I have noticed the screen sometimes is larger than normal when starting. If I restart it when I log in, it seems to fix it. Yesterday I noticed the time was wrong and I can go to settings and fix it, but there has to be another issue causing it. I mainly use it for surfing the internet, moving files/photos from devices to computer to external HDD, keeping track of expenses and a few other things in excel, email, MP3's to load to SD card for vehicles, printing stuff, scanning stuff, and a few other things.

Here's what I have now:
HP tower style from about 2011 with Windows 10 on it. Will not support Windows 11.
USB ports, DVD drive, and memory card slot for the cards for cameras, MP3 players, etc.
C: drive has 121GB free of 448GB
D: (recovery) has 1.98G free of 16.4GB
Microsoft office 2007
Printer hooked up via USB
Scanner hooked up via USB

I'm not sure how big of memory I need. I would like to have the external HDD's, printer, scanner, etc work with the new computer. I also have copies of Microsoft Office (2013 and 2016 I have not used yet) on CD's to install if I wish. I know there are free versions out there, but I am familiar with Microsoft Office. I keep some documents in Google Drive as well as iCloud drive, but most of those are saved on the computer itself in case the clouds crash or I accidentally delete them.

What would you guys recommend for computer brands, models, etc? I do not want to run out of memory or storage space, but don't need a ton of it either. How would I know if the external equipment is compatible with the new computer? I think I can back up everything I use to the HDD's and then install them as needed. I want to to something before the computer itself takes a dump and I didn't back it up and lose stuff. Would a laptop be better? I have an older laptop that won't update to Windows 11 either, but I only use that to surf the internet and don't keep much on there. It is nice to have if I go somewhere and want a computer to do stuff instead of my phone. It's also nice to have everything hooked up on the desktop and no need to unhook them.

Either way (desktop or laptop) I want to upgrade before the one I'm using now take a dump on me and I lose stuff.

Thanks

I've been happy with my Dells - usually replace them every 10-12 years, for more power or when forced by OS changes.
They have sales from time to time, and a wide variety of "horsepower", depending on what you want.
Might also check a Best Buy store near you.

I use Carbonite to back up the system in case it kicks the rods out, cheap peace of mind.

I would probably lean towards a laptop. A docking station can help if you want to use a monitor and hardwire connect to peripherals.The laptop capability these days is pretty amazing BUT.....if you need a DVD drive, you will probably have to stick with a tower. I'm not an IT guy, just been through a bunch of configurations at home and work - always preferred the portability of a laptop.

GREAT question as I'm in about the same spot. Windows 10, won't run 11, and office 2019. Hate the MS 365. I only use word and outlook the new version of OL pull a better vacuum than a Dyson could ever hope to. Don't need anything but the unit itself
I'll be watching this

Same here: been running a dell XPS8940 since 2021, win10, 500g ssd & 1t hd, no problems yet.

Both the wife and my laptops are on the way out, so now I gotta figure out what to buy in the next couple of weeks. What is the downside of Winders 11? It took my too long to trust Winders 10 now I gotta UPGRADE?

I bought a new HP desk top about 4 months ago, "HP Envy Desktop TED1-5344 PC" I also needed a new monitor because my very old one (on its 3rd desktop) was getting pretty flaky at the plug. I bought this from a Best Buy store because other hands on computer outlets were pretty limited in our area, this unit was a "credit card and carry" at just under $900 (well OK, they carried it out the door on a cart and loaded it into my truck, I had to carry it into my house).

I went with an in store purchase because I have heard from several people that if you buy on line, they ship you "refurbished unit", even if you bought a "new" unit (if you go through the effort to return it, they will replace it with a new unit). If you buy in store, you carry out the unit you buy, they can't send you out of the store with a "refurbished unit" unless that was what you bought (they do offer a "refurbished" unit at a reduced price, wonder why they have so many to offer?) My new unit worked as it should but the warranty is pretty short unless you pay to upgrade it as well).

At this point I fairly content with it, but a few things bug me a bit. It may be my computer ignorance, but it has to be set up with either speaker, or headphone, you can't just plug in the headphones if you would rather have them instead of the speakers (like i could with my old unit), you have to go back in and change the settings.

It has Windows 11 on it (or Mac, or Linux operating systems, no other choices), and there is a lot of junk I don't want. If I try to remove some things, when the system is shut down and restarted, the item is back again. Windows 11 sucks.

There were very limited things that came with the package, and much of that had little or no "free trial" (of course there is a million things you can add to through the app store. Nearly everything has to be purchased immediately, which makes the stuff you can't just delete even more bothersome.

It also comes with Google everything, something else I can't seem to get rid of. I really don't like google search, but its the only option. Ever Firefox has "firefox/google" search as the only option.

The last thing is, I bought a 24" monitor, I should have upgraded to the curved 24" monitor. I didn't realize how hard the edges of that flat 24" monitor was going to be to read. the big pictures are nice, if you don't mind leaning side to side to get the nu-distorted view.

