[TriLUG] Ideas for Replacing Home Office Workhorse Computer?

[via TriLUG]

As embarrassing as it is to admit it, I accidentally killed my Asus
laptop yesterday when trying to plug in the 3.5mm headphones and I think
I accidentally hit the power pin on a USB port instead.  Thing won't
even power up .... So here's what I did (today): 

Went to Intrex and had them put together a generic system without an OS
(no Windows - I will put Linux on it).  Plain vanilla hardware, an ATX
power supply, with an250 GB SSD and 8 GB of memory with an I5 processor
(my compromise between cost and performance).  While a laptop is
convenient, I still believe you get more power per dollar in a tower
unit.  There isn't a component in there that is over $150 and should be
up-gradable or repairable for quite some time. They said it will be
built today, run diagnostics on it or about 24 hours and I can pick it
up tomorrow afternoon. Comes with a 1 year warranty. 

I also supported the local brick and mortar store. 

Now I just need to decide on which distribution to run.  May have to
look at a scratch build of Gentoo to customize it to the hardware. 

On 2019-01-03 16:52, Alan Porter via TriLUG wrote:

>> I know that I could same some $$$ by building
>> from parts, but for this use case I need ....
> 
> And remember, it shouldn't always be about the $$$.
> 
> There is value in supporting businesses that you would
> like to see survive.  This is especially true for local
> businesses.
> 
> Alan