Desktop Computer

Good Evening Folks,

Its been a while since I have been on this site. School has started again and lesson plans and the like take up a lot of my at home time.

I am starting the process (or at least starting to shop) for a new desktop computer. Presently I use a 2017 15" retina MacBook Pro connected to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I’m becoming more than a little disillusioned with Apple these days and am ready to jump ship…but not back into the Microsoft world. That ship has sailed.

I am looking to either build or buy a desktop PC (for the first time in almost a decade) and I’m not exactly sure where I want to go with it. I need a decently spec’d machine for video editing (I create videos for my students) and I definitely want to go the linux route this time around (I used linux as my daily driver many years ago). So much has changed in the last decade that I want advice on what to look for and get.

Right now my thoughts are I want AMD graphics and a Ryzen CPU. 16 or more GB of RAM and the hard drive itself doesn’t need to be huge because I have 12TB of storage on my Synology NAS in the basement.

I have looked at system 76’s offerings and while I am interested they seem a little expensive (and I’m not a huge Ubuntu fan…I prefer Arch based). Where would you folks suggest I turn my attention to as I start looking for a new machine/daily driver. I would keep the MacBook as a portable machine but it would no longer be my daily driver.

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I built this AMD Ryzen system and it’s working great for all my editing https://youtu.be/2joZGXGGITE

But you are looking for a pre-built Dell system we just got some from TechSupply direct, they are an affiliate of my channel and we have an LTSERVICES offer code that get’s 10% off. https://www.techsupplydirect.com/

I really like the System76 desktop offerings, they are really nice and high quality, but that does make them a bit pricey.

Thanks @LTS_Tom! I knew you had built a Ryzen machine and that you were using it as your editing machine. I’m glad to hear you’re happy with it. That is part of the reason I was looking at the System76 machines.

I’m not against building and I’m certain I could figure it out. I’m curious about hardware recommendations though. I don’t really have the time to fight with things these days and I would prefer stuff to “just work” out of the box with the OS of my choosing (in all reality probably Manjaro, but, this is a big but, if I got a System76 machine I would work with Pop!_OS because I’m sure that they probably fix a lot of my Ubuntu issues…)

I’ve really like the AMD Ryzen cpus. Feels like good value for the money compared to Intel if you don’t have a specific use case for going with Intel.

I was running Manjaro on a Ryzen 2600 for a while there, and it ran great.

If you know how to put the system together yourself, that would also save a bundle.

I used to build my computers exclusively and then I moved into the Mac world about the time Snow Leopard was released. I do still generally enjoy Mac but there are things I am getting annoyed and tired with and frankly am ready for a change.

Perhaps I do need to just bite the proverbial bullet and build a new desktop with the idea of moving entirely over to linux.

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Best thing about a Mac is you can install FreeBSD on them fairly easily :grin:

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I’ve been playing with PC Parts Picker trying to build that “sweet spot” system that will meet my video editing needs, play well with linux, and most importantly…not break the bank (I don’t need the wife mad at me LOL).

This is what I have come up with so far: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/tnx4q3

I feel like this system has reasonable compromises and will blow my current MacBook Pro out of the proverbial water when it comes to video editing performance, etc.