I just got back into Old School RuneScape for the first time since 2008ish, and I'm pretty sure playing on my laptop with its smaller screen is causing my headaches. I've been meaning to get a desktop for a while now, and this is as good of a time as any. My main requirements are a decent sized screen (shouldn't be a problem with a desktop I don't think) and the ability to install Windows 10 on it (ie there are drivers that will allow the hardware to work on Windows 10). My budget is $1000, but that's a soft limit.
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If you feel up to it, building your own is the way to go. As much as we hate Reddit, r/buildapc and r/buildapcsales are good resources. PC Part Picker is also a great website, but you need to know what you're doing, which is why r/buildapc is a good resource to go along with it.
If you don't want to build your own, a basic prebuilt or gaming prebuilt would be your way to go. It's been a while since I've looked, so this may be outdated, but I think Origin PC was generally reviewed to have good build quality for gaming prebuilts...but they also seem to start outside of your price range.
Cyberpower seems to be the most budget-focused gaming prebuilts, but, depending on your needs, which sound low, you might not even want a "gaming" PC, and could just get a modern "office" or generic PC.
Also, a thought just occurred to me; you mentioned one of your main concerns was screen size...you could just get a monitor to plug into your existing laptop, and then get a desktop later if you choose to upgrade further.
Yeah, I probably don't need a PC that's explicitly for gaming. The most performance intensive games I play are The Sims 3 (thanks to EA's shitty optimization), pre-2010 Total War games, and Victoria 3. I've had decent luck finding lower end gaming laptops under $1200ish, but I don't know if or how that translates into desktops. I've haven't used desktops regularly since 2010. I got my current gaming laptop on sale for $850, and I think the original price was around $1000.
I'd like to be the guy who can build his own, but I just don't have the time to learn how to do it unfortunately. I get you on Faggit subs though. Niche subs can be so useful even though they make you feel so dirty about supporting that troon infested hellhole. I guess holding your nose and using an ad blocker is the best way to do it if better alternatives don't exist.
I considered that, but I'm 90% sure that would distracting as hell to me, especially since I'd still be using my laptop keyboard. I can't even plug my laptop into my TV to watch movies without positioning the laptop completely out of eyesight.
I'll check out Cyberpower. Low end gaming computers meet my needs quite well. The fact that they can perform moderately intensive machine learning tasks is very useful to me as well.
Why use your laptop keyboard? Plug in a decent external keyboard and monitor, close your laptop up, and never touch it when you're in 'desktop' mode. I've been using a laptop as my primary PC for a few years and that's pretty much what I do.
My understanding is that closing the laptop puts it in sleep/hibernation mode and therefore unable to run anything. If I'm wrong that would certainly solve this particular problem, although I've been wanting a desktop for other reasons for a while now.
It's configurable in power options. Here ya go: https://www.howtogeek.com/412876/how-to-keep-your-laptop-on-with-the-lid-closed-on-windows-10/
The warning about shutting it down they give on there is important. I once closed mine up and put it under a pillow but it was still awake. It got so hot I could barely touch it and I was sure it was going to be bricked. Fortunately it hadn't been under there for too long so it was still alive and I was hella relieved (it was new at the time). I'm sure it would have been dead if it stayed under there for much longer.