It depends on your usage. But generally, look for clarity of picture, video, and text. The higher the resolution the clearer the text. Both Windows and Mac have in-built scaling which work well so you don’t have minuscule text. A rule of thumb is that for a 24" monitor you need at least 1080p resolution to not look pixellated, at 27" you need 1440p, and at 32" you need 4K. I’m writing this on a 24" 4k monitor but I also have a 27" 4K high-refresh monitor for games.
Something to consider is portrait mode: if you don’t watch videos that frequently, get a monitor that can rotate to portrait format. It makes writing letters and reading forums like the Dope much easier.
I haven’t bought a desktop computer since I because immersed in the Apple ecosystem. I buy refurb Macs online from Apple.
If I had to get a full-sized Windows/Linux desktop – no mini PC, no using a laptop in clamshell mode, no building it myself – I’d look at Dell or HP refurbs. Retail in the US, there’s always Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, and the like, although their selection will be limited compared to laptops and mini-desktops. (Many of us don’t have easy access to a Fry’s or Micro Center.) White box stores might still be around in some larger cities, but they’re mostly gone from the landscape.
Monitors are cheap. Get something offering 2560 x 1440 resolution if you’re not going the 4K/UHD/Retina route. Avoid the random-letter brands on Amazon. Acer, Asus, Samsung, LG, Dell, HP, ViewSonic, NEC, BenQ, AOC, and Eizo are decent. Apple monitors are great if you can get them working with your PC.
Buy the parts at Newegg (I used to shop at Tiger Direct) and build it myself. I spend about $2000 and have a computer that only needs slight upgrading over 8 or so years.
If there is a Microsoft Store near the OP (these are retail stores owned by Microsoft) I recommend them as a place to shop because they have a variety of computers from different manufacturers which makes it easy to compare. Particularly for a notebook system, I think it’s important to feel the keyboard to see if it’s comfortable and if the weight of the thing is what you want. (With desktops, you can of course swap out for a new keyboard but you can’t for a notebook system.) If not a Microsoft Store, go to Best Buy, which also has a wide selection of brands and models.
And Costco is a pretty good place to go also. Limited selection but their prices are quite good and I think they extend the warranty.
As for this idea, $2,000 is a lot to spend nowadays on a PC. You can get an acceptable computer (for various meanings of acceptable) for $500, replace it twice over eight or nine years and come out ahead.
I used to build them myself, or buy entire computers, from Fry’s. An issue I always had with buying a new computer was the tons of bloatware and other unneeded/unwanted garbage. It was such a huge, time-consuming pain trying to uninstall it all, and make sure it was really gone, that I would decide it was easier and better to reformat the hard drive and start anew.
The last round of computers we bought, a few years ago, came directly from Microsoft. I hated to give them more money, but it was worth it to get a clean system.
I’ve since ditched Windows and moved on to Linux, so the next time I buy a computer, it won’t matter what’s installed, because it will all get wiped anyway. But my wife and daughter aren’t so adventurous. Are bloatware and garbage still an issue? Will I need to stick with buying from Microsoft?
I bought a $700 HP Omen from Best Buy last summer; it did come with a few apps that I’ll never use (e.g.: Skype) and games I’ll never play (e.g.: Candy Crush) but it’s pretty clean otherwise.
You could of course buy a Windows PC and immediately reinstall Windows with exactly what you want on it. That will let you control exactly what bloatware and garbage are on it.
Building a top of the line system. And the top end is $2000. I’m currently pricing out a system that includes
Intel 9700K coffee lake
Gigabyte z390 Aorus Pro
Samsung 970 Pro (for applications) and 860 Evo (for data)
Sapphire Radeon RX 580
16 GB RAM - DDR4 3600
With PSU, Case, AIO cooler, etc it is a hair above $1500.
And my current rig is about 10 years old and still works great but we need another machine so this one will be the hand-me down for someone.
For those asking, I will be doing a little more than surfing the internet.
I have a Etsy store selling books, so I need my scanner to work with the new computer. I don’t do much image processing for those, but I do a little.
I also want to get back into creating embroidery designs, which uses programs like Inkscape. So I need a little better than average graphics processing, but not hardcore-gamer level.
I do plan on doing the dual-monitor thing. Work has spoiled me
I’ve had success buying refurbished/reconditioned desktops from microcenter. All you need to do documents, surf the web, youtube etc. for $100 and change. I can’t imagine anything you get there can’t do basic image processing and have graphics good enough for embroidery design.
[These days, those are how I buy new versions of Windows; since the rebuilt computer with OS costs the same as just buying the OS]
You should of course check the hardware requirements for the scanner and applications, like Inkscape, that you plan to use, but nothing in what you said sounds particularly challenging hardware-wise. For dual monitors, I would prefer a computer that has two digital outputs (HDMI and DisplayPort or two HDMI output ports, rather than one digital output and a VGA port) but even that isn’t absolutely necessary.
I’m embarrassed to tot up how much I’ve spent on my PC setup. It’s £2k in monitors alone, then £600 in cables, and we haven’t started on the PC itself, let alone the stuff I need to sell. And then there are my servers…
For in-store purchases, another vote for Microcenter. Very good prices and the whole store is oriented towards such products. So none of that Best Buy idjit stuff.
Fry’s just does too much skeevy stuff for me.
Online, the usual suspects: Amazon, Newegg, etc.
Building your own from scratch is generally not economical anymore except maybe for specialist stuff like high end gaming.
OTOH, I’ve been upgrading my PC over the years (started as an IBP XT clone) and the costs of doing an occasional upgrade still seems to work out.
Regarding monitors: my first step in evaluating a monitor (in person) is put up a text screen. Good old white dots on black. Look for fringes of color around the dots. The less of that the better. Note that stores like to display complex nature images. Those “wow” the naive but aren’t good at showing quality.
