any PC, $1000 upgrade, ethical?

[Mirddes]

such funds would get the owner USB3 ports, a card reader, more ram, a SSD, a fullHD touchscreen and a reinstall of their OS OR a dualboot of their existing OS and ultimate edition linux.


HDMI with a modernesque HD5450 or similar graphics card


IS THIS ETHICAL?

even ide laptops can get SATA SSDs with a bayconverter

bluray fits into the price also

i wish to plunge ahead and help the decline of PC sales by retrofitting many more than good enough computers and double their potential life-spans

[1101]

Ethical ??
For $1000, just buy a new PC / laptop.

No, charging $1000 for an upgrade is not ethical. So would you leave some dodgy 8year old motherboard,CPU & PSU in there ??
Anything with IDE is not worth spending $1000 on.
BR is not needed on a PC, waste of $ .
Why bother with a touchscreen, the display should be a bit further than arms length away making touchscreen a geek gimmick , except in shops etc.
What about Win7, Win8. Office2013. Are they part of the upgrade , or are you going to leave soon to be unsupported XP etc on it?

Dualbooting to Linux is NOT something that most users will want, it will only confuse them .
If the masses wanted Linux they would be using it. Linux is a niche OS that still doesnt belong on the average home users PC.
So many seem to forget that most PC users arnt tech savvy . I have one company I support that have staff that dont know how to plug in a USB flashdrive, yet their job revolves around the PC.

[Nomad]

I guess Linus is ok for the selected few but normal people just want the mass user OS. I could use Linux and I have tried it but I won't use it reguarly, I only use it to diagnose my computer.

Rather get a $400-600 barebones upgrade system.

But for most people I would just go for a laptop / tablet.

[icow]

If it's older than Core 2 Quad/Phenom II forget it. What's there current display? If it's 1600x900 or similar I wouldn't bother going to 1080p. If it's some ancient 4:3 screen then sure, not sure a touchscreen is needed or relevant on desktops for almost any user.

Calling a 5450 a modern card is a joke, 3 series of AMD cards have come out since the 5xxx series.The equivalent for nVidia would be something from the 4xx series which you probably can't even purchase.

I wouldn't bother with Bluray unless whoever owns the pc turns up and says: "I want to stream Blurays to my TV/watch Blurays on my PC"

RAM and SSD are to be expected in an upgrade like this but it might be worth going for SSD caching as opposed to OS on an SSD, having to save files to a different hard drive may confuse some users (depending on their understanding of computers). If the person is not technically minded at all I wouldn't even bother with Linux.

Personally I'd just go with a new computer, should be able to get a pc with a decent quad core for $1000.

[wratterus]

No, not ethical at all.

[pctek]

such funds would get the owner USB3 ports, a card reader, more ram, a SSD, a fullHD touchscreen and a reinstall of their OS OR a dualboot of their existing OS and ultimate edition linux.


HDMI with a modernesque HD5450 or similar graphics card

i wish to plunge ahead and help the decline of PC sales by retrofitting many more than good enough computers and double their potential life-spans

USB3? On what - an addon card or a new motherboard?
If a new motherboard you have to change the CPU as well.

Card reader - who cares, they are as cheap as dirt, almost come in your cornflakes packet these days.

Touchscreen - nah....
HD5450, it's old and lame even when it wasn't old.


You want to stop the decline of PCs? Well you are going to have to convince the general population then they shouldn't be liking tablets and smartphones and not caring about PCs then, cause that's what caused it.

[Cicero]

Times , they are a changing.

And there is no escaping.

[fred_fish]

If the person is not technically minded at all I wouldn't even bother with Linux.

Seriously?
But saddling them with a windows system is ok?

I suppose the virus scanners, anti-malware scanners, windows updates, av and am updates, each individual application with a separate updater (adobe, java, etc.) is just a doddle for joe/jane average.

Every "non-technical" windows user I see has a systray full of flashing update notifications, along with a browser full of toolbars and half a hundred rogue background processes.

For someone doing the standard web/email of the "average user" an easy to use, no hassle, and secure Linux desktop is a no-brainer.
Some other stuff works a little different to the "windows way", but most of said "average users" would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
(except, of course, it does what you tell it, not the other way around).

[Agent_24]

There's more to the decline of PC sales than just tablets - probably the fact that most people now have a fast dual-core or better machine and there is no actual reason to upgrade if all they want to do is use Farcebook and do their accounts.

They have a machine that does what they need with an OS they are comfortable with. Why buy a new machine with the horror that is Windows 8 and Metro?

[Mirddes]

avarage user does not know difference between windows and linux after using linux for a few weeks. can i found web browser? yes, can i turn it off and on? yes.


avarage user does not need more than 2 cores.

even a p4HT with sata/pcie is modern enough
ahtlon64X2 is also very nice

a budget GPU with HDMI is all that is needed (feature added of being able to plug into tv and get sound!

touchscreen windows8 has its appeal, fullHD and bluray is nice, some suitable systems might have a CRT

MORE RAM AND A SSD MAKES OLD COMPUTERS FAST, dont believe me? try that ****.

more usb ports matter when you only have 4-6. usb3.0 on the front with a card reader is a huge feature for many people.

DUAL BOOT OLD WINDOWS yet boot to linux by default. it has WAY more apps preinstalled (ultimate edition linux 3.7 is amazing)


a 1TB hdd is also cheap. users don't care about better performance if their computer is good enough (it has been this way for a long time, not everyone wants to play the latest games at maximum details with no lag)

ii know i built my mum a pretty solid PC for $666 but these computers can have greater performance that her skt1155 celeron and will most certainly have more USB ports, bluray, touchscreen, fullHD

tell me what you think these features cost? maybe $1000 is a highball figure that has little basis in reality. mabye i shoudl get paid for doing this. maybe i will be happy with the spare parts. maybe a compromise is ideal.



sure if you want great performance $1000 is best spent on a barebones kit, maybe for most a touchscreen and windows 8 are out of place (this reduces the price of compoonents to $500


SO LET US LOOK AT $555!!!

for that you get the cheapest laptop on the market with limited expansion, no bluray, maybe 3 usb ports, usb3 IF YOURE LUCKY, an SD card reader, maybe VGA+HDMI(if you're lucky)

fullHD touchscreen makes users smile.