When you are looking at configurations for a desktop computer that would serve as an office workstation, performance should not be your primary focus. The way we use computers for productivity has changed and hardware had very little to do with it.

From Locally Installed Software to Web Apps

One important way in which productivity and desktop computers have changed is how productivity applications are designed. Less than a decade ago, most productivity tasks were performed using software that had to be installed locally on the office workstation. This sometimes leads to loads of software being stalled which automatically implied the use of storage space, RAM and demanded high processing power. These days, most software that we use in a desktop computer for various productivity tasks is now web-based. Web-based applications work a bit differently. First of all, there is nothing installed locally on the desktop computer. Implicitly, you need less storage space. At the same time, they are better optimized to require less RAM and less CPU. You can do more with the same computer.

Why Reliability Matters

With modern desktop computers that are used in office environments, performance falls off somewhere in the background. Even the most modest configuration can be good enough to perform all the basic tasks. If you are dealing with resource-intensive applications such as video editing software, programming, photo editing, or music production, hardware will still matter. For other tasks, you can get by with a cheap configuration.

As hardware seems to matter less and less, for office use, a desktop computer needs to be reliable. Old computers that came with traditional hard drives would often fail which lead to data loss. Modern desktop computers for office use need to have carefully selected hardware that just works and does not fail. Having a reliable system reduces the chances of losing data or having downtime for the user while waiting for a repair.