video playing.............

[mercguy]

If your cp is 10 years old updating it is like putting lipstick on a pig! David is right a core 2 duo is the way to go. I have a 2.4GH core 2 duo 3mb ram with the 8800 NVIDIA video card. With those 3 components, it will run anything you can throw at it with no problem. It is all from Dell, the XPS 410. Every week Dell updates their site with a new deal weather its free shipping, bigger monitor, extra memory, larger hard drive upgrades for free. If you can get 3 - 5 years on a cp your doing pretty good. Then it is time to catch up.

the CPU is about 3yrs old, but, you are absolutely right, it is time to replace the OLD stuff with NEW equipment! I have always been an AMD fan, so not sure about the Intel stuff yet, but definately will check out the XPS410

[mercguy]

Follow the link below :

http://www.apple.com/getamac/

Opps I forgot your Windows box will not play video's even more reason to make the switch If you want to stick with a Bill Gates box step up to the Intel Core 2 Duo ranks and you should be happy Mac or PC

so many choices..........

[David_L6]

The Dell looks like a pretty good deal: $1,199 ($150 added for decent video card and $50 for a 3GHz dual core ($999 with no upgrades).

3.0GHzGHz dual core CPU (subtract $50 for a 2.4GHz quad core)
3GB RAM
320GB hard drive

With the Dell XPS 420 you get Vista (no choices.......).

For comparison:

Apple Mac mini: $799

2.0GHz CPU
1GB RAM (add $150 for another gig of RAM)
120GB hard drive (add $75 for a 160GB hard drive - $75 for 40GB?! )
I can't tell what Apple does for video. Onboard I guess........ (No video card choices)
With the Mac mini you get OS X (again, no choices.......)


You could build your own.....

With just a quick glance through Newegg it appears that you can put a decent machine together for a reasonable price.

Motherboard: $108
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813121314

3.0GHz CPU: $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115037

2GB RAM: $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

250GB hard drive: $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148262

Power supply: $75
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703011

Video card: $150

XP Pro: $140 (should be able to find OEM XP Home cheaper somewhere)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116400

DVD burner: $34

Total so far: $854 (I didn't deduct rebates or add shipping)

You'll still need a case. Price varies a lot on those (from ~$35 to over $350).

You could shop around for better prices on individual items and get the total price down even further.

[sam]

Apples and Oranges (or is it Lemons?) :-)

From what I've heard that isn't enough power on the Dell to run Vista at the same performance level you will get from the Mini with less

If you are really on a budget watch Apple's site for referb's at really good discount prices, full warranty

[mercguy]

Apple.......

so if I chose to switch to the Apple, would all my software I have for my PC not work? Lots of $$$$ tied into the various software programs (quickbooks, Office, etc, etc, etc) ............do not want to have to rebuy everything

[ricochet112]

so if I chose to switch to the Apple, would all my software I have for my PC not work? Lots of $$$$ tied into the various software programs (quickbooks, Office, etc, etc, etc) ............do not want to have to rebuy everything

Be careful, I tried to use Firefox exclusively and it won't launch some parts look-up programs because they HAVE to run on IE!!!???

Can you run IE on a Mac?

You'll have to check the compatibility on your software carefully, most make it work on both, but not all.

I do about the same thing on my PC at work (it sounds like anyway) , it's an antiquated (4 years old) Compaq; 2.8ghz, 768mb RAM, WinXP, and a 1.5mbps DSL line and I stream video fine.

Get the computer with the fastest BUS speed you can afford.
Get at least 2gb of RAM if you go Vista.
Do you update BIOS and drivers often? Very key!

[mercguy]

Be careful, I tried to use Firefox exclusively and it won't launch some parts look-up programs because they HAVE to run on IE!!!???

Can you run IE on a Mac?

You'll have to check the compatibility on your software carefully, most make it work on both, but not all.

I do about the same thing on my PC at work (it sounds like anyway) , it's an antiquated (4 years old) Compaq; 2.8ghz, 768mb RAM, WinXP, and a 1.5mbps DSL line and I stream video fine.

Get the computer with the fastest BUS speed you can afford.
Get at least 2gb of RAM if you go Vista.
Do you update BIOS and drivers often? Very key!

