HP computers on sale at Costco: I am looking at a couple of HP computers on sale at Costco to replace my crappy Dell XPS desktop. The first one is an HP Pavilion Desktop

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

I am looking at a couple of HP computers on sale at Costco to replace my crappy Dell XPS desktop.
The first one is an HP Pavilion Desktop - 10th Gen Intel Core i5-10400F with AMD Radeon RX 550 on sale for $600.
https://www.costco.com/.product.100579377.html?&EMID=B2C_2021_0217_TechDays
The second is the HP Pavilion Desktop - AMD Ryzen 5 3400G with integrated graphics for $500.
https://www.costco.com/.product.100579378.html?&EMID=B2C_2021_0217_TechDays
The main differences between them from what I can see is the Intel i5 processor vs. the AMD Ryzen 5 and the AMD graphics card with the Intel i5 vs. integrated graphics on the Ryzen 5. From what I'm finding the AMD Ryzen has 6 cores and 12 threads whereas the Intel has 6 cores but only 6 threads. Seems the AMD Ryzen would be better for gaming but I'm more interested in photo and video processing and a dedicated graphics card is better than the integrated graphics. BTW, I have two monitors connected to the computer, one HDMI and the other VGA.
So I'm soliciting comments about these two machines or should I look for something else? Would the Intel i5 be worth the extra $100 over the Ryzen?
Any assistance with this is greatly appreciated.

sumo Loc: Houston suburb

For 25 years Ive had Dells, Toshiba, HPs, and a couple others that gave nothing but trouble within 6 months of purchase. Finally bought a MAC. Took about month to learn the new way of doing things. But no problem for last five years. Would never go back

Kleinlib Loc: Georgetown, KY

I also used PC/Windows my whole career (40 years) and when I retired I bought a 27 " iMac and wow.....so much easier to use and have been using this same iMac for 7 years now. Costs more but well worth it. IMHO

RKL349 Loc: Connecticut

sumo wrote:

For 25 years Ive had Dells, Toshiba, HPs, and a couple others that gave nothing but trouble within 6 months of purchase. Finally bought a MAC. Took about month to learn the new way of doing things. But no problem for last five years. Would never go back

Agree. I love my MacBook Pro. Mine is 6 years old and I never had a single issue with it. In trade right now on a new Mac, it is worth $500. Hmmmmmm.......

Niklon Loc: Athens, Ga

I have had an HP Pavilion for almost ten years and it is still running strong. For the last few years I have used it as my backup computer. I have it and a Dell Optiplex set up on an A/B switch so I can easily toggle between the two without having two monitors, keyboards, or mouses (never sure whether this should be mouses or mice).

Maybe I just got one of the "good ones", but it has served me well and I use it everyday.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

I THINK people have said on this forum that Photoshop doesn't do "threads", so IF I understood their statements correctly and IF you use Photoshop, the number of threads a processor can handle shouldn't be a big factor in your decision.

Full disclosure: I'm also a Mac user, a mid-2012 Macbook Pro (i5) followed by a late-2012 Mac Mini (i7) which have been dead nuts reliable since new. Both are at end of life for new-OS upgrades, although I gather Apple will continue to issue patches for their current OSs for a number of years - I plan to keep using them as long as they work. Having done 3 or 4 OS upgrades to each over the years, which is simply a matter of downloading and waiting for the new one to install, I never want to go through a Windows OS upgrade again. (It took 7 days of backup/upgrade/reinstall to go from 7 to 10 on my Windows box, and I still didn't get all the old apps to transfer.)

NJphotodoc Loc: Now in the First State

I worked for HP until this past summer and can tell you that HP is pushing AMD due to both cost and the availability of Intel chips. While for most applications, both brands work equally well and in some case, AMD outperforms Intel, but some software simply does not like AMD. I would check to see if your favorite software tools have any specific needs that AMD might find to be a problem. Better safe than sorry.

Ratskinner Loc: Copalis Beach WA

I have used both Intel and AMD. I fell on my sword and purchased a laptop with AMD because of the price, big mistake. AMD is still inferior by a significant margin in my opinion.

Al Freeedman

I have been using a Gateway all in one touch screed, (They are no longer in business), and have been very happy.
I've had Windows 10 installed and a couple of other service call's in ten years.
Have been very fortunate to have a computer guy who is fantastic and only charges $30.00
for a house call.

Captain AL

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

Kleinlib wrote:

I also used PC/Windows my whole career (40 years) and when I retired I bought a 27 " iMac and wow.....so much easier to use and have been using this same iMac for 7 years now. Costs more but well worth it. IMHO

My previous computer was an HP with Windows 7 that I had used for over 15 years before getting the Dell. Let me know when your iMac makes it to 15+ years then we can talk. Besides costing about four times more than the HPs I listed it is an All-In-One computer, which I never cared for no matter who makes it.
In my original post I was going to mention that I can't afford an Apple computer. I guess I should have left that comment in place.

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

NJphotodoc wrote:

I worked for HP until this past summer and can tell you that HP is pushing AMD due to both cost and the availability of Intel chips. While for most applications, both brands work equally well and in some case, AMD outperforms Intel, but some software simply does not like AMD. I would check to see if your favorite software tools have any specific needs that AMD might find to be a problem. Better safe than sorry.

Ratskinner wrote:

I have used both Intel and AMD. I fell on my sword and purchased a laptop with AMD because of the price, big mistake. AMD is still inferior by a significant margin in my opinion.

Thank you for your comments. I was looking to get information from user who have experience with Intel and AMD.

JBRIII

Another consideration for photo processing is graphics cards. PIXINSIGHT a astro package just send out an email about speeding up a program by 10 fold (25 seconds versus 250) using a Nivida card, but needed certain specs. which meant nothing to me. Note these cards can cost between a few hundred and a few thousand and some I don't believe will even fit in some units physically. One required a 750 watt power supply, but something I would need to consider if buying a new computer which is why I mentioned it.

Don't know anything about AMD or graphics card compatibility with them.

Jim

Jay7h

The first one you mentioned seems to have more going for it with a separate video card.

https://www.costco.com/.product.100579377.html?&EMID=B2C_2021_0217_TechDays

I have a 16 year old Dell I am typing on right now and still runs flawlessly.

Garson Loc: Tampa, FL

My Macbook is 5 years old - third one for me. I would never go back to Dell or HP. I now have my first iPhone and will never look back at anything else.

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

Check newegg.com for refurbs.