Get the Intel....don't even give it a second thought. I work for Intel and have contratcted for other chip manufactures. Intel truely does make a good product.


Shane

 

I swear by Intel but whatever you decide on just make sure you get lots of fast ram. 2gb at least (especially if it comes with Vista) and more if you can afford it. If you're buying one that's already built it's usually cheaper to add more as an upgrade to begin with than to add it later.

 

Agreed 200%. Vista is a resource HOG.

 

If you can live with turning off some of the things that make Vista an oinker, you can get away with 1Gb or even less.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/Pages/D...94a&sub=334877

Much of the 'hoggery' is from all the extra (read unnecessary) utilities & crap running as a service and/or in the tray....clean dat chit up, and it'll run much better, IMHO.

For the OP - I'd choose Intel at the moment. Especially in a notebook.

Bubba

. <----- my conformal sig lol

 

You guys are crazy and need therapy like RC's brother. 1GB of RAM is more than enough for this guy. Use the few bucks saved to spend on a hybrid hard drive or spare usb memory to let windows caching do its thang. Throwing more memory at a system doesn't always make it faster.

 

[quote]Throwing more memory at a system doesn't always make it faster[/url]
I think with Vista you will see an improvement. Especially since Vista itself will use most of 1gb just for itself. Throw in Norton and the various other things that end up running at boot after awhile and you're into your swap file before you even check your email.

 

I run Vista biz with all the bells and whistles on a Core Duo laptop with 1GB of memory. No issues and performance is great. Would an extra GB of RAM help? Eh, sometimes... mainly with CS3 or Premier Pro but that's about it. Most of its life its spent on the web, basic office crap and light duty music/video stuff. Like I said, the bigger speed boost is with a hybrid hard drive or usb memory to let Vista do its caching magic. This dude wouldn't gain much from the memory.

 

Yeah D - that's a good point.

Vista's ability to cache to a high speed external flash key (called Readyboost) is nice.

Adds a relatively cheap boost in boot time & performance.

Only downsides - key sticking out on a laptop, and not all keys are fast enough.

Use a 2-4GB key....

More info here: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2017849,00.asp

 

Yeah, that's why I'm pumped for those hard HHDs to come out. The key thing is perfect for desktops (which the OP said he was looking at).

 

Anyways...enough with the Vista and memory..........I prefer Dual core AMD systems

 

I use both intel and amd for all my stuff. If your looking for a basic rig, your going to save money by going with a low end amd 64. Before you decide anything go to motherboards.org and check out the ranking. They do a really good job deciding which boards are most versitle.


Basic rule of thumb, processors don't matter much anymore tho, if you want to splurge, go for a good graphics setup rather than the latest processor.

 

That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard. He's not doing ANYTHING that requires any graphics horsepower whatsoever. He needs a fast processor and fast hard drive to simply bring up the progams he wants fast. Any built-in motherboard graphics chipset will do just fine for him.

And fast graphics don't mean diddly in an underpowered system...

 

IMO intel. my last p4 dell lasted 7 years on one reformat.

BTW PSSMAG, i got my new pc.

its a 2.8ghz pentium D with dual core.
a gig of ram.
asus motherboard
and an nvidia 6800 XT 256mb. im incredibly pleased.
it's such an upgrade to my old 7 year dell .

and i just ordered a 20'' Dell UltraSharp wide screen LCD. cant wait to get it!




p.s. rockpick. any news on the logo work?

 

I've got a 12 year old AMD K6 that my youngest daughter is still using, I ran it hard 24/7 for 4 years before upgrading systems, then it went to part time for a few years, then rested in the parts room for a couple of years. Now it's back to part time with her. It does fine for her limited internet browseing, paint, old MS word, and her school programs. It's the very first shelf system I ever bought.

Neither of them sure dont make them that durable anymore.

Sounds sweeet!!!!!!
Yea I remember when I first got this last fall I thought, daaaaang this is a helluva fast machine. Which compared to my old one then it is.