What should I buy?

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Here's a typical working situation for me: I have open at the same time:

Encarta reference 2005, four dictionaries, Microsoft Word, Firefox, Eudora
emailer, maybe AOL, ZoneAlarm, AVG, plus sundry other security programs,
misc. other programs. I use very little multimedia aside from data work with
CD-ROM

Current set-up is Windows XP Home, Pentium III and 526 M RAM, Broadband.
Speed is not awful, but I sure would like to move faster.

How much RAM do I need? Is 1 or 2 GB plenty?
Which processor - is the Pentium IV OK or is there a better choice.
5100, 5100C, or 9100?

Thanks in advance

Ma

 

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"Ma No" <kin@earthkink.ten> wrote in message
news:%w1Le.4389$Wi6.263@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> Here's a typical working situation for me: I have open at the same time:
>
> Encarta reference 2005, four dictionaries, Microsoft Word, Firefox, Eudora
> emailer, maybe AOL, ZoneAlarm, AVG, plus sundry other security programs,
> misc. other programs. I use very little multimedia aside from data work
> with CD-ROM
>
> Current set-up is Windows XP Home, Pentium III and 526 M RAM, Broadband.
> Speed is not awful, but I sure would like to move faster.
>
> How much RAM do I need? Is 1 or 2 GB plenty?
> Which processor - is the Pentium IV OK or is there a better choice.
> 5100, 5100C, or 9100?
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Ma
>

Your needs will not stress any current generation machine. 512MB would
probably be adequate, but 1G would give you more headroom. Skip the Celeron
and go with a reasonable powerful Pentium 4. The 9100 is probably overkill,
so the 5100 would be a nice choice for you. Unless you have serious space
limitations, I would avoid the 5100C, as the expandability is limited.

Tom

 

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Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <%w1Le.4389$Wi6.263@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
kin@earthkink.ten says...
> Here's a typical working situation for me: I have open at the same time:
>
> Encarta reference 2005, four dictionaries, Microsoft Word, Firefox, Eudora
> emailer, maybe AOL, ZoneAlarm, AVG, plus sundry other security programs,
> misc. other programs. I use very little multimedia aside from data work with
> CD-ROM
>
> Current set-up is Windows XP Home, Pentium III and 526 M RAM, Broadband.
> Speed is not awful, but I sure would like to move faster.
>
> How much RAM do I need? Is 1 or 2 GB plenty?
> Which processor - is the Pentium IV OK or is there a better choice.
> 5100, 5100C, or 9100?

While your needs are limited, there are several things I would strongly
suggest:

1) Real video card, not SHARED MEMORY with it build into the motherboard
2) P4 3ghz with Hyper Threading enabled
3) 512MB RAM is very nice for a typical station - like yours
4) quality monitor of some type
5) Quality Antivirus software
6) A NAT Router as a barrier to the Internet
7) Download and install FireFox from www.mozilla.org and use it instead
of Internet Explorer as much as you can.
8) Consider how you are going to backup your files
9) Considering #8, get at least a DVD+/-RW drive and buy a few DVD+RW
disks to backup your files to on a regular basis
10) Consider getting the FULL Nero CD/DVD burning package for #8/#9
above
11) Make sure you get the XP media

1GB of RAM would be overkill for your needs, better to spend the money
on a NAT Router to protect your computer.

--

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[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

Thanks guys for the responses! I was able to follow just about everything
except I didn't understand:

> 1) Real video card, not SHARED MEMORY with it build into the motherboard

I didn't see this as a choice. Does it perhaps go under some other name?

> 2) P4 3ghz with Hyper Threading enabled

I've read nice things about the dual core processor. Perhaps I'm not
phrasing it correctly, but is this significantly different?

Ma

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.dell (More info?)

In article <1Q3Le.5168$RS.4238@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
kin@earthkink.ten says...
> Thanks guys for the responses! I was able to follow just about everything
> except I didn't understand:
>
> > 1) Real video card, not SHARED MEMORY with it build into the motherboard
>
> I didn't see this as a choice. Does it perhaps go under some other name?

If the system states that it as an AGP slot or some other video card,
that does not mention Shared Memory, then it's got a real video card.

> > 2) P4 3ghz with Hyper Threading enabled
>
> I've read nice things about the dual core processor. Perhaps I'm not
> phrasing it correctly, but is this significantly different?

Nothing you said indicated that you needed the power of a Dual Core
system. If you want something reliable and with power, Dual Core is new,
but Dual CPU's are proven and reliable - If you want to spend the money,
get a Dual Xeon 3ghz system

HT is nice, but unless your applications are written for it, you won't
see much benefit (not in FireFox, IE, Word).... Dual Core is like Dual
CPU's, but I think that Dual CPU's actually have higher through-put in
the same speed.

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