^Yeah, I guess us PC dinos had gotten so used to the old wired and then dongled wireless keyboard+mouse combos that it takes us some time to realize and migrate to BT for that.
I should probably do that myself one of these days, but I'm still perfectly fine using a really old Dell...
Because I do normally just leave my browsers open w/ a lot of oft-used tabs for regular visits and basically never shutdown my PC (though I do regularly put it or let it go to "sleep" nowadays), I've taken to using/leaving Edge open for certain specific tasks partly for my own usage organization...
I wouldn't think there should be much of any problems migrating from Win 8.1 to 11.
I previously upgraded my old Dell XPS PC from Win 8 to 8.1 to 10 w/out any problems. Win 10 certainly isn't much different from 8.1. And AFAIK, Win 11 isn't that different either.
Might need to update some...
I've been using Office Pro 2013 myself mainly because I got it for free and it was more fully compatible w/ my last job. Otherwise, I might still be using a very old copy of Office Pro -- can't recall how old now, but it might've even been Office Pro 95, LOL.
Haven't upgraded to Win 11 yet --...
I'd go for a new/12th gen i5 if I were you, besides choosing SSD (at least for the main system/apps drive) and 16GB RAM. Also, RAM is generally better spread evenly across 2 sticks, so 8x2 for 16GB.
The new/12th gen i5 seems at least as powerful as the 11th gen i7 for vast majority of uses...
I wonder...
Lately, I've been paying more attention to power consumption of my PC (and HT rig), etc and the impact on electric bill. For something you intend to leave powered-on 24/7/365 (and maybe not in some substantial energy saver mode) like a media server, you might be better off w/ a new...
Maybe go for a DIY build in your case. That's what I opted to do again (after previously going w/ a Dell XPS for a bunch of years like you... and that XPS w/ a core i7 4770 is still running quite well for most normal tasks after a couple upgrades like increased RAM and SSD for the main drive)...
You can always add more storage later if you don't mind the (modest) extra effort to organize your storage across an extra/2ndary drive.
512GB for the main drive should really be enough for most people, and that seems likely for you as well since you've only used 1/4 TB on your old machine...
Since he wants/needs to hire some help to migrate his stuff, wonder if Micro Center can do that for him as well (for a reasonable fee that is) -- I imagine it shouldn't be tricky to do. IF yes, that would make it a no-brainer me thinks.
_Man_
Many of us are guilty of such... but that probably goes w/ the territory on an enthusiast site, haha...
That would explain Crawdaddy possibly/seemingly bailing on us, LOL... ;):laugh::laugh::laugh:
_Man_
Not that I disagree w/ your general sentiment, @Josh Steinberg, but if that's really the case and saving some $$$ would be better, then he might actually be best off just doing the free upgrade to Win 10 on his current machine (as some of us originally suggested), see how that performs and then...
Agreed w/ much of what you say... although I still find value in buying some movies on disc (while others on iTunes)... but then again, I'm running them on a 120" PJ setup (from 10-to-10.5ft) w/ ~45-degree FOV. There are definitely noticeable gains over most streaming platforms/services...
I also very rarely do major upgrades of OS and usually also delay/postpone the smaller updates as long as possible as well... unless there's clear/definite need/reason otherwise. I do likewise for other devices, including my phone, as I don't generally want to fix what ain't broke just to break...
The main thing is they seem to use (and particularly cut corners on) the motherboard and maybe also the RAM (to some small extent)... plus probably the power supply -- probably more so w/ HP and some others than Dell. And yeah, you're probably more limited on whatever other add-ons/upgrades...
LOL! Read Crawdaddy's lips. He doesn't want to migrate away from Windoze to a Mac... and isn't all that interested in getting a laptop to boot. :lol:
_Man_
FWIW, I'd qualify/clarify the point about Dell parts being "somewhat lower grade/performing" as relative to available custom/DIY/upgrade choices that aren't usually/often used by such brands, except maybe on some high-end-ish gaming (or turnkey creative pro) machines.
Doesn't mean they use...
FWIW, I hadn't had much problem w/ Dell's machines in the past... other than the optical drives failing rather quickly -- I had 2 on separate machines fail on me w/in several months each, but I didn't really care too much since I wanted to replace them w/ better burner drives anyway. Otherwise...
Crawdaddy's not really interested in laptops, but thanks for that article nonetheless... as it gave me some leads to consider a cheap laptop for my mother now. She's been bugging me to get her ancient Vista-running Dell fixed, and it's just not worth fixing at all, so I may just get her a...
Just put them on Google Drive or similar or some more video-sharing friendly platform to share -- could just be YouTube. That would probably work much better for sharing home videos...
_Man_
Yeah, I refuse to use a Microsoft account to log into my own PC (at least for most/normal usage that really shouldn't need nor benefit from that). I do have a Microsoft account, but refuse to have it tightly coupled to my own PC's local access/acount.
Presumably, Windoze 11 Pro also continues...
IF you've never spent much/any time on a laptop before, you might hate switching to that at this point... although you could (likely) always still use it like a desktop w/ a regular monitor and mouse at your main location and only use it as a laptop elsewhere as needed...
_Man_
Might be good to at least upgrade to an SSD for the main drive, if the CPU itself is still otherwise good enough -- I'm guessing decade-old PC probably still using HDD, not SSD, unless he already did that upgrade some time ago.
Not sure if Crawdaddy's comfy w/ doing such an upgrade though...
_Man_