Dell is supposed to call me shortly. I hope they are late! I need some help. What should I be looking for in a computer now? I am sure there are websites to tell me the basic lowdown. But I have to be honest I am completely ignorant of this stuff. It's shameful. So when they call me and spout off all "this is what it has" I really have no idea. So if someone could direct me I would be forever grateful. Thanks

By Karen~admin on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 06:15 pm:

Depends on what you use it for mainly.....

For myself, I need lots of RAM (at LEAST 2 GB, preferably 4 - for running photo editing software), wireless capability, MS Office, plenty of hard drive space.

My philosophy is if you are tempted to get *extra* whatever, then get it, because it's easier than trying to add RAM or upgrade the hard drive, etc. in a year.

By Unschoolmom on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 06:43 pm:

What do you plan to use the computer for Beth?

By Beth on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 06:49 pm:

We mostly play around on the internet. Buy things on ebay ect... But my dh wants to start selling so posting some pic ect.. I want to download my pics and maybe use picasa or Shutterfly to edit. The kids do play some games. I am pretty sure I want wireless because I don't really want to get rid of the pc I have now. Just let the kids play with it.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, June 12, 2007 - 08:08 pm:

If you want photos, you need all the RAM you can get - much more is much better. And you need a really, really good anti-virus and anti-spyware program if the kids are going to use it for games. I strongly suggest that if you are buying from Dell (no reason not to) that you get a computer with Windows XP (they decided to continue selling computers with that program) instead of Vista. I know a lot of people like Vista, but an awful lot of people don't, and the bells and whistles Microsoft has added in take up a lot of space and a lot of RAM. And do get the full Outlook, not Outlook Express. I made that mistake and had to buy Outlook separately later on.