As of the end of January 2022 we have discontinued the Pro PC.

There are a couple of reasons for this decision which I’ll cover below.

Graphics Cards

For many years we have championed using so called ‘lower powered’ graphics cards in multi-screen computers.

Despite what many people claim online you don’t actually need a massively powerful graphics card to run multiple monitors, and if you are not doing high end video / CAD work, or playing the latest games, then a high powered graphics card is a waste of money.

This is all still completely true and we stand by it 100%.

The problem we have had over the past 2 years is that there has been a global shortage of chips which are used graphics cards (and other products) this has decimated the availability of both high end and lower end graphics cards, resulting in big price increases.

Some of the cards we used in the Pro PC’s jumped in price by over three times in a very short space of time.

This led to our lower priced cards not being any lower cost than the more powerful cards we used in some of our other builds, making it very hard to justify using them anymore.

In addition to this we are seeing higher resolution screens become more popular which the lower powered cards simply don’t support, whereas the professional class cards used on many of our other builds do support them.

Processors

The main driver of performance in a PC is the CPU or processor, for the Pro PC’s we always used the Intel i3 chips which are responsive and great for many office based applications and general computer work.

In January 2022 Intel released the latest i3, the 12100F which is a direct replacement for the 10th generation i3 10100F. There was no 11th generation i3 chip which is why we used the 10th generation option.

The new 12th generation i3 offers a massive leap in performance over the outgoing 10th gen chip, it costs a bit more, and the motherboard required for it costs more, but the performance level is crazy at this price point.

It really is very difficult to recommend anything else for a supposedly ‘cheaper’ build.

It is so good that it matches the higher end i5 chip we used to use on many of our other builds which makes it a perfect fit for our mid-range Ultra PC, but if we use it on that build, and the graphics cards used are the same, then what exactly is the difference between the Pro and the Ultra?

Very little really.

Sure we could artificially inflate the cost of the Ultra, or drop down to using really budget parts for the Pro PC but that would just leave a compromised system that we are not happy with and wouldn’t want to sell.

So instead we have made the decision to drop the Pro PC from our line up. Our Ultra PC offers major performance increases in every department and price wise it only works out to be less than a 14% price rise over what we used to list the Pro for.

If you upped the previous Pro PC spec to match what the Ultra offers in terms of performance levels (which many people did) the Ultra works out to be significantly lower priced.

For any repeat customers looking for a replacement Pro PC, or anyone else looking for a low cost multi-screen computer then we strongly recommend checking out the Ultra PC.

View, configure, and buy your Ultra PC now.

Written by Darren @ Multiple Monitors

Last Updated: February, 2022