It's
been almost three years since I did a piece about hardware that novel
writers should focus on (Click HERE to read original post). However,
in the past year the entire industry has changed to the point it's
exciting instead of the lull we had for the last six years. I'm
mostly updating the two areas where things have changed the most:
CPU's and storage drives. Far as printers, keyboards, and monitors,
everything is the same as that old post.
The
first major change to CPU's is AMD is now competing again with Intel.
AMD and Intel in very,very basic terms are like Ford and Chevy in
the processing world. The world's computers in the last 15 years
will be either running an AMD or Intel chip. Even Macs are running
Intels now.
Without
going into very boring details, AMD was not offering the same or
close performance as Intel for almost 6 years. So, for six years,
Intel would launch the equivalent of a new car with ONE extra
horsepower every year during this period. In other words, every new
launch was as exciting as decaf coffee.
However,
March of this year, AMD took a sledgehammer to Intel, and woke up the
entire industry. The reason this is great is when AMD and Intel
fight, we get newer hardware worth the wait. Now, they're launching
systems with, sticking to the car analogy here, 50 to 100 more
horsepower versus 1 horsepower. It's at the point where waiting is
worth it.
The
other unique thing is multi-core / thread CPU's are becoming the
normal these days. You will see cores and threads. Here's a quick
summary of what core and thread mean:
-
Core – the physical processing part. A quad-core for example means
there’s four physical processors i.e. it’s like a system having
four Pentium 4’s inside it.
-
Thread – The splitting of a CPU’s power virtually. Not all tasks
need the core’s full power, so it will divide itself in light loads
such as what I’m doing now: playing music and running Word.
The
reason for this information is because more core / more thread CPU's
are becoming very affordable. There are 6-core / 12 thread CPU's are
under $200. About a year ago, they would cost $400 or more. The more
cores / threads in a system, the more programs you can run at once
without lag. I don't know about everyone else,but when I'm writing I
will have music playing, an Excel file, a Word file, few Notepad
files, and a web browser open all at the same time. If I tried to do
this on a single core system (think a 2006 Pentium 4), I wouldn't be
able to run them all at once without the system freezing. I'm
currently one a quad-core, so there's no noticeable lag. Again, more
CPU's / threads, the more stuff you could run at once.
There
is where I explain why all this matters when it comes to writing. For
the first time in years, we have two major choices again, and with
the new stuff coming out, it's almost at the point we're were back to
"wait till this comes out" mode. Again, last five years,
the market was nothing more than a new model number, and no juge
difference in performance. There is so much new technology hitting
the shelves within the next few months in both desktops and laptops,
I'm al,pst afraid to suggest a system unless it's needed now.
The
biggest two things that are coming out for desktops are motherboards
for Intel's new line CPU's that are finally an improvement versus
last years models, plus AMD is going to launch another series of
processors. As a writer, I'm waiting to even look at a new system to
replace my 3 year old system till they both launch. The Intel
motherboards will make their new $120 quad-core CPU more affordable
and attractive, and the AMD's won't require additional hardware to
run your monitor. Again, when these do come out, a new writing system
will be more affordable and actually be faster, and will show up on
store shelves some time after 2018. On the laptop side of things, AMD
is slowly launching their products, but nothing out through the
computer manufactures as of yet. Also, Intel's new line isn't out
fully as well. Again, more cores /threads in a newer laptop = better
multitasking.
With
all this being said, here's what I would consider on both AMD and
Intel as of today for a desktop writing system. I wouldn't go higher
than a $200 CPU because after that, you will only benefit if running
heavy, heavy 3D games, Photoshop, or 4K video editing.
-
Intel -
Lowest:
Core i3 8100 - As mentioned above, this is the new $120 quad-core
from Intel.
Highest:
Core i5-8400 - 6-cores for $200
-
AMD
Lowest:
Ryzen 3 1300 - $110 quad-core
Highest:
Ryzen 5 1500 - $190 for 4-core / 8 threads
Whatever
CPU you do get, always at least get 8GB of RAM. With Windows 10, 8GB
is the ideal amount of RAM for office work. The absolute lowest I
would is 4GB, but even with 4GB, the system can lag. Anything higher
won't make a big difference to justify the cost. The absolute highest
I would go is 16GB, but I'm quite happy with 8GB of RAM. After that,
it becomes more about bragging rights about how money you can spend.
Even the newest PC games don't even suggest 16GB of RAM.
The
second focus is storage. I know everyone has seen or heard about SSD.
An SSD in very basic terms is imagine an internal thumb drive big
enough to hold Windows and your programs. Yes, they do make the
system very snappy, and you can have the system completely off to
ready to go in under 15 seconds. I've been on the fence about getting
one,but from what I've been told, they won't make you write any
faster since you are the biggest bottleneck about how fast the words
appear on the screen. One day, I'll get one since they do help in
other aspects, but if I had to go with a SSD or a traditional hard
drive for a desktop, I rather have a traditional hard drive due to
the bigger storage capacity for the money. Now, on a laptop, SSD
because they’re not prone to fail as easily say if it happens to
drop because there are no moving parts inside, and they do help with
battery life.
My
final thought is this: don’t spend more money than needed. I bought
my system for $500 three years ago, and it’s still going strong. A
$2,000 system won’t make you a better writer. The limit all of us
writers face is imagination, not technology. If you do go overboard
with technology, spend the money in something that can save you and
your work the most heartache, and that’s backup devices (See HERE
for more information). Until then, happy writing.
