Dell replacing system but need some help

[Cindy]

Hi Brian, 

This is my current system: 

I have replaced the hard drive last week and placed an additional 16gb RAM (giving 32), this week they replaced the video card and mother board.  The tech that installed the mother board frickin' plugged my monitor into the mother board instead of the video card (which took me forever and a day to figure out why I couldn't calibrate and it took uninstalling and reinstalling Sypder 4 pro 8 times to get it to even work) Lightroom and Photoshop take about a minute to load each I don't know if that is a good time or not and the creative cloud app takes even longer.   I don't know if I am being reasonable with my expectations of the load times.  

They have offered me a refurbished system "like" or better to this.    I told them I can't have "like" and would like your input once they send me specs on what they think is "like or better".     Do you see any issues of the above screen shots that would send a red flag and that I should look for a better fit for?   

I only use this system for editing and ordering.   There is nothing on this system ( no office, or anything).   It mainly is chrome, Lr, PS and some utility programs and antivirus.   

Thank you in advance for your awesome tech thoughts and suggestions.  

[Cindy]

Brian this is what they are offering me:  

Precision Workstation T3420 SFF:

6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6700 (Quad Core 3.40GHz, 4.0Ghz Turbo, 8MB, w/ HD Graphics 530)

Windows 7 Professional English, French, Spanish 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License)

NVIDIA® Quadro® P620, 2GB, 4 mDP (Precision 3420)

No Energy Star

Dell Precision Tower 3420 Up to 92% efficient 180W Chassis, v3

US Power Cord

16GB (2X8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 UDIMM Non-ECC

Integrated Intel SATA Controller

C1 SATA 3.5, 1 HD

No RAID

2TB 3.5" Serial-ATA (7,200 RPM) Hard Drive

No Raid Configuration over 2TB

8X Slimline DVD +/-RW drive

No Internal SD Card Reader

No Network Card (Integrated NIC Included)

Intel® Dual Band Wireless 8260 (802.11ac)

No Thunderbolt Add in Card

No Serial Port/PS2 Adapter

No Firewire Card

No Out-of-Band Systems Mgmt

Dell KB216 Wired Keyboard English Black

Dell MS116 Wired Mouse Black

No Stand

No Monitor Adapter

No External Speaker

No Intel Technology enabled

[Cindy]

This will be a new built system... I may add.    I am trying to upgrade the video card since it's a new build.   Can you recommend?  

[Brian]

Alright. Who is trying to sell you this computer? Dell or a local shop? For this type of computer, it's much better suited for an office application, like a check-in desk at your Doctor's Office. It is not an editing machine or at least the one you are after. Before you buy anything, we need to figure out what your budget is. There are multiple components that determine speed, and the truth is, you get what you pay for. If you have a low-quality (slow) motherboard that creates a bottleneck, then it makes no difference if you have 32GB of RAM and a 7200RPM HD. As far as PC CC,  I use the LR / PS that stays on my computer and who "Phone's Home" to the Adobe Mothership.

At this point in the game, it's much better to get a computer with Windows 10 than one with Windows 7. Windows 7 is at the end-of-life and will no longer be updated on Jan 7, 2020. So with us approaching 2019, I'd say you are going to have to get Windows 10 sooner or later. Might as well jump in now. If you want Photoshop and Lightroom to load quickly, you will need a SSD drive and a fast motherboard to accomplish this. I just got a new fancy iMac, yes I can hear Damien cringing all the way over on the other side of the planet, but if I click on the PS icon on the deskbar, it loads in about 3-4 seconds. Of course, I'm not opening any files, just Photoshop. Let me see what happens when I load a file from my EHD...

OK, still took about 3 seconds. Of course I have a fast 7200 RPM EHD connected via Thunderbolt 3 with an upgraded fancy 27" 2017 iMac.

I'm off to get dinner. Be back soon. Let me know how much you want to spend, because at this point, I think you are wasting money.

[Cindy]

No Brian... they are replacing this one with a new build but it has to be the same or better to their standards.   (Dell)    I still have a 4 year warranty on this.   I bought badly I can see.  All because over a year ago I couldn't network 10 with 7 at that time.   I may as well throw this through the window and buy a brand new XPS or something then?   I ate a lot of money on this if that is the case.   

 

[Brian]

Well, if they are going to replace it with something newer, see if you can get the new PC with Windows 10 Pro and call it good. You are already knee-deep into it at this point, and are ready to throw it out the window, so what do you have to lose?

