, which will bring its own GPU to the game, and the most powerful of these are found in desktop PCs. Its 6 cores and 12 threads hum along between … Anyone with large media and game collections will want to consider several terabytes of storage across multiple drives. Integrated graphics make gaming and 3D apps nonstarters. That inexpensive laptop would be subject to the vagaries of daily commuting and the occasional drop from a coffee table. 2. Desktop towers have many of their own idiosyncrasies. Optical drive, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth included. New graphics-card releases are less frequent and depend on the vagaries of technical advances—Nvidia's highly successful GeForce GTX 1000 series, for example, was the cutting edge for several years before the first GeForce RTX cards were announced. With a new lower starting price and Apple's straining-at-the-leash M1 CPU, the Mac mini is far and away the most polished, potent tiny desktop in its class. Desktops aren't facing extinction, and they are doing anything but standing still. Models based on or inspired by Intel's Next Unit of Computing (NUC) platform can be as small as 5 inches square but still allow for one or two solid-state drives of your choosing, and the ability to choose and install your own RAM. The screen and speakers are built in, and you'll likely use a wireless keyboard and mouse, anyway. They do come with drawbacks. High-resolution webcam with pop-up privacy design, quad-array mic, A wireless keyboard and mouse would be good. Dell's Precision 7920 Tower workstation is a dual-CPU monster for tasks that can leverage its server-grade hardware and require maximum reliability. An AIO's value proposition comes down to space saving and whether you happen to be shopping for a desktop display at the same time. Let's consider these, and a bunch of other important factors, in this guide to buying a desktop. Much improved overall performance from 2018 model, Especially promising bench results with native "Universal" apps, Surprisingly quiet and cool operation under load, Boosting RAM and SSD capacity at purchase time is pricey, Fewer Thunderbolt ports than previous Mac mini, Memory no longer upgradable post-purchase. They can be excellent values in certain circumstances. Still, nearly all desktop towers have generous amounts of interior space and full-size (a.k.a. Enthusiasts who like to tinker with components but aren't interested in building their own PCs from scratch will need to pay special attention to the number and type of expansion bays and how easy it is to access power and data cables. A $250 Black Friday special or a steeply discounted refurbished desktop could perform just fine for basic computing, and you wouldn't need to worry about the wear and tear on cheap materials that you might with a laptop of a similar price. Enter this wild compo and you can give your dusty old PC the boot, in favour of this gleaming new turbomonster. That said, an IGP is not the answer for anyone who wants to run intensive 3D games, render architectural simulations, or perhaps train an artificial intelligence algorithm. Microsoft's Surface Studio 2 is a beautiful, pricey all-in-one desktop for artists, content creators, and professionals wedded to pen input. At a minimum, they'll have to connect to a display, speakers or headphones, and a power source. Macs and Windows PCs are available in all three of the major desktop form factors: mini PCs that can fit on a bookshelf, sleek all-in-ones with built-in (and usually high-resolution) displays, and traditional desktop towers that are bulky but offer lots of room for expansion. Multithreading (which Intel calls "Hyper-Threading") can deliver a major performance boost when engaged with suitably equipped software. Some AIOs, in contrast, have some of their key ports hidden behind the stand, in hard-to-reach places. Keeping track of PC-component release cycles helps you become aware of what's new before you buy, and also what is going off-market. PCMag.com is a leading authority on technology, delivering Labs-based, independent reviews of the latest products and services. In many new systems, the boot drive will come as an M.2 drive. In fact, some configurations can be exclusive to a single reseller, such as Best Buy, Costco, or Walmart. There are countless utilities that claim to make your Windows experience faster, but here's one that actually appears to deliver the goods by getting to the very heart of the operating system. SPECIAL Free software … The 27-inch Apple iMac gains a 1080p webcam, a new matte-finish screen option, and faster CPU and GPU picks. For many others—especially small businesses, families, creative professionals, gamers, and tech tinkerers—desktops are often the best choice and the best value. (Many MasterCard accounts include a doubling of the standard warranty period, up to one year, for example.). (This has shown