Recommendations for New Windows PC

[suelaine]

Hello. My PC is about 4 years old and I probably should continue with it a few more years since it is actually meeting my needs. I have typically bought a new PC every 3 or 4 years and so that is why I am looking. I would probably want to keep my cost under $1500.

I don't really want to look up all the specs but will say my current PC has the Intel i7 processor that was available at the time and it is a gaming PC with an NVIDIA graphics card and 16GB ram, and a built in Blu Ray burner. I use Davinci Resolve for editing and have some 4K video but usually export/ save it in 1080p and then put it on Blu Rays or DVDs as the final destination. I don't need nor want to invest in a high end professional video editing machine as I'm just a hobbyist, but I like to have fun and do work that I'm proud of that my friends and family will enjoy. So I looked at some of the latest gaming PCs from CyberPower and HP, etc, and now none of them come with Optical drives or have a space in the case for one. I guess I'm just curious as I know many of us here MUST still be putting our products on DVDs and/or Blu Rays. If the PCs don't come equipped for that, what do you do? I guess the answer is to buy an external usb Blu Ray burner as I do see they are available. But I was just wondering if anybody else is looking for, or has recently purchased, and what you chose in similar circumstances to mine. I should say I also use my PC for work and every thing else, I teach online, so for that it needs to be able to do regular and basic PC stuff as well as video editing capability. (I really don't play video games on it but sometimes my grandkids do; that is not what I really care about for capabilities).

[usually_quiet]

Hello. My PC is about 4 years old and I probably should continue with it a few more years since it is actually meeting my needs. I have typically bought a new PC every 3 or 4 years and so that is why I am looking. I would probably want to keep my cost under $1500.

I don't really want to look up all the specs but will say my current PC has the Intel i7 processor that was available at the time and it is a gaming PC with an NVIDIA graphics card and 16GB ram, and a built in Blu Ray burner. I use Davinci Resolve for editing and have some 4K video but usually export/ save it in 1080p and then put it on Blu Rays or DVDs as the final destination. I don't need nor want to invest in a high end professional video editing machine as I'm just a hobbyist, but I like to have fun and do work that I'm proud of that my friends and family will enjoy. So I looked at some of the latest gaming PCs from CyberPower and HP, etc, and now none of them come with Optical drives or have a space in the case for one. I guess I'm just curious as I know many of us here MUST still be putting our products on DVDs and/or Blu Rays. If the PCs don't come equipped for that, what do you do? I guess the answer is to buy an external usb Blu Ray burner as I do see they are available. But I was just wondering if anybody else is looking for, or has recently purchased, and what you chose in similar circumstances to mine. I should say I also use my PC for work and every thing else, I teach online, so for that it needs to be able to do regular and basic PC stuff as well as video editing capability. (I really don't play video games on it but sometimes my grandkids do; that is not what I really care about for capabilities).

HP and Dell still make some models with a slim DVD drive, which could be a DVD ROM drive. I'm not sure if Blu-ray burners are available as an option.

Unfortunately, slim drives are not a good choice for heavy use. If you prefer to buy a stock gaming PC without a USB drive, there are full-height external USB DVD and Blu-ray drives in an enclosure, and OWC sells USB enclosures that you can use with your own choice of drive.

If you want a full-height Blu-ray drive in the PC case, I think you will have to build your own or have one custom-built. I have built my own desktop PCs since 2009. I won't say it's truly easy but if someone is not intimidated by the idea of doing that, they will probably succeed. VideoHelp has a fair number of people who build their own desktop PCs, so you will get some good suggestions about what components to buy if you want to go that route.

[Swedaniel]

Maybe if you build one and select parts for it yourself it will be much better suited for your needs! im not sure if 'Dell' still offers it but back 20 years ago it was possible to select an pc version and customize all the specific parts and select better and more expensive parts and allso downgrade an part to get cheaper price... all avalible options that came up was compitable with this specific setup, and selecting an new part displayed the new price directly on their website.. Ellse maybebetter to build one from selecting loose parts yourself to get better price, better performance and better composition based on your own needs! Some loose parts come with warranty for 10 years and stuff!

[suelaine]

I probably won't build one myself; looking at the customizable sites is what got me here as it seems none of them I looked at even offered a case that would house an internal optical drive. But I have time to keep looking and won't count out building one myself. Usually_quiet, I looked at what OWC offers and when I decide to take the plunge to get a new PC, I may add an enclosure and order the blu ray burner to go in it. Do you know if these enclosures need separate electric power, or do they run completely off the USB connection? (as I know the external slim drives do run from just the USB connection).

[usually_quiet]

The description on the page at OWC's website says it has external power with a US wall plug as well as a USB 3.0 port. One thing, Pioneer drives are a little longer than the standard 5.25-inch optical drive and won't fit in the current version of these enclosures.

[Alwyn]

I recently replaced my computer because the old one's performance with my new video needs wasn't good enough. The old one was 12 years old.

If yours is meeting your needs now, why upgrade? Computers will, relatively, last forever; "Every 3-4 years" I think is misguided if the current machine is performing as you like.

