Xp Media Center Edition & AMD Processors

[mccoady]

I'm needing to get a computer for my son who is blind. He will be learning to use Jaws and Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition 2003 which go hand in hand to allow visually handicapped people to use a computer. He will learn how to surf the internet, email etc. His instructor says he could use either XP Home or XP Pro but in the long run she would advise to go with the latter.

I've decided to go with a Dell because it is fairly reasonable in price and I can pick and choose what I think he needs. Now my two questions:

1. Dell charges $90 to upgrade from XP Media Center Edition to XP Pro but I've been told by a retail store that Microsoft considers Media Center an upgrade above Pro, so which is it? If I've been told my son needs to have XP Pro would Media Center be comparable and work in it's place, or do I need to stay with Pro?

2. Second, I've never had anything but an Intel processor but Dell says I can get more for my money by going with AMD Athlon, are they as good as Intels? I have two systems I have put together one has a Pentium D Processor 805 with Dual Core Technology (2.66GHz,533FSB) and the other has a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (2.00GHz,512Kx2), would one of these be preferable over the other?


Mike

[JohnnyMalaria]

Have a look here:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=449&model2=471&chart=192

It compares different processors running particular tasks.

[FulciLives]

A lot of what I guess you might call "power users" or "experienced user" do not like Microsoft WinXP MCE (Media Center Edition).

I would definately go the exra $90 or whatever to get WinXP Pro instead ... hell even WinXP Home is a better choice than WinXP MCE.

Bear in mind that Windows Vista (the newest version of Windows) is due out January 2007 and it is possible to buy a computer now that says it is Windows Vista capable or certified meaning it will come with some form of WinXP today but has been designed to work with Windows Vista without the need to upgrade any hardware. This way when it comes time to upgrade to Windows Vista you won't have to spend any money on hardware (Windows Vista is much more resource hungry than WinXP especially when it comes to the video/graphics requirements).

Although chances are you probably will not be upgrading to Windows Vista anytime soon it just makes sense to get a computer that can handle it since we are so close to the release of Windows Vista and eventually you will probably want to upgrade anyways so ... but then again there are still people running computers today with Win98 SE on it which is the version prior to WinXP.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[redwudz]

I have a AM2 X2 Athlon 64 3800+ and it works very well. It is also listed fairly high up on the 'Tomshardware' chart that JohnnyMalaria linked to. But I don't know much about the Intel one you listed. Either one should be fine, though.

I would tend to favor XP Pro over the Media Center OS, especially if that's what they recommend for your applications. I believe MCE is based on the XP Pro version of Windows. The difference in price may be because Dell is pushing MCE and charges more to 'remove it' from the stock MCE configuration. Maybe the difference in price is because of marketing. But that's just a wild guess.

[mccoady]

Okay Thanks I think I will go with XP Pro and the AMD Processor.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I would definately go the exra $90 or whatever to get WinXP Pro instead ... hell even WinXP Home is a better choice than WinXP MCE.

XP Home is the worst of the lot.

XP MCE is based on XP Pro. I have it on one of our test systems and have no complaints. If anything, I prefer it to XP Pro.

For detailed information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Media_Center_Edition