[random28345]

Why not get a modern (Haswell or later) Intel CPU and a motherboard with DisplayPort output? You don't need a discrete GPU unless you're MLing or gaming, and you can splurge a bit and get something with DDR4 and/or NVMe. Having faster IO is the best way to make "productivity" software like spreadsheets and editors faster.

== gratuitous shilling below ==

For Christmas I got a new CPU/motherboard combo with a Samsung 960 EVO SSD, and it's ludicrously fast, decently cheap, and a noticeable improvement over my old (heh) SATA SSD.

http://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/minisite/ssd/product/co...

[eng_monkey]

Thanks for the suggestion. It is something I had considered; to replace the motherboard and the CPU with the new AMD Ryzen. But if I remember correctly, it is difficult to find motherboards that include video output (especially through Display Port). So I would have, as you mention, go with Intel, which seems a missed opportunity given the new AMD processors?

[random28345]

Intel still has a good edge on single-core performance. And productivity software is about pushing lots of instructions through a single core.