Wanted: urgent shopping advice for NUC-like desktop

[Douglas McGarrett]

On 8/4/21 4:53 AM, Liam Proven wrote:
> On Tue, 3 Aug 2021 at 17:29, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:
>> Hi Liam, and others who answered on or off list. The real problem is
>> time. I had already put away the money and some time to explore and
>> buy a new computer NEXT month, but the crash of this morning almost
>> forces me to get that new computer quickly enough to finish some heavy
>> jobs... in time to go on on vacation next week. Under such
>> constraints, buying in or outside EU makes little difference.
> You have at least one laptop, because you've posted about it on the
> list as well.
>
> There is a saying in computers...
>
> There are 3 properties you can have -- good, fast & cheap.
> Pick which 2 you want.
>
> If you want it in a hurry, either it will be good and fast, but not
> cheap, or fast and cheap, but not good.
>
> Or cheap and good, but not fast.
>
> If you are limited on budget then do not hurry it, or it will either
> be slow or a bad PC.
>
Beware a used Dell office machine! I just bought one, and I am 
discovering that it has some
nanny code in it that prevents the use of some computer code, and even 
attempts to prevent
you from loading Linux. Apparently Dell sold these to offices 
specifically to prevent anyone
from running anything but pure Windows. It even has a provision to 
physically lock the side
of the machine so the user could not open it.
--doug