[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Power backup is moot. True, the laptop just keeps going. But I have just about always been able to use my computer even in times of highly unreliable power and all-day cuts.

What kind of power backup arrangements do you have for your desktop for all day cuts?

[manim]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

What kind of power backup arrangements do you have for your desktop for all day cuts?

as per earlier posts, Thad has a 7 kva Honda Genset. So practically infinite power!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ajayc123

What kind of power backup arrangements do you have for your desktop for all day cuts?

Originally Posted by manim

as per earlier posts, Thad has a 7 kva Honda Genset. So practically infinite power!

Yes! So long as we have petrol, at least.

But even before that, our ordinary inverter with a 150kvh battery would run computer plus minimal lights/fans for much of a working day.

[ajayc123]

Thanks. Long time back (maybe 2 decades), I had an inverter, and my measurments gave me the impression that it was always consuming a bit of power like 125w / hr all the time.That translated to about 100 units of electricity consumed per month just due to inverter alone. So I have not been a huge fan of the inverter.

Now the power supply situation on my area is pretty good, so inverter was discontinued about 10 years back.

Do modern day inverters cutoff the charging once the battery is charged or are they always drauning some power?

[bejoy]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Originally Posted by tbppjpr

You can also add Asus Mini PCs like PN51-E1 in the list which also comes with the Pro version of the Windows 10 so don't have any feature limitation in the OS.

Let me check out this option. The system looks to be more targetted towards POS applications and video walls.

Originally Posted by ajayc123

I have a a bunch of NUCs ( 7 gen i7, Intel silver cpu) and even a couple of raspberry pi's that I have the option to use as desktops for day to day purposes. However, I always feel constrained on the mobility and power backup aspects.

Unless you have use cases where you really need to use the processing power of the desktop cpu, you should seriously consider a mid range laptop, maybe you can add a bit of RAM and you are good.

I am really impressed by Mr Aroys thoughful arrangement, and that is much better than a desktop, IMO.

Originally Posted by Aroy

Here is an alternative you can consider.

I have just moved from a dual Xeon desktop - 3 monitors, 6 HDD, DVD etc.

The new configuration is

. Lenovo E14 Ryzen 5500U, 24GB RAM, 512GB SSD, HD screen.

My current setup is more or less similar, albeit with less peripherals. I used to get used Dell laptop from my office once it completes 4 years of use. I am on my 3rd laptop (2013 model, i5, 6thGen) for personal use and now my office has scrapped policy of giving out the laptops - so will miss the current i5 8thGen laptop which is due for refresh. I agree with all the positives you mentioned, only one factor that is pulling me back is the upgradability - mainly the processor. Most of the development environment requirements will always go up and at the end of 3-4 years, the lag can be felt with the newer versions of software. Also the amount of e-junk that I am accumulating over the years. (Those 3 laptops still work fine with SSD upgrades and Windows 10 - even the Dell Latitude D620, and has helped my daughters online classes). After using these Latitudes i have felt that the cooling efficiency of the laptops go down over years and affect the overall performance of the system.
Also, I don't use the laptop screen and it is always in a closed state. Mobility is not a requirement per se, as I will be using the PC mostly at a fixed location.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

At your budget, it is best if you find a microatx board and a smaller case based on matx form factor.

If you must have intel, the best option is i5 12400 and an entry level b660 motherboard like the gigabyte b660m gaming. Get at least 32GB or ddr4 3200 memory. You can skip the GPU if you don't do any graphics stuff.

No graphics stuff or gaming, maybe some video editing. I plan to keep the setup for long term with a processor/MB upgrade after 5-6 years.

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Do modern day inverters cutoff the charging once the battery is charged or are they always drauning some power?

I have observed that if the battery is slightly weak, the trickle charging takes a lot of current to maintain the floating voltage. But as you said, there is no cut off for charging, as the lead acid battery is best maintained at floating charge/voltage level.

[ajayc123]

As for the lag that you observe, you really need to look into the bottleneck. It could be due to the RAM size or RAM speed. I am able to run development environments on both my NUCs : one is 7th gen i7, and another one is Intel silver ( quite low end) and I am still getting good performance on both.
You may want to look at your existing setup, and see if RAM upgrade solves your problem, then you may not new machine. You may also want to check your system performance. Sometimes some unwanted program may be hogging the cpu or RAM leading to lagginess.

[Aroy]

Where Desktops kill Laptops

. Processing Power - very few laptops under 3L can match high end dual CPU configurations, let alone 4 cpu ones. Overclocking can easily double the throughput.

. Disk throuput - unless you have a stack of SSD's, for large data bases 7200 rpm and 10K rpm hard disks will never be matched by laptop disks.

