Advice on a new PC motherboard 'bundle' Featured

Yes, look for machines that have at least an 8th gen Intel or a Ryzen 3000.

If you're running Linux or Win10 (or prepared to run Win 11 unsupported), there are some very good deals on the 7th gen/2000 series machines which officially won't run Win 11 - they start at about £50 including RAM and SSD on ebay.

Theo

I don't think anyone in business wanted anything after Win7, or maybe even XP. But just as most sharks have to keep swimming to breathe, MS has to keep pulling rabbits, or turkeys, out of the hat to stay in business.

Office has been rented for some time, something that MS always wanted to do with all its software, so I suppose it's only a matter of time before Windows goes subscription-only, and they don't have to keep pretending to develop it. Newer and better applications will always happen, but in general the OS doesn't need 'a complete rewrite' (not that it really happens) every few years.

Much of the change in Linux is due to having to keep up with hardware changes that new versions of Windows require the manufacturers to keep making. I still have a 32-bit netbook running the latest version of Debian, but that will be the last version with 386 code.

The problem for me is that the "rewrites" consist of obscuring things and taking useful functionality (like being able to download updates but waiting to be told to install them) away.

Programs I wrote for Win98 still work in Windows 10, a sign the underlying API is still the same.

Consider whether you *need* a desktop machine. A re-furb laptop (from the likes of Tier1) will come with an in-built UPS ...

The OP asked about a new mb for his desktop, but you can buy a quite capable N100 machine for £100, or so. That will run browsers, email, etc, which probably covers 90% of users.

Using a different utility I already had loaded:

Intel Core i7-6700K GIGABYTE Z170XP-SLI-CF

I have a mixture of drives. An M.2 SSD, a SATA SSD, and a few HDDs in this machine, which will mostly go into the new setup.

True, but I have a decent full-sized case with plenty of space inside. It sits at the back of my desk behind the monitor so it isn't in the way.

I have thought about one of the many Dell Optiflex machines which seem to dominate the second hand market, but I suspect I would end up replacing that fairly quickly - and I do dislike all the hassle involved in transferring my applications & data onto a new(er) setup.

There are plenty of refurbished machines[1] for sale which say they come with Win11 Pro. I _suspect_ a fair number of those do not meet the Win11 hardware requirements - but the sellers have installed that OS via one of the work-arounds. I wonder if those machines will be able to get later OS updates?

Thanks for that. I hadn't heard of them, so this kind of information is exactly what I was looking for.

If you install Win11 via one of the published work-arounds, will you still get OS updates in future?

That's a decent spec, and just missed the boat by a couple of years - it would be a shame to ditch it. Before you buy anything, I'd probably try the many hacks to install W11 'unofficially' - you could try it on a new secondary 240GB SSD for a few quid. Keep all your apps and data on the other drives. If it ever stops working you can revert to W10 and consider your options.

Another option is to install Windows 10 LTSC, which gets you security updates and no W11 junk. Not sure how easy that is if you don't have a W10 Enterprise licence. I think LTSC 2021 gets updates until Jan 2027, the IoT version until 2032 - not sure of the differences.

Theo

I have a laptop (2 actually)[1], but I can never get used to the tiny screen, lousy keyboard and... that touchpad experience - ugh!

Yes, I could use an external keyboard and mouse - and maybe plug in an external monitor, but that takes me back to a desktop machine.

Less so these days - they have now moved to their customers being the product that they sell most of. They don't seem to care about selling windows as much as previously. (they fact that they leave the tools required to circumvent windows licensing hosted on github (which they own) is a bit of a clue).

You can still buy normal licenses for office.

I expect their main goal is to reduce the cost and hassle of maintaining multiple forks of the OS.

Huh? Windows seems to be mostly following the hardware curve, not pushing it.

Well the 386 is 40 years old now!

or if you want a bit more oomph than the average corporate desk top box, say for video rendering, CAD, or hosting multiple VMs etc.

It will probably get the patch Tuesday ones. It might not do the six monthly feature updates without more fiddling.

I have a 6th gen i3 Intel NUC in the workshop - mainly used to play music or look at drawings etc. That has 11 pro on it, and it seems to be getting some updates at least. Not sure how long it will continue.

Them that can put up with pretty lame performance anyway! i5 / Ryzen 5 would be a better starting point for a general purpose machine. The N100 might be alright for a media (consumption) PC.

I thought that but having checked briefly and those coming from dealers appear to conform to the Win/11 requirements. I believe many of these have agreements with Microsoft, which they would break if they sold machines incompatible with the OS installed.

For example Tier-1 only have Optiplex (not Optiflex) with Gen-8 I3/I5/I7 CPUs which I think are the minium for Windows/11. I assume these will all have TPM 2. I note there are instructions on the Dell site for upgrading the TPM on some PCs.

. on the other hand I see there are some Lenovo T470s on E-Bay with Windows/11 and its not supported on those machines...

.. I suppose its Buyer Beware...

Dave G4UGM

It does, but you then have the option of taking it out and about on the rare occasions that might be useful.

Probably what i will replace my ageing 3rd gen i5 laptop with. I got caught out a while ago attempting to debug what seemed like an under performing 1 Gbps FTTC connection. While it could easily saturate its

The Z170 motherboards are one of the best, I have 4 x PCs with the Asus versions. They are from the Win 8 era and run it very well. Mine are all set up (via the BIOS) so they won't run Win 11.