Again, thank you, Norm.
A clarification, comments and a follow-up question or two....
You wrote: "I just priced out a build using the 2.8 Ghz Dual Core
Pentium D 915,
Abit AW8D motherboard with Intel 965 Chipset, 512 MB Mushkin DDR2-800
RAM, Seagate 80 GB SATA 3.0 Gb Hard drive, LiteOn 18x DVD Burner, Acer
17" flat panel monitor, Microsoft ergonomic curved keyboard and mouse,
Logitech 3 piece speaker system, eVGA Geforce 7600GT 256 MB Video
card,
and an Antec Case with 400W power supply. Windows XP Pro installed.
All top quality hardware.
Price - $1350 delivered anywhere in the US."
So it sounds like I have a good price. I will confirm with the
builder that the hardware is the equivalent of what you mentioned.
--------------
"Upgrade to 1 GB of RAM if you plan to upgrade to Vista - otherwise
512MB is fine if your not into games."
I have no idea about Vista; probably not. At the moment, the family
is not into games, other than a couple (Nancy Drew Mysteries) that I
don't believe tax the video. They run fairly OK now on our W98SE
(319 RAM). So I may stay with the 512.
-------------------
"19 (inch) is fine, but I don't care for the widescreen monitors -
but thats a personal preference...I myself don't care for the wide
screen monitors, I like the traditional
4:3 ratio for computing. Widescreen is for TV's IMHO.";
I appreciate what you're saying. They have never watched a DVD on
their computers (me, only once). They have gone "ooooohhhh" when
lokking at these monitors in the store, but I'm not sure they will be
very happy with 17. Sounds like I can save $120 here.
------------------------
I wrote:> My thinking: We have 40G HDs on our existing computers of 6
years and
> have about 33% left. But we have recently entered into digital
> photos and mini-dvd camcording.
You replied: "Forget using your old drives, they will be too slow,
just sell the old systems or give them to charity."
Sorry for the confusion I may have created. I'm not re-using those
drives. What do to with the old computers is a question I will have
later.
-----------------
"(Vista is)now basically just XP with a new look and DRM to limit
your ability to make backup copies of your own DVD's and CD's.";
Not that it matters at this point, since I'm not planning on
upgrading to Vista, but what is DRM and how will it limit my ability
to make back-up copies of CDs, DVDs or home movie DVDs?
-------------------
"Myth. Its faster to dub disk to disk if the system is set up
properly."
Maybe is this is also a question for later, but how should XP or
W98se systems using Roxio EasyCD Creator v5.3.5.10n (only does data
DVDs)be set up properly?
----------------------
The punchline: I asked earlier, "I can add (for the pair):
160HDs for $33
1G RAM, $121
19" LCD widescreen monitors, $119
Media Center XP, $53
second DVD drive/burners, $40."
To confirm, sounds like you would definitely go with the bigger HD
and the extra players/burners.
You believe XP Media Center and 1G RAM isn't necessary for our use.
And that your personal choice isn't 19" monitors.
--------------
One last question, contained in one of my other posts... "Opinions
on NVidia GForce 7300LE w/ turbo cache versus the stock Intel
Graphics Media Accelerator x3000..." based on XP, 17" monitors and
only mild gaming?
-----------
Thanks again for your time and trouble.
Jim
.