[AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Sat Jun 11 10:25:44 CDT 2011


Hi Rocky:

No sure what the best computer is but when I was last asked the computer I
recommended or rather the features I recommended were as follows:

2 x 500GB HD, Drives of that size are fairly cheap and as picture and music
storage is common they can fill up quick. Separating the system into 2
drives allows system to have a backup or multi-bootup or separating OS from
data and in the event of a drive crash not all the 'eggs are in one basket'.
   
64Bit is pretty well the standard...it is so much faster (with the right OS
will run both 32 and 64 applications) Window 7 Ultima and professional have
the capabilities to have both type of applications without problems.

Radeon, from AMD and GeForce from Mivida video cards are pretty well the
standards in good and very good graphics cards. They are very fast and have
a very fine graphic image. Good for the eyes when doing close work and will
run any games without issues.

4 GB of RAM is also standard faire for most of the current systems. Windows
OS will thank you for it.

1 GB NICs are good to have as if the environment is capable and compatible
it will manage data across the network and internet up to an estimated 10
times faster that the older 10/100MB LAN cards.

OTOH as a student he might prefer one of the new MACs. They are a little
more expensive to get into but they are very popular as they are super
simple to run. The down side is they will have limited software and are not
as easy to hack or upgrade but their popularity among the non computer
student crowd can not be denied. They can also be made to dual boot from MAC
OS to Windows OS, if properly configured.

HTH
Jim
  
 
-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
rockysmolin at bchacc.com
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2011 6:26 AM
To: dba-ot at databaseadvisors.com
Cc: dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com; accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: [AccessD] OT: Shopping for a new comp

Dear List:

It's time.  My current development box is 4-5 years old.  Dell P4, 3GHz,
XP, limited to 2 GB RAM.  And the HD is pretty small (<100 GB, IIRC -
I'm not at home at the moment - in Chicago, actually), though it was
huge at the time.  Been a very solid workhorse but (like me) is slowing
down. I think part of the problem is that I have more stuff open than I
used to so there's some swapping going on.

I could dump the HD, reformat and reload I suppose.   

My 14 y.o. wants a more powerful box, too and needs better graphics than
he has.  So I told him with the right GPA at the end of the year I'll
get him a new box, too.

All we need are the boxes, BTW - got plenty displays and external HD.

I need speed, not a lot of graphics, and no need for huge HD storage.
Any new box will have a big enough HD for me.  

But the new crop of multi-core processors is unfamiliar to me.  

We'll probably take a field trip to Fry's but if Dell has a good price I
usually order from them and have it delivered.

What would you advise?  

TIA

ROcky





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