[Swedaniel]

I probably won't build one myself; looking at the customizable sites is what got me here as it seems none of them I looked at even offered a case that would house an internal optical drive. But I have time to keep looking and won't count out building one myself. Usually_quiet, I looked at what OWC offers and when I decide to take the plunge to get a new PC, I may add an enclosure and order the blu ray burner to go in it. Do you know if these enclosures need separate electric power, or do they run completely off the USB connection? (as I know the external slim drives do run from just the USB connection).

Hi i dont know what enclosures means but im guessing it is an external version.. and yeah some external versions run entirely on the usb port+cable electric power (probably an slim version, and possibly with some sort of hardware limits due to limited amount of power coming from an usb connection), some provide multiple usb ports to connect to to get a lil bit more power, and allso some version run as external with 1 usb cable but if you use the hardware to its power limits and Led light start flashing red indicating it need more power and then you can add an standard power cable to increase the hardware limits, and some allso only use an normal power cable! if it is an normal optical drive (internal) it use an for example an SATA or IDE Cable for the drive to function/communicate with the motherboard and allso an extra power cable from the power supply! it take maybe 5-10 minutes to replace/add an new internal optical drive! its easy peasy! Anyone can do it!

Allso can buy an chassi separately, just check for "ATX" to attach the motherboard and make sure the selected motherboard have the same ATX format.. this is the size of the motherboard which means it will fit into the chassi and allso the screwings 'holes' will be placed in an order to be compitable, including height, size of screws etc! it is easy peasy! you can do it!

Edit: All chassis look very small on the internet, dont be fooled, Midi chassis is perfect, ellse you can use the smaller version but then possibly you must use Mini-ATX (or if it is called micro-atx) size for the motherboard which can limit tht motherboard performance, higher cost (sometimes) and allso the graphics cards might not be avalible for theese chassis, making life difficult to find an good one for good price!

[Swedaniel]

I recently replaced my computer because the old one's performance with my new video needs wasn't good enough. The old one was 12 years old.

If yours is meeting your needs now, why upgrade? Computers will, relatively, last forever; "Every 3-4 years" I think is misguided if the current machine is performing as you like.

Yeah mine have been doing an good job allso for way more then 3-4 years! But really after 3-4 years they get really dusty and need an cleanup!

[usually_quiet]

Yes, a chassis can be bought separately. However, if someone is going to do that, they might as well go ahead and build their own computer. It is less work because it isn't necessary to disassemble a computer before reassembling the parts in a new chassis. Also, if the parts are from a PC made by Dell, HP, or some other large PC manufacturer, they may or may not fit properly in a different case.

Slots for 5.25' drives are disappearing from chassis sold to hobby PC builders too but here is a chassis that I happen to like which has 2 5.25 drive slots: https://www.newegg.com/black-be-quiet-pure-base-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-0037-00023

[Swedaniel]

Yes, a chassis can be bought separately. However, if someone is going to do that, they might as well go ahead and build their own computer. It is less work because it isn't necessary to disassemble a computer before reassembling the parts in a new chassis. Also, if the parts are from a PC made by Dell, HP, or some other large PC manufacturer, they may or may not fit properly in a different case.

Slots for 5.25' drives are disappearing from chassis sold to hobby PC builders too but here is a chassis that I happen to like which has 2 5.25 drive slots: https://www.newegg.com/black-be-quiet-pure-base-atx-mid-tower/p/2AM-0037-00023

Yeah those branded computer, for example Dell tend to manufacter their own motherboards and such things, they dont seem to use the ATX fit very often! Sometimes the stuff allmost seem welded into the chassi making it really difficult to screw loose the parts, once done they dont really fit very easy into an normal chassi!

Edit: PS. if the chassis or avalible "items" is dissapearing, there i such thing as an browser cookie to "enhance" the browsing, basicly the website can ask an question "are you building your own pc" or are you looking for an "pre-built" pc, once this selection is made, this choice get saved into an cookie, obviously some parts/hardwares etc will dissapear from the websites then! maybe if the things are not displayed as you feel they should, could try clear your cookies! an other website can use the cookies from another website to set settings and display different materials/items/hardwares etc! i doubt optical drives and chassis with slots for optical drives/dvd/cd roms are dissapearing from sales for any other reason then an cookie setting! (Example if an person answer "Im not an expert, i dont know how to build my own pc" it would seem pointless to display loose parts that require to open the chassi to get the hardware/optical drive going", if now then selected "im looking for external optical drive" now it would seem like an good move for an optical drives sale to only display chassis without slots for internal cd/dvd rom drives, since the buyer intend to buy an external version).

Some websites "buisness" idea is to create an "cookie website" that is compitable (preferable universal and world wide used by sales sites), which you can go to this site and make choices to create an cookie to be used for an website with for example computer hardware to faster find the good stuff relevant to yourself! Since some warehouses have hundred of thousands loose parts, theese cookie things really help speed things up to display the most relevant things! Unluckily selecting "Looking for external Optical Drive" could remove the chassis with extra slots for the internal versions! (ie. selecting "looking for blu-ray burner" could possibly remove the cd/dvd-disks and only display blu-ray disks allso)