First, thanks for providing your detailed thoughts about this! I've been dragging my feet about it for ages because it's an expensive decision, and there's a lot I don't know, so all the jargon feels similar to how someone might if they were told they had to write an important essay about the neurological underpinnings of schizophrenia and the specific imaging techniques used to reveal them... or something like that. It's outside my realm of knowledge, is my point! Several things you mentioned just don't mean anything to me because I'm missing all the context that becomes implicit with experience.
Whether or not one CPU is better than another isn't something I understand, for example. I don't even really know what a CPU is! I can say with a high degree of confidence that it's unlikely that I'll be upgrading any of the computer's parts though, for the same reason I'm not building my own from scratch. I'll just get a completely new one in a few years, like I'm aiming to do here.
I don't think that I have a 4K monitor, and that high-resolution+framerate gaming sort of thing isn't something I've ever done. I wonder whether I'd get into it if I actually had the technology for it, but it seems unlikely to me. Seems more fitting for fast action games, which don't interest me anyway.
I included a link in the post to the website I was using - this one - because it gives me a limited number of options for each part, since that's way less overwhelming than all the choices in the world, and I don't think it has any options for 2.5 inch SSDs?
How much should I be concerned about power supply stuff? I don't know anything about that and haven't given it any thought!
I'm particularly interested in what you said about audio. I've never used a DAW - I keep meaning to at least experiment, but I like the notation of Sibelius and wouldn't know where to start - and I'm not an audiophile who cares about ultra-subtle variation in sound quality or whatever (which is why I was fine with my music using the default midi soundset for years). What difference does an audio interface make, exactly? And are there options for that part on that website I linked to?
I still feel overwhelmed and entirely out of my comfort zone about all this, especially with people suggesting different things! But thanks again for your help. Hopefully I can finally come to a decision soon...
Whether or not one CPU is better than another isn't something I understand, for example. I don't even really know what a CPU is! I can say with a high degree of confidence that it's unlikely that I'll be upgrading any of the computer's parts though, for the same reason I'm not building my own from scratch. I'll just get a completely new one in a few years, like I'm aiming to do here.
I don't think that I have a 4K monitor, and that high-resolution+framerate gaming sort of thing isn't something I've ever done. I wonder whether I'd get into it if I actually had the technology for it, but it seems unlikely to me. Seems more fitting for fast action games, which don't interest me anyway.
I included a link in the post to the website I was using - this one - because it gives me a limited number of options for each part, since that's way less overwhelming than all the choices in the world, and I don't think it has any options for 2.5 inch SSDs?
How much should I be concerned about power supply stuff? I don't know anything about that and haven't given it any thought!
I'm particularly interested in what you said about audio. I've never used a DAW - I keep meaning to at least experiment, but I like the notation of Sibelius and wouldn't know where to start - and I'm not an audiophile who cares about ultra-subtle variation in sound quality or whatever (which is why I was fine with my music using the default midi soundset for years). What difference does an audio interface make, exactly? And are there options for that part on that website I linked to?
I still feel overwhelmed and entirely out of my comfort zone about all this, especially with people suggesting different things! But thanks again for your help. Hopefully I can finally come to a decision soon...