Hi Meta,
SYSTEM COMPONENTS
Dimension 5150 Qty 1
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 w/HT Technology (3.0GHz,800FSB), Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Unit Price $2,254.00
Save $200 on select Dimension 5150 desktops through Dell Small BusinessSpecial offer View Details
- $200.00
Meta: Good basic choice, but UGH! $2,254.00.....
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Catalog Number: 4
Module Description Show Details
Processor Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 w/HT Technology (3.0GHz,800FSB)
META: Nice. This should work well for you.
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Operating System Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
Meta: I like XP pro myself, but if you are not using it for business, then Home Ed should do the trick rather well.
(That is, until Windows Vista comes out next year.)
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Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz (2x512M)
Meta: How much memory should one get?
Answer: As much as you can afford. 1 Gig should do the trick for most of your computing needs, unless you are doing some serious video processing work.
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Keyboard Dell USB Keyboard
Monitor 19 inch Ultrasharp™ 1905FP Digital Flat Panel
Meta: Wait 'till you get this in your space. (P.s. It's Ok to touch the screen and see the little "waves" go round your finger.
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Video Cards 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon X300 SE HyperMemory
Meta: This should give you enough power to play most games at a reasonable level, but for the best experience, you can't beat the Nvidia GeForce GTX 7800
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_7800.htmlAre the graphics that good?
I say, they are MIND NUMBING!!!
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Internal Hard Drives 160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
Meta: That's a good size HD! Are you planning on creating a audio/video library? If so, that's a good size.
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Floppy Drive and Media Reader 3.5 in Floppy Drive
Meta: Floppy wha--? *Drive* you say?
What's that?
Seriously though. You don't need one anymore, and why would you want to spend extra cash for a device that stores less info per disk than a $25.00 Mp3 player?
Think of floppy drives as you think of your own appendix.
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Mouse Dell® 2-button USB mouse
Meta: I recommend the optical usb mouse. (Laser optical are the best, but even with the standard LED optical, you will notice a HUGE difference in ease of use.
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Network Card Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet
Modem No Modem Requested
Meta: I was glad to see that Dell now included a Network card as "basic hardware". Note: Unless you live in Malawi, Africa, or some other 3rd world country, You should not even use the word "Modem" in your vocabulary.
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CD or DVD Drives -- Read, Write and Store Data
Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 16x DVD+/-RW w/dbl layer write capability
Meta: TWO drives, eh? Why Mr. Van Canna, you old Pirate, you!
Speaking of which, if you like Music, and you want it free, and you want to select between hundreds of genres and artists,
Go HERE:
http://music.download.com/2001-1_32-0.html***********************************************
Sound Integrated Audio with Dolby Digital 7.1 capability
Speakers
Meta: Meh..Speakers are speakers. I use headphones.
(Unless we are talking about home theatre or saturated home music systems, which is a differing story.
The best audio schtuff:
http://tinyurl.com/7nj6m***********************************************
Productivity Software Pre-Installed Microsoft Office Basic - Includes Word, Excel and Outlook email
Security Software Pre-Installed
McAfee SecurityCenter with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 36-months
Digital Music Musicmatch by Yahoo!™ Music- Entry level with 90 days of On Demand
Digital Photography Corel Photo Album™ 6 Starter Edition - Organize and Edit your photos
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Meta: Good stuff!
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Microsoft Windows XP: Getting Started Book Qty 1
Unit Price $25.00
Meta: Believe it or not, most public libraries maintain a reasonably up to date grouping of tech books.
...and they're free...
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Shipping & Handling $161.00
Meta: If you ask me, for over 2 grand, S&H should be freakin' free.....
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Van Canna Wrote:
I have Norton antivirus paid up for the year, but no firewall. Would MacAfee replace it or will it be in addition?
Meta: If you have a dynamic IP address (This is default, and trust me, if you have a static IP, you'll know it because it would should up as a separate and substantial charge on your bill)
Then firewalls are seldom necessary. (unless you are going to be networked, and or use the PC for business.
All Firewalls really do is block certain ports from incoming/outgoing traffic.
