My sister is currently running Windows 7 on a 6-year old Dell Inspiron desktop computer. Rather than try any upgrades/updates, she wants to buy a new computer running Windows 10 Home.

For the money she wants to spend (~$600), I have found the following HP computer at Best Buy:
Desktop - AMD Ryzen 5-Series (3.7 gigahertz) - 12GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive

All of my desktops have been with Intel processors, but I know some of you are high on AMD processors. Does this sound like a good configuration? She is not a heavy user - email, internet surfing, Microsoft Word, photos, and family tree stuff. Her old computer has a 1 TB hard drive that is only using 118 GB, so a 256 GB SSD should be more than sufficient. She will retain her 1 TB external Seagate for backup purposes.

Any thoughts/ideas....not so much on the $$, but on the configuration. Thanks in advance....

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

I like AMD. The Ryzen 5 series it not top of the line but decent, better than the Intel I5. How many core is the Ryzen 5.

Keep the 1TB drive from the old system in case needed down the road.

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See post above if not already read BB.

LOL! (sorta) Make sure it is Windows 10 Home, not Windows 10 Home S.

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Jay, thanks for the reply. The computer has 4 cores and 8 threads. It doesn't have an available 3-1/2' drive bay, although it does have two available M.2 slots, one for another SSD and one for WLAN.

It says that the O/S is Windows 10 Home 64 bit. Even if it comes as Home S, I can exit that mode and go to regular Home. But once you exit Home S, you can't go back to the S version.

My sister is computer knowledgeable enough that I won't leave her in S mode....I want to be able to install Microsoft Office, Malewarebytes Pro, and her family tree program that she has worked years on.

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

Just picked this up to replace a dead system:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R8WK8VP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Drive is a M.2 one so it's fast. Came with 8 gigs of memory but I had some lying around here so I bumped it up to 16. Threw a SSD in a second drive to put my backups on.

Just curious David, how well does the system perform using an I3?

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David, and do you know how the Intel I3 compares to the AMD Ryzen 5?

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BB
http://barrypatch.net

I would imagine that the Ryzen would win out as its 4 cores have 8 threads and the I3, I believe, 4 threads (I may be wrong on this)

Without getting technical think of your XP virtual machine. Threads equate to how many CPU instructions can be done at the same time. I THINK that the I3's 4 cores are strictly physical. With Ryzen 5 there are 4 physical cores and 4 virtual cores resulting in 8 threads. Each core on the I3 has 1 set of registers which are repositories for the info that the CPU needs to execute an instruction. Each core on the Ryzen 5 has 2 sets of registers which is why it can have 8 threads. My Ryzen 7 has 8 physical cores and 16 threads. The core virtualization works well enough that Windows sees it as a 16 core CPU.

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It's not used for anything heavy, email web stuff so it runs pretty well. It replaces another system that I built years ago that had an older i3 in it that my son used for years he did alot of cartoon drawings and adobe stuff on it. It wasn't the fastest thing but never had a real issue with it.

Thanks David.

My laptop is an I5 but is about 8 years old and has a spin drive. Start-up is quite slow but does run well once fully loaded. I'd replace it except that it has some nice features like wireless HDMI and the ability to connect to 3 & 4G networks. Plus I rarely use the thing.

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Swap out the spinner with a SSD, that's what i did with my laptop I hardly ever use anymore.

I've thought about that David. I just don't know if I want to invest in a 1TB SSD for a system that I seldom use. And, yes, I'd need the 1 TB as the laptop dual boots between 2 OS's and has its own data files. Seems like the only time I boot the danged thing is to do updates.

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My SSD is only 250 and its one I had laying around. The only time I turn it on is to do updates too.