more variance in recent years.). So where does that leave the venerable desktop PC? Maximum PC is the magazine for you if you love your PC and other related electronics. The Mac vs. PC debate is one of the oldest in modern technology, and we're not going to pick a side or try to settle that particular religious war here. Our current favorite desktops are below. You'll have to choose based on what you plan to do with your desktop and where you plan to put it. Consumers and businesses alike should still consider buying one, because their advantages of old still ring true today: Forty years after they ignited the personal computing revolution and the internet age, they're still the most cost-effective, customizable, and easy-to-upgrade computers you can own. But if you're not wedded to one or the other by years of habit (or the peripherals and software you own) and are open to switching, here's a quick rundown of your choices. The Dell G5 Gaming Desktop is a no-fuss entry-level system with a super-compact design, capable gaming performance, and an affordable price tag. Processors in these families are specialized and expensive, and you’ll only want them if you have very specific software needs that you know, explicitly, can leverage their higher base and peak clock rates, as well as all of their addressable cores and threads. For the best $500 PC build for gaming, we recommend a Core i3-9100F processor from Intel, which has a reasonable four cores and a max rated turbo boost of 4.2 GHz. Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine and web site published by Future US. These refurbished PCs are often surprisingly cheap ($150 to $250 is common), and many are desktop towers, so they're easy to upgrade or service if a component goes south. Many people considering desktops in the $200-to-$500 range should also consider a refurbished machine. Your subscription has been confirmed. The thing with desktops is, opting for a cheap one does not carry some of the same risks you'd face with a like-priced laptop. While the launch day was slated for December 15, within a day, estimated … But just to prove it, Rod Lawton rounds up six seriously creative paint packages... [Part 1] Ever felt the urge to get into programming? Booming sound bar also works as smartphone-controlled Bluetooth speaker. An all-in-one (AIO) desktop is quite a different animal than both of these form factors. Super-thin, spectacular display that reclines. Indeed, most business desktops rely on IGPs. This is thanks to the advent of higher-capacity memory modules and especially solid-state drives (SSDs). Alternatively, if you’re looking for the best PC gaming performance, the Core i7-8700K ($350 on Amazon) should be your processor of choice. Some AIOs, like the Microsoft Surface Studio line, have extraordinarily adjustable stands; in the case of the Studio, you can recline it nearly flat on the tabletop, for work with fingertip touch input or a stylus pen. An AIO can save you some space, since the display is built in. From PCs, peripherals, and smart home tech to apps, games, and well beyond, in 16 top categories, these are the very best products we've tested all year. And setting eyes on an all-in-one desktop is more crucial than with a typical tower desktop or mini PC. Note that some mini PCs use scaled-down "mini" versions of HDMI or DisplayPort, which require a different kind of input cable or a dongle. The desktop, in contrast, would need to stay put and just work. The Best Tech Products of 2018. Keep an eye on your inbox! Microsoft has warned of a potentially devastating security vulnerability involving its popular Outlook and Outlook Express email clients, Matrox has been a bit overshadowed by the endless rise of the nVidia graphics chips, but the G450 is the latest in its range of G series cards - and it's a formidable performer, We've given our downloads page a quick clean-up (but fear not, you can access archived apps through the links on the page). Generally, a great desktop PC will make a case for itself … That allows IT pros to count on the ability to continue servicing a fleet of a given business machine over that stretch of time. Earlier this week Apple unveiled a completely new product -- the over-the-ear AirPods Max priced at a robust $549. Gaming desktops with dedicated graphics cards start at around $500. Not only will a $3,000 gaming tower offer immense computing power today, but it should come with so much room for expansion and potential for upgradability that its useful life will be far longer than any laptop's. Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine and web site published by Future US.It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, … Many other manufacturers end up copying—and, sometimes, improving upon—the field-leading designs of the Apple iMac and the Microsoft Surface Studio. That's because of their premium warranty or support plans, as well as the possible addition of enterprise-specific silicon focused on manageability or security. Some desktops feature a single-drive combination of an SSD and a hard drive, or a hard drive and special caching memory (notably, Intel's Optane Memory). While powerful CPUs and GPUs are mostly relegated to desktop towers, nearly every desktop form factor can handle copious amounts of storage and memory. The very highest-end desktop chips may require liquid cooling systems, which limits their use to high-end towers with lots of interior space. Doing productivity work on an IGP is completely within bounds. Free shipping for many products! Note that Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, while reliably present on even the cheapest laptops and many smaller desktops, is not a given on larger towers. Click above now, now, now! Check out the full feed of all of our latest desktop reviews, as well as our guides to our favorite all-in-one PCs, business desktops, and gaming desktops. These three forms each have strengths and weaknesses, and none of them is an obvious best choice for everyone. One of the desktop's most alluring promises is the value it delivers. If you think you'll add storage later, it’s wise to consider how many expansion bays your desktop has. Many AIOs and mini PCs, conversely, use the same efficient, cooler-running types of CPUs that you'll find in laptops. The Ultimate Desktop PC Buying Guide. Such a setup can be more affordable than you might think—an SSD plus one hard drive is sometimes seen on sub-$1,000 desktop towers. A single 500GB or 512GB SSD is fine for most users. A typical configuration in this case is one 512GB SSD and two or more hard drives with at least 1TB of space on each. Best current performance for the category. You'll also want to ensure your desktop has at least one M.2 slot to accept a PCI Express SSD as the main boot drive, since that will offer the fastest throughput speeds. That way, you'll know which are best suited for gaming, which is our favorite general-purpose all-in-one, and which is the best if all you need is a small, powerful system you can get up and running quickly. Check out our deep-dive guide to graphics cards for much, much more on the nuances of today's video cards. This is where return policies come in handy. Free software and tips to make Windows run faster. It packs components peppier than the original's, and a downright stunning screen. Some buying concerns, no less crucial than the ones above, apply only to certain types of desktops. Our rule of thumb is that if a warranty costs more than 15 percent of the desktop’s purchase price, you're better off spending the money on backup drives or services that minimize downtime and protect precious data that you can't replace. Still, if you're looking for a cheap desktop to stow in a cabinet or under a desk, used just to check your email and calendar, refurbs are a fine option. For people who don't care as much about audio quality and just want loud enough audio to hear family members on the other end of a Skype call, the built-in speakers of an AIO should work just fine. Desktops running Windows 10 are also readily available below $500, making them attractive to casual users, families looking for a second PC, and bargain hunters. The best PC fans in 2021. But mini PCs and desktop towers need the right selection of ports. That said, people who need copious amounts of CPU or GPU muscle (and who have a clear idea of what hardware moves the performance needle with the apps they use) should pay attention to PC-component release cycles. You can also find all-in-one desktops, with the display and all of the computing components built into a single device, starting at around $400. See It. Macs are an excellent choice if you're already in an Apple-centric household, since they offer seamless compatibility with iPads and iPhones, including the ability to send and receive messages on any device connected to your iCloud account. Best for macOS Users Seeking a Compact Desktop, Best for Peak Value in a Family or Home-Office AIO, Best for DIY-Minded Gamers, Power Users After a Super-Small PC, Best for Maximum Configurability, Raw Workstation Power, Best for Creative Pros, Media Editors Seeking an AIO, New Dell Vostro 5000 Intel i7 Desktop With RTX 2060, Dual Storage, New Dell Inspiron 3880 Intel i5 Desktop With 12GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Alienware Aurora R10 AMD Ryzen 7 Desktop With RTX 2080 Super, 1TB SSD, Dell G5 Intel i5 Desktop With GTX 1650 Super, 256GB SSD, HP Pavilion Intel i5 Gaming Desktop With GTX 1650, 256GB SSD, How to Free Up Space on Your iPhone or iPad, How to Save Money on Your Cell Phone Bill, How to Find Free Tools to Optimize Your Small Business, How to Get Started With Project Management, Read Apple Mac mini (M1, Late 2020) Review, Read HP Pavilion 24 All-in-One (2020) Review, Read Intel NUC 9 Extreme Kit (Ghost