For this purpose, I recommend Zone Alarm:
(Free version)
http://tinyurl.com/2zm6vThis will block any traffic traveling to and from the kernel, even legitimate traffic, it will tell you what is trying to access what, and you can tell it to keep blocking forever, once or allow. This is good, because it will keep any spyware from "phoning home" as it were.
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Van Cann Wrote:
As to install services, here is what it says [had read it incorrectly]
Quote:
Service provides for basic system set up, connection of up to three external devices, set up of Internet service , data transfer, loading of 2 software CDs and email and system basic overview, by trained technician.
Does not cover repair services. Data migration service excludes transfer of data files over 2 GB, operating systems, and application files.
Software loading requires the Customer to supply the CD and any required licenses. Service may be provided by third party. See dell.com/service contracts for details. Availability varies. Other conditions apply. Please see your contract with the service provider for other important details.
Meta: They are essentially talking about setting *everything* up on the computer, which, 90% of it you can do even if you are a casual user. But if you don't want to deal with it, by all means let them handle it. However, I think this is another way which they make extra money, and it's easy for them to "go over" the suggested pricing..
They might say.."Oh, you had XYZ type configuration, and we had to take extra time..blah, blah blah, here's your bill for an extra $300.00. And how would the casual user know any different? It's sort of like getting a car fixed.
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Van Canna Wrote:
Still unsure of what defines ‘settings’ _ would you mind illustrating?
Thank you.
Meta: No problemo.
All the customization you have done to the computer over the years, such as your desktop look, the special programs you have installed, Color settings, special fonts, themes,
Windows Settings
It also encompasses settings that apply to all users who log on to the computer. It includes two subitems: Security Settings and Scripts.
This means configuration\Windows that apply to users regardless of which computer they log on to. It includes subitems: Folder Redirection, Security Settings, and Scripts. Security Settings extension to Group Policy, Startup, shutdown, logon, and logoff scripts, and Folder Redirection.
The short version:
When you sell your old car an buy a new one, you'll need to readjust the seats, mirrors, steering wheel, clock, and program the radio stations again.
That's all settings are.
The "Guts" (Ie, your actual data, music, pictures, old email addresses, letters, office docs, etc..these are the things that we transfer over.
One note about I.E. Browser settings: You can transfer your "Favorites" (Your bookmarks) over to the new computer.
The bookmarks are in a folder called "Favorites"
In Windows 98, the file is located here:
C:\Windows\Favorites
Under XP, it is located here:
C:\Documents and Settings\(Your user name)
In XP, The "Favorites" file appears as a Yellow Star Icon.
In 98, Just copy the contents of the C:\Windows\Favorites
Stick it on a CD, then upload it to
C:\Documents and Settings\(Your user name)
Then when you open IE, all of your old bookmarks should be there.
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Van Canna Wrote:
You wrote
Quote:
"Settings" including email settings, structure and tweaks you've made to your system over the years probably won't be able to make the transition.
This is because of the differences in the two O/S registries, and that undoubtedly you'll have differing hardware.
Do email passwords, or passwords for other applications? Such as financial records, website access, etc.= settings?
It's a good idea to have your user names and passwords written down somewhere secure for backup.
I use a small notebook for all of them, and store it in a floor safe at my home.
(Then again, I also write them in code, so even if they are stolen, they would be useless.)
However, most of your important passwords are stored in windows 98 under C:\WINDOWS and are files with the extension ".pwl" , but for browser passwords, let's not go there.
Meta: You can, (if you have not this for a while. Also defragment the hard drive will speed things up, most of the time a lot, some times only a little.
So this means that the install tech. has to transfer 5 GB of data?
But you can reduce this by a little time invested in some "house cleaning", I.e., by physically going through your files and removing all the junk you don't want.
I would even go so far as to create a folder called "My transfer stuff" or what have you, and put all the files you want to keep in there, which will save the tech the effort (And you money) of sorting through it later.
And how involved would that be time wise, even with the equipment you suggested?
If you have never done this before, three hours should do it.
Thank you Meta, your help is very much appreciated.
Meta: Always a pleasure and never a bother.
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