Can this Dell be saved? How can I keep it alive with upgrades?

[Ketchup]

When I looked at what your options were the other day, I see see anything aside from the new Dell that would support more than 8 GB of RAM. It also apoears that your mothers computer only supports SATA II, which would limit the speed of an SSD a bit. Then there is always the "what happens when this or that goes out" worry that is much more limited on a new system. Don't get me wrong. I love helping people upgrade when it makes sense to do so. But with the options available to you and what you are wanting to do, the new Dell you listed just makes a lot more sense to me.

 

[Davem88]

Should I just get this?

$199

Inspiron 3847, Windows 7 Professional English 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License)
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4170 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)
4GB Single Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx1) - I'll upgrade to 16gb
500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive - don't care about this. I have external HD and SSD drive
Intel® HD Graphics

OR

$499 (hate to pay so much only because I am missing USB 3, BUT, maybe for faster program running, launching, and faster Adobe lightroom usage...)

DELL XPS 8900 i5-6400 8GB RAM 1TB HDD DVD-RW NVIDIA GT 730 WINDOWS 10
Intel 6th Generation Core i5-6400 Processor 2.7GHz/4 Cores/4 Threads/Max Turbo 3.3GHz
8GB Dual Channel DDR4 2133MHz RAM
1TB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive

 

[Davem88]

My biggest pain point is
1) Slow USB 2.0
2) Viewing photos (avg 15mb size)
3) Somewhat slow Adobe lightroom
4) Want DVDFab to work faster
5) Usually have 20+ Chrome browser tabs open (after I upgraded my laptop to 8gb ram, seems like almost not a problem)

and I rarely restart my computer.

So, if this $199 PC solves my above mentioned problems, I am a happy camper.

I can always buy a 500gb SSD to use, right?

 

[Raduque]

$199

Inspiron 3847, Windows 7 Professional English 64bit (Includes Windows 10 Pro License)
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4170 Processor (3M Cache, 3.70 GHz)
4GB Single Channel DDR3 1600MHz (4GBx1) - I'll upgrade to 16gb
500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive - don't care about this. I have external HD and SSD drive
Intel® HD Graphics

Buy this, put an SSD it and be done.

 

[dbcooper1]

Yeah, it's going to be hard to beat that deal for the money; upgrade the RAM, add your SSD and you're done. I'm running a similar system with exactly that CPU and it's really quick for general use.

 

[Davem88]

and if I decided to go with XPS8900 .... should I go for i7 or i5? based on my needs? I do plan to use SSD drive and keep whatever drive it comes with inside the machine for backup files.

 

[ultimatebob]

and if I decided to go with XPS8900 .... should I go for i7 or i5? based on my needs? I do plan to use SSD drive and keep whatever drive it comes with inside the machine for backup files.

You really need to stop overthinking this and buy whatever new system you can afford. Either the 8900 i5 or i7 model will run rings around either your Mom's computer OR the setup you have now.

At this point, you have two separate threads and 23 posts asking basically the same questions over and over again. Make up your mind, buy something, and put an SSD in it!