Help-PC

[muchlovex]

Is the below details good for a PC to surf the 'net and work on other documents as well?

Dell 2.6 ghz, 256 ram, 80 gig Hard Drive

TIAx

[rojash]

Surfing the net is probably the least demanding application on a computer, so spec is not terribly important. But you don't mention the operating system. 256 meg of RAM is not really enough to run XP but is fine for Win98.

You will of course need a decent video adaptor (unless you want to view a quarter page at a time!). And if you want to listen to music, etc., you'll need a sound card. You seem to have only supplied part of the specification...

[vehelpfulguy]

As rojash says, give us more of the specs of the PC.

If you are buying this second hand DONT pay a lot of money for it as it sounds a VERY old PC (if it only has 256Mb of memory)

Is it the complete PC (Screen, keyboard etc)?

What version of Windows?

How much are they asking for it?

[ACtheTROLL]

mmmmm ... rojash is right
is there a model number?
and which version of windows

Dells normally have reasonably decent video cards .... and generally sound cards good enough for general listening.

If it's XP consider at least another 256Mb of ram .... (with a 2.6Ghz processor you can normally go up to 1 Gb ram without problems or great expense)

but honestly 256 is well above minimum spec for XP so a bit of surfing and MS word won't stretch the system unduly
see how it goes ... you could make an upgrade a new year's resolution

the $6,000,000 question is how much?

[chamois]

I use XP Pro and have very little problems with memory despite having only 256Mb DDR installed. I do get some difficulties when using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator together but that's about the only circumstance. No problems with surfing or MS Office components at all.

Incidentally, the minimum requirements for XP Home and XP Pro is 128MB so 256MB is adequate. That's Microsoft talking not me. I've noticed a trend over the last few years of people and PC magazines hiking up these minimum requirements without justification - by all means get more memory if you need it, but don't spend it unnecessarily unless you intend gaming etc.

A number of PC's have recently come on the market with 3GB of Corsair memory. This amount of memory is about as much use as a chocolate teapot unless you use it and you'd pay a few hundred quid for the privilege.

[rojash]

"That's Microsoft talking not me". Microsoft ALWAYS quote lower specs than are ideal, because at the the time they release each new OS, the ideal minimum spec is so expensive that admitting it would discourage take-up of the new OS.

[ACtheTROLL]

Microsoft always quote required (Min) and (supported)
128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or higher recommended (64 MB minimum supported; may limit performance and some features)

the min is generally ok for the OS and office (you've got to remember how long XP has been arround .... (the only Gb a pc had was the harddisc)

so as much has 256Mb .....
if it's 98 or 2000 this would have classed as a higher end system in it's time ....
(I remember lusting after a 16Mb Nvidia viper around then)

Even with an XP machine 256 was quite respectable.....
these days it's still plenty good enough for what much's requirements.

It's just now ... WE MEN laugh at 512 ... and quote 1Gb as a minimum spec ....which infact way over the top (way back when SP2 came out it was a real page 3 novelty - just like a 6 liter porche)

Unless you are heavily into gaming graphics and video or run the entire office suite at the same time (while editing MP3s) few people will actually use anywhere near that .