I'll go ahead and outline the pros and cons of my future PC options here to help me make a decision:
Pros of Greta as a daily PC:
-Portable. I can take her anywhere I go.
-Performance is rather good for her age thanks to SSD and maxed out RAM. (8GB)
-Dedicated GeForce 710m GPU alongside Intel IGP. Not as good as a desktop GPU, but has good NVENC/CUDA support.
-Built in webcam for Skype calls, eliminating need for separate webcam.
Cons of Greta as daily PC:
-Upgrade options limited besides SSD and RAM. RAM already maxed out.
-Only three USB ports compared to Pearl's seven. No USB 3.0.
-One drive bay, so additional storage needs to be either an SDXC card or external USB HDD.
-Built-in DVD-RW drive. While I don't really use optical media on a PC as much as I used to, I'd have to use an external DVD-RW drive if the internal one dies.
-No audio line-input. Only microphone input.
As for building a rig VS refurbishing a business-grade Dell Optiplex or Lenovo desktop off eBay, I'd likely go for the latter this time around. While building a rig myself is normally the preferable option, it may take some time to save up money for the parts I need, even if I do go for a cheaper AMD-based rig. One of my older desktop PCs was a refurbed Dell Vostro that used an Intel C2D. While the RAM was capped at 4GB, I was able to get rather decent performance out of it. Newer Dell Optiplex towers should support more than 4GB RAM, but if I do decide just to refurb a Dell tower, I'll do my research on a particular model and take note of what kinds of upgrades I will be able to give it.
I noted that I'm considering saving up for a MS Surface Pro tablet. As I am starting to work on my drawing skills, having a Surface Pro would be a great tool for that. They are kind of expensive though. They have a $799 base model, but it's limited in both storage and RAM. I'd have to spend near $1,000 for a model that has decent RAM and SSD size, and that's not counting accessories like a keyboard cover and stylus. I could go with a used Surface Pro tablet. First or second gen Surface Pros are very affordable, and according to a YouTube video below, they can still be very capable devices today. The bad part is Surface Pro batteries aren't easy to replace. Who knows how much charge the batteries hold after all these years. If battery life becomes more of a concern going forward, it may be best to just acquire a decent used tablet/laptop convertible. eBay does list old Gateway M-285 tablets, which are the same model of my first laptop/tablet from college. They are very large and clunky, and I believe you can only go up to 4GB RAM with those.
I love foxes, especially the one in my avatar.