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[Deivit]

Hi all,

Will be ordering a new computer soon  

The primary use of it will be listening to music via Media Jukebox (Media Center), hooked to my stereo. Will also do internet browsing and occasional DVD watching.

Here are the specs of the computer that my shop is offering:

-----
CPU INTEL P-IV 2.5 GHZ 478 533 MHZ
MOTHERBOARD ASUS P4PE 533MHz CHIP INTEL 845PE / 4xUSB 2.0
DVD-ROM 16X40X
512 MB DDR KINGSTON 333
2 HARD DISK 120 GB 7200 RPM  EACH
CD-RW LG 48X24X48X IDE
NVIDIA AGP GFORCE4 MX440 128 MB + TV OUT
SOUND BLASTER AUDIGY  
DISPLAY TFT 17" SONY X72/B BLACK
WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION
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Not being a computer genius, may I dare to ask if any of you more experience users find something wrong with the above configuration and/or recommend any change.

I've also been told that 512 MB more RAM will only cost EUR 80 (approx. US$ 80).

Any suggestion will be very much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[xen-uno]

Looks good to me. You may want to consider picking up an ATA RAID card (Adaptec 1200A is only $60 from Amazon...works beautifully here) and a smaller (say 40 GB drive) to use for a boot drive. You can then configure the (2) 120's as a RAID level 1 mirrored volume set. IMHO...you should get the Pro version of XP instead of Home.

10^-27

[JimH]

Xen,
I use XP Home happily on a couple of machines (at home, of course).  I don't see a reason to use Pro.  What do you know?

Jim

[xen-uno]

> What do you know?

I know a thing or two about a thing or two...

I haven't played with XP Home or Pro personally, but Pro is HIGHLY configurable...just like W2k. Nothings hidden and it's not "dumbed" down. If Pro is marginally more expensive (and even if not) than Home then Pro is where it's at. With his system he should put in the best...which as stated is XP Pro or W2k. May work better if he goes with the RAID controller.

10^-27

[KingSparta]

I think JimH Is Right

I have both versions Windows Xp Home And Windows XP Pro

For Most users 99%, I think the Home Version Will Do

no need to wast the money

[xen-uno]

Here's a couple links...

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

It is true that from a home user standpoint Pro may be unnecessary...but hey...I'll bet the difference in cost is slight when weighed against the total system price.

10^-27

[KingSparta]

I see nothing in WinXP Pro a home user will need.

other than manualy installing the restore function (that i deactivated)

[Deivit]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Xen-Uno

The RAID level 1 thing means that the 2-120 GB HD would hold only 120 GB of information in total, but more safely since one of the HD is actually a mirror of the other, right? Therefore, if I want to have say 200 GB of real space I would need bigger HDs...  :-/ ... or use my current 160 GB Firewire HD as a backup...  :-/

I'm gonna think about it.

Thank you  

[xen-uno]

Correct on all points. You can still use the Adaptec card to do RAID 0, which will stripe the drives for better performance and you'll also have 240 GB of space...BUT...no data redundancy.

10^-27

[KingSparta]

I Been Playing Around And Just Go My New System Working (UPS Delivered It Today)

And I Am   To Say Ripping To MP3 VBR With MC9 & Lame 15.2x. Now I can stop ripping to Wave Then Convert To MP3 At Night.

Media Center Registered 9.0.135 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\

Microsoft Windows XP  Workstation 5.1 Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)
Intel Pentium 4 3048 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 523 MB, Free - 246 MB

Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.82 (xpsp1.020828-1920) / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)
Shell32.dll: 6.00.2800.1145 (xpsp2.021108-1929)wnaspi32.dll: N/A
Ripping /   Drive D:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Drive E:   Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer   CD Type:Auto   Read speed:Max
 Digital playback: Yes /  Use YADB: Yes /  Get cover art: Yes /  Calc replay gain: Yes /  Copy volume: 32767
 Eject after ripping: Yes /  Play sound after ripping: Yes  Soundfile:   chord.wav

Burning /  Drive D: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GMA-4020B   Addr: 1:0:0  Speed:12  MaxSpeed:12  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Drive E: HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8481B    Addr: 1:1:0  Speed:48  MaxSpeed:48  Use MJ Engine:Yes
 Test mode: No /  Eject after writing: Yes /  Direct decoding: Yes /  Write CD-Text: No
 Use playback settings: No /  Normalization: None