The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #120908 Message #2638449
Posted By: JohnInKansas
22-May-09 - 09:13 AM
Thread Name: Tech: Computer Crashes Every 10 Minutes
Subject: RE: Tech: Computer Crashes Every 10 Minutes
Minimums for a useful desktop in the US are in the $400 - $500 range. There are a few "bare bones" systems available from local builders in most areas that might get down to near $300, but they're mostly just the bones. If there's a possibility you may (willingly or otherwise) want/need to run Vista before the new machine dies, 2GB RAM should be considered the minimum acceptable. Almost all new machines here, including even the minimalist ones, are coming out of the box with 250GB hard drives, but you should check to make sure. Nearly everything now will have SAT drives rather than the EIDE used in older machines, but adding an extra drive usually isn't much of a problem with either if you match what you have.
It is harder now to get WinXP preinstalled, and you may have to pay more. If you're replacing a failed machine, you should be able to transfer the WinXP from the old one to the new one, but you'll have to check it out with Mickey.
Vista Home Basic will be "free" on almost anything you can buy now, and probably is sort of OK for most users, although I'd prefer Home Premium for my friends who ask for my help and Vista Business was better for me (despite a significant added cost and still not the top of the line). Even Microsoft admits that Vista is pretty much a lost cause, and some analysts say Windows 7 will be a big improvement, but it's likely to be some (few) months before you can get an economical machine with Win7, and quite a few more months for useful feedback on how good/bad it really is.
No matter what you do, save the old hard drive like it's made out of platinum and gold wrapped in egg shells until you get everything back in place - whether on a rebuilt machine or a new one.
John