. Graphics - you can put 2+ cards and run 4 x 4k monitors easily. for more than that you get dedicated cards that can drive a lot more.

That said for most of us, a laptop suffises, just add a few monitors and peripferals.

[Bhupesh_2628]

Hello Team-BHPians,

Is one 32 GB RAM better or two 16 GB RAMs in terms of performance.

Also, which brand of RAM is good?

[neelkumar]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

Is one 32 GB RAM better or two 16 GB RAMs in terms of performance

If your motherboard supports dual/multi channel memory( most motherboards do), then two 16GB sticks will be good. Otherwise, there's no difference.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

Hello Team-BHPians,

Is one 32 GB RAM better or two 16 GB RAMs in terms of performance.

Also, which brand of RAM is good?

If you intend to expand RAM even more, say 64 GB, subject to your motherboard supporting then u can consider 32GB. I have purchased crucial and adata RAM in the past and have faced no issues so far. Crucial website provides hardware compatability check, it will tell which RAM will work with your machine, so that is another safeguard to avoid getting an incompatible RAM.

[Bhupesh_2628]

Originally Posted by neelkumar

If your motherboard supports dual/multi channel memory( most motherboards do), then two 16GB sticks will be good. Otherwise, there's no difference.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by ajayc123

Crucial website provides hardware compatability check, it will tell which RAM will work with your machine, so that is another safeguard to avoid getting an incompatible RAM.

Hi ajayc123,

Thanks!

Yes, I have run the CrucialScan application & as per the scan details, my computer's maximum memory capability is 32 GB.

Also, it gave me 2 options for my current 8 GB RAM setup:

1) Either Remove 8 GB RAM & put 2 slots of 16 GB RAM.
Or
2) Keep the 8 GB RAM & put 1 slot of 16 GB RAM.

Keeping the 32 GB capability in mind, I guess I'll go with 2 lots of 16 GB RAM.

[ajayc123]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

Also, it gave me 2 options for my current 8 GB RAM setup:

Yes, if your strict requirement is to go for 32 GB, then option 1, but if you can do with 24GB, then option 2.

[condor]

After almost a score years, the point to retire my old desktop has come up. It has gone through some upgrades, but is still a Win-7. On opening it, realised that this old fella has more RAM than my personal laptop ! A full 10GB, ( 8 + 2) of 1333MHz DDR3 UDIMM.

The PC works fine for browsing and basic apps, but the recently acquired Dell Latitude naturally does things much better while taking far less space.

[VW2010]

Where Desktops kill Laptops

. Processing Power - very few laptops under 3L can match high end dual CPU configurations, let alone 4 cpu ones. Overclocking can easily double the throughput.

. Disk throuput - unless you have a stack of SSD's, for large data bases 7200 rpm and 10K rpm hard disks will never be matched by laptop disks.

If it is windows, probably yes. The best way to explain is intended use. If gaming then desktop gives more flexibility, future upgradability and mainly better GPU.

For everything else the M1 and M2 from apple are extremely fast which is evident even in their M1 iPad Air. I am closing down all my windows PC including an Alienware and a desktop and moving to a Mac laptop with M1 or M2 chip. I use mainly for editing photos and videos and i hardly game these days. For my intended purpose no windows laptop can Match what apple offers at this point.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by VW2010

If it is windows, probably yes. The best way to explain is intended use. If gaming then desktop gives more flexibility, future upgradability and mainly better GPU.

For everything else the M1 and M2 from apple are extremely fast which is evident even in their M1 iPad Air. I am closing down all my windows PC including an Alienware and a desktop and moving to a Mac laptop with M1 or M2 chip. I use mainly for editing photos and videos and i hardly game these days. For my intended purpose no windows laptop can Match what apple offers at this point.

Regarding Apple vs Windows

. Speed - yes.
. Upgradability - doubtful.

This is from experience. I have been using Windows for the last 20+ years and my sons Apple for 10+ years (they have 3 Apple Laptops between themselves) The latest is a 3+L laptop with the works, brought from US.

At the time Apple introduces new machines, they are state of art, but

. others catch up within six months or so. Hence the advantage is momentary.

. Upgrades are few and expensive. That may be because Apple strives to match the upgrades perfectly with no user pain, unlike in Windows world.

. Warranty is a bit more expensive and Apple Software is known to degrade the performance with time, unlike Windows products.

So if you want a stable platform that performs flawlessly and you aim to own it for three to four years, then Apple Products are for you.

In case you want longer ownership, multiple upgrade paths and a lot of DIY, then Windows machines are a better and less expensive proposition.