u/Outrageous-Water1161

My Gexa contract is up 7/15. Obviously their renewal offer was ridiculously high so I started on powertochoose. While also looking in here for tips (really appreciate the energy shopping wiki!)

After seeing how many here said spring/fall renewals are cheaper I looked up 3 month plans. There’s only 1 available, from Infuse Energy, first picture attached. 8.662 rate + $2 base charge.. but it’s only 3 months.

For comparison I found the best 12 month plan from APG&E, other picture. 6.308 rate.

We use over 2,000 kWh/month year round. The AC really only stops running if it’s below 60 outside (I have a heat intolerance sadly).

I’m not very experienced at reading the facts labels so I could be missing something on either of these. But is the electricity rate in October good enough to bother with the 3 month plan or should I just go with 12 month?

Especially considering all the AI centers being built, new grid rules & all the other click bait in the news about electricity in TX.

Also.. all of the companies offering lower rate plans had 1-2 stars. On the first page anyways. Does their star rating matter that much?

https://preview.redd.it/evehh0rbthah1.jpg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=01e5f92d37d27ee40d6503f7c0bb8269a2bf07b6

https://preview.redd.it/6lyrxyqbthah1.jpg?width=1206&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=98fd75e25ca5988ec8c61ec3d5f52333753e79e3

Sorry for being wordy..

I need a new mini PC, obviously. My problem is.. before covid when I was in an office every day our IT guy (who is no longer with the company or I’d be annoying him instead of y’all) set everyone up with Dell computers, then eventually minis, and they would inevitably start having issues in a year or so and have to be replaced before 3 years.

When I started working from home 2020 and needed a good PC I asked the IT guy to get me the most top of the line Dell he could build. 6 years later it’s just now started to have issues. Bad enough ones that I want to get a new PC before it completely fails.

My problem is I’m looking for top of the line due to the history of failing PCs. But wow the price has grown exponentially since 2020. And I don’t know what I really need.

Obviously I want it to last. I do not want to replace this before 2030, if that’s possible these days. I remote in to the company that I originally worked in the office for so I need an ethernet port that’s reliable. My printer is wifi, so that’s a need too (no Killer wifi). I also have clients on the side plus another side hustle.

My biggest need is document storage. I scan or save sooo many documents. Quickbooks is constantly open. I don’t keep more than 3 or 4 browser tabs open, I won’t game or stream on this.

I need at least 4 USB A ports, and need it to support 2 monitors. Don’t need audio.

Windows, not Mac. I use Excel as much as Quickbooks. Prefer AMD to Intel just cause of experience on laptops, but maybe Intel is better on PCs?

What I’m confused about is RAM and memory needed. And brands. Prior recommendations here rave about Beelink and Geekdom etc etc while other people mention pre installed malware from those brands, or other catastrophes. So I hesitate, but Lenovo and HP are expensive and I don’t know which ones of theirs I would need.

Budget is $1200 if I think it’ll last.

Non cloud backup recommendations/methods also desired.