[heat123]

Hi I was just curious what you meant exactly by it won't be the fastest. Because the person wanted it to be fast. So what would you suggest? It has 4 gb of ram and is up to 8 gb. so if I added at least 2 gb. would it be fine or what? Becuase it says it is more secure and easily make dvd's. I think it has more features that the person will need.

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Sorry, meaning desktop. I'll have a hunt around and see if there are any similarly-priced notebook computers that would be better. If I find one I'll post it.

[Troy]

Sorry, meaning desktop. I'll have a hunt around and see if there are any similarly-priced notebook computers that would be better. If I find one I'll post it.

[heat123]

Hi Troy. Hope you are doing well. I was just curious about your searching. Did you find anything or you still searching? I didn't mean it had to be a different computer I was just curious what you meant by that and what you could add to make it quicker. But if you want to find a better computer go ahead. By the way it can be more expensive than that like 1750 dollars or whatever. Thanks for all your help so far.

[Troy]

After some more serious searching than before (spurred on by your extra post ), I have found this notebook computer from Newegg for $1400.

I really like this one because it has similar specs overall, but a faster RPM hard drive - this will make a noticeable performance difference. I do notice that it is smaller (200GB vs 320GB), but I would just grab an external HDD if more space is needed.

Of course, with notebooks as powerful as these, you'd be pushing it for battery life - don't expect it to last very long!

Cheers

Troy

[heat123]

Thanks for taking your time finding a better computer. I was just curious because what is the computer name Asus never have heard of it. Can you buy it from there website do you think or not? Also what is the rpm of the link of the computer I gave you? I was looking at external hard drives and is this one fine? Here is a link below. How do you think it is? Could not find it. T
http://www.officedep...s-External-USB/

Also I thought about buying some software for digital pictures and editing videos and making them. Would movie maker work for a beginner in Vista? If not what is good? What about digital pictures and photos? What is good software?

THANKS for all your help. I really appreciate all your help with this.

[Troy]

You sure do have a lot of questions! Keep 'em coming, gives me something to do.

For a beginner, the Vista Movie Maker would be fine. Once your friend has mastered this and is looking for more features, then it might be time to start moving up to a better program.

For pictures, I use Picasa - a free download here. Picasa is owned by Google, and is just excellent for sorting out all your pictures, some editing, and other features too. Read up on it here. Once again, if this program is "mastered" and you need more features, your friend would be wise to start learning how to use GIMP.

ASUS have been making computer parts for a long time. They are one of my favourite notebook computer manufacturers. They are most recognised for their desktop motherboards, although the also make DVD Burners, LCD Monitors, and other things too. ASUS are also the makers of the very tiny and very cheap Eee PC notebook computer, you may have heard something about this.

The original notebook to which you linked had a hard drive running at 5400RPM. Seeing as the hard drive is one of the slowest parts in a computer, it would be a good choice (in my opinion) to be getting a 7200RPM. The ASUS also has much better dedicated graphics, meaning that if your friend ever wanted to load a 3D game up, it would play it rather nicely compared to the HP.

For an external hard drive, the ASUS comes with an eSATA port. This effectively means you can connect an external hard drive at internal speeds, instead of USB or firewire (which are slower). For this reason, I recommend grabbing an eSATA-compatible external hard drive.

Once again, though, I can't really find any solutions that I recommend, except for the "make your own" approach. I previously have owned this myself, it works great. Then all you need to do is grab a compatible hard drive and install it inside the enclosure. You linked to a 500GB drive, so here's one that would work nicely.

That way if the internal 200GB is not enough space, then you've got extra to use. And you could use the external drive for backups as well - always a good idea. (Well, all this for your friend).

Cheers

Troy

[heat123]

Hi thanks for all your information. I have few more questions. First I have asked people but what do you recommend I get for antivirus and antispyware and firewall combined in one? I want a paid one also. Also what exactly does rpm mean for the hard drive? Thanks for all your help so far.

[Troy]

I recommend either the Kaspersky Internet Security or the Eset Smart Security.

RPM = Revolutions Per Minute - this is how fast the platters contained within the hard drive spin. The faster they spin, the faster it can access your data.

Cheers

Troy

[heat123]

Also how long do you expect a computer to last now based on what I would be doing? Why? Thanks for all your help so far.

[Troy]

That question is rather difficult to answer...

But given that it is maintained well and physically looked after, there's no reason why this notebook computer shouldn't still be charging five years down the road. Things do last if you look after them. Of course, that's not to say that parts don't "die" or such. You might find the DVD burner drive decides to fail after 3 years and need replacement, or other such haphazards as technology inclines upon us.

But looking after it and keeping it in good repair should last you a long time. The computer I'm currently on is my mum and dad's desktop, purchased new 6 years ago. Recently I replaced some parts to keep it running good - new RAM, hard drive, DVD Burner, video card, and PSU. Sure it was about $200 (AUD) for all those parts, but it runs like a charm and is more than powerful enough for the needs of my parents. Now that I've replaced those parts, I can't foresee any reason why it shouldn't last another 3 or 4 years.

And yes desktops are rather different from notebooks, but you get the point!

Cheers

Troy

[heat123]

Thanks for answering that question. I was looking at another computer and with software and computer and everything except a flash drive and a external hard drive it was 1,900 dollars. It also inculdes speakers etc. But it is 5400 rpm and two people I talked to on the phone said it would not make much of a difference.

[heat123]

Hi I was going to ask you can I have evidence that a 7200 rpm vs. a 5400 rpm makes a big difference please? Thanks for all your help so far.

[Troy]

A review of two 5400RPM hard drives, with this random comment in the conclusion (Hitachi 7K200 is a 7200RPM drive):[quote name='http://www.storagereview.com/Hitachi250WD320.sr?page=0%2C7']Perhaps unsurprisingly, neither the Travelstar 5K250 nor the Scorpio WD3200BEVT can touch the Travelstar 7K200 when it comes to sheer performance. As a result, those looking for true desktop-level performance in their mobile rig remain with Hitachi's beast as their only choice.[/quote]

Comparing a 5400RPM drive with a 7200RPM drive:[quote name='http://www.storagereview.com/HTS722020K9A00.sr?page=0%2C7']Improvements that average 25% over the older 7K100 leave the Travelstar 7K200 at lofty heights never before reached by a notebook drive[/quote]

I'm sure there's plenty more, for some users it wouldn't be worth any difference, but for making and editing media (such as your friend is doing) I should think it would help a bit.

Whether it's big enough or not, that's up to you I guess. I'd go for it!

Cheers

Troy

[heat123]

Say if you get a mac how would you install xp or vista and could I have some instrucitions please to look at how it would work and if it is hard to set up. Thanks for all your help so far.

[Troy]

Hi heat123,

Now we're starting to get into unfamiliar terrain, on my behalf.

Two different methods come to mind - there may be more, better or worse, I'm not your man for this question.

• Boot Camp
• Parallels

If you want better help, you could try posting in the Other Operating Systems section of the forum.

Cheers

Troy