I used to update and tinker with my computer daily, prior to installing Windows XP, when I had the old Windows ME and had that whole system figured out, but now am kind lost with XP, even though it is now outdated with the advent of VISTA..............sheez!! I forgot how to do the BIOS update?????????

[sam]

All your software can run on the Mac

I have only found 2 or 3 web sites in the past 4 years that I had to use IE for. Those stone age sites are few and far between.

Yes, you can run IE on a Mac ... by running an
"emulator" that makes the software think you have a PC. It does use up some memory and sometimes it goes slow and crashes ... just like a real PC especially if you try to make it run Vista

The Mini comes with an emulator called "Parallels", you are covered to continue to use all the software you've been running on XP. No additional cost.

If you do a Google search you should be able to find the news story about some of Dell's big commercial customers refusing additional shipments of Vista equipped machines ... I almost fell out of my chair laughing! Customers who have both want XP, 'cause it works and they just can't figure out how to keep Vista rollin' along. If the pros can't do it, do you think you can?

[mercguy]

I have only found 2 or 3 web sites in the past 4 years that I had to use IE for. Those stone age sites are few and far between.

Yes, you can run IE on a Mac ... by running an
"emulator" that makes the software think you have a PC. It does use up some memory and sometimes it goes slow and crashes ... just like a real PC especially if you try to make it run Vista

The Mini comes with an emulator called "Parallels", you are covered to continue to use all the software you've been running on XP. No additional cost.

If you do a Google search you should be able to find the news story about some of Dell's big commercial customers refusing additional shipments of Vista equipped machines ... I almost fell out of my chair laughing! Customers who have both want XP, 'cause it works and they just can't figure out how to keep Vista rollin' along. If the pros can't do it, do you think you can?

luckily I have not had 1 single "crash" after installing XP over 2 years ago and would like to keep using it on a new system.

where is a site with info (and pricing) on this Mini Mac.........................NEVER MIND I found it on the Apple website. Sounds like the way to go..........

[aojesus]

Slightly off topic but I have a DVD question. Joey tried to play a DVD on the toughbook Sunday and it said we needed a decoder. Any recommendations on how to remedy this problem?

Thanks,

[David_L6]

Vista is OK. I've been playing around with it since RC1 (the first beta release). If you turn off some of the annoying (UAC) and resource hogging (Aero Glass) stuff it's not a lot different from XP. That said, I am more comfortable with XP and use it more. I've run Vista Business, Vista Ultimate 32 bit, and Vista Ultimate 64 bit. I built a computer with Vista Ultimate (32 bit) for my son and bought a notebook with Vista Home Premium for my daughter and neither of them had any problems at all making the change from XP Home to Vista.

I am running World Community Grid (http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org) on three computers here at home. All three have a different OS: XP Pro (32 bit), Vista Business (32 bit), and Vista Ultimate (64 bit). I don't have as many programs installed on the Vista computers and have played with Business less than Ultimate but I haven't run into any problems. So far I've been able to do anything with one computer that I can do with one of the others......

I haven't tried a Mac (not yet anyway). I've heard too many horror stories about various programs not playing well with OS X. I also don't like Apple's very limited upgrade choices and unlimited upgrade prices. For example: 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM - 2X2GB [Add $700]. $700!!! No thanks. I'm running the memory in the following link in my Vista 64 bit computer. It's faster, has a lifetime warranty, and cost $115. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231145


I still say roll your own....... It isn't difficult (if I can do it......) and you can chose the operating system as well as all the other components.

[David_L6]

Slightly off topic but I have a DVD question. Joey tried to play a DVD on the toughbook Sunday and it said we needed a decoder. Any recommendations on how to remedy this problem?

Thanks,

Take a look here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win...r/plugins.aspx

[aojesus]

Thank You!!
Joey will be happy!

[buckner58]

It looks like that the speed of the internet you’re getting isn’t enough. That’s why you are unable to watch any kind of video. To make everything right, you need to test the speed of your internet. There are so many tools for this purpose but here’s the one that I use ptcl speedput After testing the speed of your internet, you can easily make sure that whether or not you want to upgrade your internet speed. When the speed gets fixed, you can easily watch any kind of video without getting stuck.

[DiGia54D]

FYI this thread is 13 years old