...Is it even possible to buy a mid-range machine that doesn't do everything the typical user requires? Especially in a desktop machine, which is much simpler to design and much cheaper to get components for?
At this point, if you're not a power user (not doing video stuff, not doing heavy gaming, not doing heavy scientific computations, etc) you probably care as much or more about how the machine connects to the outside world than about what it does internally... and the outside world will change even if you don't upgrade your computer. So make sure the interfaces to the outside world are good-to-excellent. Meaning, HDMI for the video, a better network card than you think you need, and... I forget if USB3 is widespread, but I'd err on the side of getting it. Certainly if USB2, then there ought to be a bunch of them.
Other things nice to have: Memory, but I think that's not a huge concern either for non power-users.
The one thing that goes against your directive of mid-range that's still worth thinking about, is the Solid State Drive. Pricy, but oh Sweet Jesus it speeds some things up. Like, boot time. I timed my machine. Cold start to login screen, twenty six seconds, primarily because of the SSD. If you go that route, though, get Windows 7, which has the drivers that work with those drives.
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At this point, if you're not a power user (not doing video stuff, not doing heavy gaming, not doing heavy scientific computations, etc) you probably care as much or more about how the machine connects to the outside world than about what it does internally... and the outside world will change even if you don't upgrade your computer. So make sure the interfaces to the outside world are good-to-excellent. Meaning, HDMI for the video, a better network card than you think you need, and... I forget if USB3 is widespread, but I'd err on the side of getting it. Certainly if USB2, then there ought to be a bunch of them.
Other things nice to have: Memory, but I think that's not a huge concern either for non power-users.
The one thing that goes against your directive of mid-range that's still worth thinking about, is the Solid State Drive. Pricy, but oh Sweet Jesus it speeds some things up. Like, boot time. I timed my machine. Cold start to login screen, twenty six seconds, primarily because of the SSD. If you go that route, though, get Windows 7, which has the drivers that work with those drives.