I am a big believer in air gap security. Meaning I have one hot rod computer that does/saves/handles all my critical information, stuff, finances, cad, video, etc and it is NEVER connected online.
I have another bare bones easy to replace computer for the internet.
The Internet computer requires very little computer hp, memory or features to suffice.
Both have 50" 4K LED TV's as monitors which now are very affordable. I seldom if ever have to zoom.
I have them all on UPS, and seldom if ever turn them off, as my experience is most electronics seem to fail upon initial startup inrush or whatever, seldom do they die mid use.

The computer must know I'm looking at replacements. The time was correct this morning. I didn't change any settings. Was going to look at Dell and HP to see if they offer Veteran's discounts. Rather go to Best Buy and get it there so I can ask questions there, look at it, and take it home and hook it up right away. I didn't know they made a laptop docking station, may have to look into that.

I do have an external DVD player I bought prior to this computer because the old one would only burn to CD's and not DVD. I wonder if that would work with Windows 11?

I'm all Apple in my business (and through our family). Every employee I've had was dead set against switching to Macs when I bought the business 8 years ago, or when they were hired, and now every one that's worked for me carries an iPhone, has an iPad, and/or has a MacBook laptop. If you have good monitors/keyboard/etc, and don't mind being tethered to a desk, you can get a MacMini. I'm at home with my my MacBook Pro laptop right now, at my office, 1 Thunderbolt/USB-C plug hooks me up to a CalDigit Docking Station to use a pair of 27" monitors, wired internet, and my on-site server. There is a wide enough range of products for whatever your needs.

Nothing is perfect, but I see the warnings that come across regularly about hacks and update conflicts for the software we primarily use (Adobe Creative Cloud), and I talk to others in the industry. The Mac OS (operating system) is much more reliable than Windows in my experience.

I have a brother (an Electrical Engineer) who designs controls for industrial equipment, and a son that works for a consulting firm that updates computer networks for colleges and universities. They both work with both Windows and Mac based systems (and Linux, Unix, etc) daily. They're the ones that told me to use Macs.

I am typing this on a Samsung laptop I just bought at Best Buy on Black Friday. Core 7 intel chip,500 gb ssd,16gb ram, Win 11. So far so good. Regular price was $899.....out the door for $550.

I have a Dell "Workstation" that is a couple of years old. Lots of memory, lots of CPU cores, SSD mirrored disks.

Computer has been okay support from Dell especially for the mirrored disks has be very poor.

Computer upgraded itself to Windows 11 and it has been more trouble free since then.

If I was to buy again, I would probably go HP or get a home built from a local computer store.

I've had two Dells that fell apart - the last one cost me $2000 in 2020. No more Dells, replaced with a Lenovo Yoga and love it

I have built all my non-laptop computers since about 1990. If know anyone that can do that locally you would probably save a ton of money. Either way you will want an SSD drive as your main C: drive where Windows boots and runs.

All good info. I wouldn't mind a Mac, but all the stuff I have works for Windows and not sure if they would work on a Mac.

Unless you've got something REALLY exotic (or antique) it will probably work better with a Mac.

All of my scanners, external DVD drive, and most other things besides the printer are over 10 years old and my CD's for the unused Microsoft Office are for windows.

As long as that stuff is all USB connected it's not a problem the mac will recognize it. And if the printer is old enough to have the old style poort you can buy an adapter cable to run it off of USB also, I had to do that with my good printer when it's network card failed. For office there are free open office type downloads that do everything better then Microsoft but I think now you can use the office applications for free online for personal use.

When my last desktop died, I replaced it with a laptop. I just connected it to my monitor via HDMI, plugged in a USB hub where I put the keyboard and mouse, and it basically functions like a desktop except that it takes up much less space and is whisper quiet unlike my previous desktop. I have an external USB DVD drive but haven't had the need to use it yet. I don't think you'd need a docking station unless you were regularly taking the laptop away. If you just leave it plugged into the peripherals, like a desktop, theres no need. I also have an old external hard drive, and on my USB hub have plugged in a 512gb microSD card to use for local file storage where mostly I just put mp3s.

For my main computer, I made sure I bought one that had room for RAM expansion, it came with 8gb and I put a 16gb in there so I have way more than I ever need for what I do. There are some laptops that say they have "soldered" memory which seems to mean that it's not expandable. I just bought another laptop, a $229 cheapy Lenovo, to use for streaming youtube in a spare room. Didn't check whether it had expandable memory, and it turns out it doesn't, but luckily the 8gb is fine for what I need it for.

My recent laptops have come with Windows 11 in "S" mode, but what some people don't know is you can simply choose to take Windows out of "S" mode so it just becomes Windows 11 and you are free to install whatever software you want.

Brand wise, I think my cheap Lenovos feel better made than the HP (which seems like the keyboard is slightly warped, and kept throwing errors when I first launched it), and the ASUS (which after around a year, even with Windows automatic battery maintenance, the batter capacity is down to 3%. Not ideal but not a huge deal as I leave it plugged in anyways). So I'd recommend a Lenovo laptop with expandable RAM.