[joshone]

I'm sure this has benn discussed 1000 times but I would appreciate help in selecting a computer system. Iknow next to nothing about computers only that I nedd one that is capable of doing documents and that I can download my digital camera pictures to. No need for games or anything like that. Any help would be great

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Go get 512 megabytes of RAM (or more), 80+ GB hard drive, and a CD-RW and DVD-ROM drive. Don't worry about processor speed, as long as it is above 2.0 Ghz. An LCD monitor is smaller and uses less electricity than a CTR monitor, but it will cost more. Try to go for a computer made by: dell, hp, Compaq, or gateway. Those are the biggest manufactures.

[j128]

Go get 512 megabytes of RAM (or more), 80+ GB hard drive, and a CD-RW and DVD-ROM drive. Don't worry about processor speed, as long as it is above 2.0 Ghz. An LCD monitor is smaller and uses less electricity than a CTR monitor, but it will cost more. Try to go for a computer made by: dell, hp, Compaq, or gateway. Those are the biggest manufactures.

[RogueComGeek]

LCD is perfect as long as u dont want to play some doom3 or something like that :-)
i would have to agree with j128
at least 80 gig depending how much time u gonna spend on it
if ya gonna make this a big time hobby might wanna go with 120 gig even

[Ojoshiro]

I'm sure this has benn discussed 1000 times but I would appreciate help in selecting a computer system. Iknow next to nothing about computers only that I nedd one that is capable of doing documents and that I can download my digital camera pictures to. No need for games or anything like that. Any help would be great

Basically any computer that will still run can do this.
What will crank up the requirements a lot is the OS that you want to run.If that's going to be an XP, stick with the 128 Mb Ram and 1GHz processor or better.
If you want an older Windows OS, less is required (on the box of your Windows CD it will say how much of what)
If you don't want a windows OS, make sure your hardware is supported.
(If you're completely new to computers and do not have the urge to become a fully-trained system administrator, stick to windows, no matter what others may yell here.)
The easiest way is to find the cheapest one on sale in a normal computerstore.
It will serve your purposes. It usually has an OS installed (saves you the trouble).
Keep an eye on the harddisk space (now usually expressed in Gigabytes), with the pictures you need enough of that.

About the screens, no matter how big an CRT (Cathode ray tube, the big TV-like boxes) or LCD screen is, it doesn't affect the performance of your magine a bit.
It's handy if you're doing documents that you have something comparable to what those documents would look like on paper. A 17" will usually do (For both A4 and US-letter).
CRTs usually last around 7-10 years. LCDs still less, but they are getting better.
Screens are rather personal. Go look for one you like.
I don't think anyone could give you "The ultimate" advice on screens.

Hope this helped
Ojo

[mohsin]

knowing nothing dint mean that you will have wrong equipments ..
just go and first analyze your needs ..

sometimes its costly to have max speed available in market although one may not need to speedy system ..

[sunny441]

Well, you can buy a cheap ready-made computer from dell for under 500 bucks, with the monitor included (if they have a sale going on!) Any of those computers should be good enough for the needs that you have mentioned. I could keep you notified of the sales that DELL has, and you can pick up a cheap computer from there.

cheers

[sunny441]

i just looked - dell has 600 bucks off on some of their desktops. i saw this deal there -

Dell Dimension 3000 Desktop, P4 2.8GHz, 256MB, 40GB, 48X CD-ROM, XP Home, 17" LCD, Dell 720 Printer » only $399.00 + Free Shipping

this is a good deal, and yu can't go wrong with this.

[General Agony]

You're all right but i personally would prolly go get a referb. it's most likely cheaper that way. like u can pick up an AMD Athalon 1.4Ghz processor, 512 ram, 80GB hard drive, (stock video and sound card), for prolly around $200-300 CAD these days. i picked on up with these specs around 2-3yrs ago for about $600 and it's still working amazingly well for anything i wanted to do and want to do. (mind you i went out and built a new pc bout 2months ago and am currently in the process of making it duel boot between Gentoo Linux and Windows XP Pro but all in all it's still probably cheaper to go get a referb with an OS installed over getting a brand new dell pc. Besides if u dont need the new monitor, mouse, keyboard etc... why waste your money right?

Edited by General Agony, 21 June 2005 - 04:26 PM.