how powerful a PC to suggest

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I'll be the contrarian and suggest if they are editing books and such as a job that gobs of memory might be warranted. There was a reason years ago desktop publishing required a mac and a high end machine.

It will really depend on what software is being used and what size documents they are manipulating. Do these books have embedded graphics? Are they loading the book or just chapters one @ a time. Has anyone ever used a program with 300 pages of formatted text and 75 embedded graphics?

I only mention this because casually dismissing it as a task best suited for a 'regular desktop PC' might be doing them a disservice; I have a 8Gb Latitude with an i5 and it is woefully inadequate for what I need to do @ work (probably because of SEP); I don't manage large documents.

It sucks having a poor tool to work with 8 hrs a day.

All CPUs are multi core so no escaping that. I would spend my ka-ching on memory.
 
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For what they're using even an i3 will do the job. The modern processors are overkill, even for gaming. Gaming rigs depend on their GPU's for the most part.

A inexpensive i3 desktop with a bunch of RAM is all they needs. I think they want to get into GTA5 or COD.
 
Perhaps they're just hardcore gamers and don't want to admit it.
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I just bought a used Dell Precision T3500 with Quad Core Xeon (W3xxx) older with 6GB DDR3 memory + Nvidia Quadro 2000 for around $200. You can get the T3400 a little cheaper.

It did not come with HD but it has a Win7 COA.

So, I have to work on installing a Win7 using my own HD.

Very fast, this is the same computer used for AutoCAD or SolidWorks.

If you want a laptop, there are a lot of i5 or i7 Dell E6410 around $200-$300.

Both options are stronger than some of the recent low end computer like Pentium N or Celeron, etc.
 
My feeling is buy mid range always even if you don't need it. i3 and celeron computers feel slow a few years latter when a $100 extra for i5 processor would make the thing usable for years to come. OS and software generally require better processing as time passes.

I regret not spending $100 for the i5 in my wife's i3 Lenovo that is 4years old. It struggles with certain applications especially kids HTML5 and certain flash based online games and learning. However I have an upper range processor 7 year old former work Thinkpad t500/8gb ram that does not sneeze at the stuff coupled to a 120GB SSD.
 
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