The whole networking Windows 10 and Windows 7 thing is also pretty straightforward, you just have to figure out WHERE Microsoft put stuff to configure things. Yes, it does help if both computers have the "Windows Pro" versions when it comes to networking, though it's not a 100% requirement for a simple Workgroup environment.  The other challenge is the skill-set that is required. I network Windows 10 and Windows 7 computers all the time. Mostly in Domain environments, but you aren't going to need that for simple shared folders and printers in a Workgroup. 

Yes, a Dell XPS would be a PC that I would start with. Let me find that link to the current model.

[Brian]

Well, the XPS that B&H had is not in stock. I went to Dell's Website and configured a XPS tower that is similar in specs to my iMac. I'm up to about $2000. LMAO. Yeah...Macs are SO expensive...

Anyway, I chose the Dell XPS tower that starts at $1049, and configured with the following options:
 

• 8th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-8700 6-Core Processor (12M Cache, up to 4.6 GHz)
• Windows 10 Pro
• 16GB 2666MHz, DDR4 RAM
• 1TB M.2 PCIe x4 SSD
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1080 with 8GB GDDR5X Graphics Memory
• Tray Load BDRE Drive (Reads and Writes to Blu-Ray disks)
• 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.2, Dual Band 2.4&5 GHz, 1x1
• Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Network and IO Card

Cost: $1979.99

Link to main XPS line: https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/cty/xps-8930-desktop/spd/xps-8930-desktop

Of course, you don't have to go crazy like me. You could get one of the lower-end XPS computers. I tend to go a little overboard for a few reasons. One...I'm a Nerd. Two...I'm a guy...and three, I buy my hardware with a 7-8 year lifespan in mind. I could buy a $800 computer every 2-3 years or buy a big expensive one and be done with it. Either way, it's about the same amount of money without the hassle of swapping computers every few years.

PS: Yes, there is a big speed difference between Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.0 Drives. I can import 32GB of Raw Files in about 4-5 min via a XQD card. That's why I added it. You can get a 12TB G-Drive Thunderbolt 3 External Hard Drive to go with your Dell. It's only money, right?

 

[Cindy]

You configured exactly what I had when I went to the site to buy new.    I would go through small business and get the warranty though since it's all state side support and next day in home.   We are on the same page there.  
I only bought this due to over a year ago 10 just came out and no one could network their 10's with 7's.   I have Pro on all my systems.   

I will see what they can do for me with this one.   I think that I may be very limited as to what they will let me do.   

Thank you ALWAYS!!!!!

[Brian]

You could also add a 1 or 2 TB Hard Drive for your Data in that system. I like Western Digital Caviar Black Drives. The 1TB drives are about $80. 

[Cindy]

I store nothing on my internals.   I run 4-6 externals daily between my two systems.   

So 1 TB is more than enough.   

Thank you ever so much!!!!!  

[Cindy]

Until I can make some funds come early fall this is what they are replacing the system with.   They will not give me any more options to upgrade anything so they upgraded the video card and the RAM.    Come  fall / winter I will order the XPS you and I both agreed upon.  

 

Precision Workstation T3420 SFF:

6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6700 (Quad Core 3.40GHz, 4.0Ghz Turbo, 8MB, w/ HD Graphics 530)

Windows 7 Professional English, French, Spanish 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License)

NVIDIA® Quadro® P1000, 4GB, 4 mDP (Precision 3420)

No Energy Star

Dell Precision Tower 3420 Up to 92% efficient 180W Chassis, v3

US Power Cord

16GB (2X8GB) 2400MHz DDR4 UDIMM Non-ECC

Integrated Intel SATA Controller

C1 SATA 3.5, 1 HD

No RAID

2TB 3.5" Serial-ATA (7,200 RPM) Hard Drive

No Raid Configuration over 2TB

8X Slimline DVD +/-RW drive

Safety/Environment and Regulatory Guide (English/French Multi-language)

No Internal SD Card Reader

No Network Card (Integrated NIC Included)

Intel® Dual Band Wireless 8260 (802.11ac)

No Thunderbolt Add in Card

No Serial Port/PS2 Adapter

No Firewire Card

No Out-of-Band Systems Mgmt

Dell KB216 Wired Keyboard English Black

Dell MS116 Wired Mouse Black

No Stand

No Monitor Adapter

No External Speaker

[Cindy]

Nix that one Brian... the card hasn't been tested by Adobe upon me talking with them.   So I am back to bargaining with Dell. 

[Brian]

Yeah, that computer that they are trying to give you is really meant to be in a business office, like a computer used to check you in for your appointment. Oh well.