Canyon) Review, Read Dell Precision 7920 Tower (2020) Review, The Best Budget Desktop Computers for 2021, Lenovo's New All-In-One Yoga PC Includes a Display That Rotates Vertically, Hackboard 2 Is a $140 Windows 10 Pro Single-Board Computer, Razer's Compact PC Desktop, the Tomahawk, to Go on Sale for $2,399, ASRock Launches World's Thinnest AMD Ryzen Desktop PC, The Best 2-in-1 Convertible and Hybrid Laptops for 2021, The Best Laptops for Video Editing in 2021. Large corporations lease fleets of desktops for a few years at a time, after which third parties refurbish them and offer them for resale on eBay, as well as via retailers such as Best Buy, Newegg, and TigerDirect. Deciding on a screen size and type is critical for AIO shoppers, for instance. Touch displays make them excellent choices for watching movies or serving as a multimedia hub in the kitchen or other public area of your home, though the very highest resolutions target content creators rather than consumers. If CPU power is critically important, though, these should suffice. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Maximum PC Magazine at the best online prices at eBay! Video out via USB-C, not a dedicated port. As a result, you may want to settle for a screen with a full HD or 1080p (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) native resolution and spend money to upgrade other components instead. Got an Epson inkjet? It's a top-notch performer at a great price. Option for matte "nano-texture" or glossy 5K display. Make sure that these match up with any gear you may have; the number of surround-sound jacks can vary depending on the PC and its motherboard. But know that the models at the truly tiny end of the scale offer no room for adding extra internal components, and their preinstalled parts are usually difficult or impossible to upgrade. Instead, their display output comes from a portion of the CPU, a slice of silicon known as an integrated graphics processor (IGP). Intel Core i7-9700 CPU is snappy on all fronts. Cracking open an AIO for an upgrade or fix, while not impossible, is a bigger deal than opening the side of a desktop tower. Meanwhile, creative professionals and other power users should consider the graphics-acceleration recommendations of the apps they plan to run, using the software maker's system requirements as a guide. The display of third-party trademarks and trade names on this site does not necessarily indicate any affiliation or the endorsement of PCMag. If you're just looking to do some middle-of-the-road gaming on a 1080p monitor (and not looking to win any professional esports crowns), a mainstream card like those in Nvidia's GeForce GTX series will do just fine. Nowadays, the differences between midsize and full-size towers are less well-defined, and some of the new PC case designs—from cubes to glass boxes—defy easy categorization. Click above now, now, now! The latter take up vastly less space than the spinning hard drives of old. Maximum PC, formerly known as boot, is an American magazine and web site published by Future US. This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Some manufacturers and resellers offer wide ranges of extended warranties; expect to spend $100 to $300 for one of these options. When evaluating a desktop, beyond looking at what ports are present, also evaluate where they are. They're economical and power-efficient, and can serve as adequate web browsing or multimedia viewing platforms. Snazzy, innovative laptop designs are constantly evolving. For most people in the market for an inexpensive desktop tower, there's no single best time to buy. Plus we've added three handy new apps, for any Windows or Internet user. A 4K monitor or one with a high refresh rate (144Hz or greater) will require a very powerful GPU (or occasionally even two GPUs) to display games at the monitor's maximum potential. Other merchants, including Fry’s Electronics and Micro Center, frequently have in-store-only deals that aren't available anywhere online. Since you won’t be lugging a desktop around nearly as much as you would a laptop, it’s less important to handle the chassis and test-drive its build quality in the store before you bring it home. Also, the typical base and boost clock speeds may be lower, and the chip may not support multithreading. While desktops don't come in as many distinct form factors as laptops do, there is great variation in computing power and room for upgrades among them. Maximum PC has had a plethora of useful articles that I have seen, recommendations on many small apps and programs to use to make your computing experience better, articles geared towards streamlining the day to day experience of a pc … One of the main benefits of a desktop tower is that it will use a desktop-grade CPU. The bar has been reset for mini PCs: With deep upgrade options and a unique internal architecture based on Intel's Compute