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> I need to buy a computer for my daughter to take to college.
> Prefer Dell, desktop.
>
> I notice Dell SDRAM specs max out at 512 except for the onces w
> RDRAM--which costs a lot more. Is RDRAM worth the premium? 512
> seems light. A Dell with 756. don't understand why Dell caps
> SDRAM at 512.
Unless your daughter plans to do heavy mesh analysis or some other
hugely compute- and memory-intensive computation, I suggest you are
considering a WHOLE lot more horsepower than she needs.
What will she use the system for? If she's going to use it for word
processing and email, then you could save yourself a lot of money by
buying a smaller/older system. There are lots of used Dell systems
on eBay -- some reconditioned, still with Dell warrantee -- for a
whole lot less than new.
For light use like that, a 400-500MHz system with 128MB or 256MB is
MORE than enough. Hell, for the last three years *I've* used a
450MHz P3 with 256MB of RAM for my daily work -- heavy-duty
Tradestation 4.0 system development, plus 6-12 other apps like PFG
BEST order entry platform, Excel, MS Word, 3-4 IE5.5's, Pegasus
emailer, Xnews newsreader, vi text editor, etc -- and it's done me
just fine. The critical thing is to use a decent OS like NT or W2k
instead of the unreliable Win9x/ME systems. Personally I'd stay away
from XP.
I finally decided to upgrade my system this month. Wanted a dual-CPU
system so the TS Server could inhale one CPU and leave the other one
alone for me to use for other things. I'd intended to go with Dell,
but decided it just wasn't worth the cost. I ended up with an HP
dual-Xeon (2 * 1.0GHz), 512MB of ECC RDRAM, 40GB HD, CR-RW, etc, for
only $900 (no monitor, just the box). An equivalent Dell was 2x
more. The Dell name has a darn good reputation, but I wasn't sure it
was worth a 100% premium. We'll see, once I get the HP up &
running...
Gary
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