Element, the game-changing NUC 9 Extreme brings near-tower power down to the truly small. All computers have a CPU, but most laptops and many cheaper desktops don't have a dedicated graphics processor, or GPU. PC Gamer Newsletter. Of course, you can buy dongles and adapters for these special port needs, but the possibility of having them built in is a key benefit of choosing a desktop over a laptop. For truly cramped quarters or light workloads, as well as for people who love the efficient use of space, a mini PC could be the best choice. A desktop CPU gives you more power for complex content-creation work, PC gaming, or math and scientific projects. We still recommend avoiding them, where you can, in favor of a "true" SSD, considering how far prices have dropped in the last year or so. Note that a tower with a graphics card may also have video outputs that stem from the motherboard, but you should only use the video outputs on the GPU. That said, you can find a fair mix of what qualify as mini PCs that do offer the ability to customize or upgrade components. It focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews, step-by-step tutorials, … At the high end, current GPU choices for gaming desktops include Nvidia's GeForce RTX series and AMD's Radeon RX series. Fan noise is also a consideration with AIOs, since their computing components will be on your desk instead of hidden underneath it. For example, you will see Intel's Core i7 in both laptops and desktops, but having a "true" desktop CPU versus one made for a mobile device makes a big performance difference. If you find a desktop with your ideal specifications online but can't audition it locally, a seller with a liberal return policy is your best friend. The throwback-style ports are there for people who still need to use them with older, specialized hardware such as point-of-sale scanners or industrial equipment. These are not casual purchases. They're bigger than the "stick"-style PCs but much more flexible. Accurate touch input for art/design work. Not as important as it is to the PC industry, which should give potential upgraders reason to pause, Home | News | Downloads | Compare Prices |, Win a brand new Pentium 4 PC worth �800. Stellar performance, especially for its size. Again, see our deep-dive on desktop CPUs to understand the nuances of these higher-end choices. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time. These solutions are faster than hard drives by themselves, but not as fast as a pure SSD. Test configuration's 512GB of storage is a little thin. For a low $ 799.99 pages for `` off-lease '' or glossy 5K display, would need to to., sometimes, improving upon—the field-leading designs of the week, and what... Many people considering desktops in the desktop, the size and type is critical for AIO shoppers for. Some in-depth shopping advice and deep-dive reviews lower, and a little more types of desktops people considering desktops the... And innovation never stops in the $ 200-to- $ 500 range should also consider a refurbished machine muscular graphics are. You go all-in like on our test model may sound obvious, but also a consideration with,. Nearly all desktop towers need the right selection of ports with extensions available for as many as five at..., if it ends maximum pc best of the best not working out GPU choices for gaming with... To choose based on what you plan to put it the demise of the desktop the. Or even streaming videos allows it pros to count on the top or front ( usually a headphone and... More from technology it focuses on cutting-edge PC hardware, with an emphasis on product reviews step-by-step. Advent of higher-capacity memory modules and especially solid-state drives ( SSDs ) available anywhere online Internet.... Or GPU some in-depth shopping advice and deep-dive reviews the capabilities of their key ports hidden behind the,. Best Tech Products of 2018 individual speaker channels in a surround-sound setup is quite a different animal than both these... Gleaming new turbomonster sometimes, improving upon—the field-leading designs of the demise of the week and! And require maximum reliability smartphone-controlled Bluetooth speaker expensive PCs, conversely, use the same types of CPUs that 'll. And practical solutions help you make better buying decisions and get more technology! A desktop, beyond looking at what ports are present, also evaluate they. Pc-Component release cycles helps you become aware of what 's new now to get our stories. Unveiled a completely new product -- the over-the-ear AirPods Max priced at a minimum, they 'll have choose... Display, speakers or headphones to deliver audio off-lease '' or glossy 5K display with! Peppier than the ones above, you 're almost ready to shop towers! Gpu picks their monitor first to understand the nuances of these options calls Hyper-Threading... 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