i want to buy a new PC......what is the best Specifications ????

[fritzi93]

floppy drive (I still want one).

We're the only 2 left in the world

And my wife makes three. When I build a new computer, she insists it's gotta have a floppy drive.

[usually_quiet]

When floppies become extinct in a few years it is going to be a disaster for some small institutions/businesses dependant upon this old tech for their electronic document storage.

[jagabo]

Try getting a 5.25 inch floppy drive.

[zoobie]

ha ha...I remember the first floppy I was handed...it had already failed

[pepegot1]

If you get a 64 bit OS Win 7, then some hardware and software will not be usable. You need 64 bit drivers for your Hardware. 32 bit software may not run as well on a 64 bit machine. If you get a 32 bit OS all you will need is 3 gig of ram. Four being the limit, but you won't get much out of the last gig of ram. Then get a 32 bit OS.

[johns0]

Time to ditch 32 bit o/s and go with 64bit,if people had their way with computers and o/s we would still be running win 3.1 cause they didnt want to give up their software and update.

[usually_quiet]

Time to ditch 32 bit o/s and go with 64bit,if people had their way with computers and o/s we would still be running win 3.1 cause they didnt want to give up their software and update.

Not everyone can afford to replace significant portions of their system to migrate to a 64-bit OS. I chose a 32-bit version of Vista in the hopes of being able to continue using my scanner and my drawing tablet. Even so, I will need to employ registry hacks I found for them.

There'd be no chance of using them with a 64-bit version. Plus, I would have needed to buy more memory. I may be SOL anyway with respect to hardware when I upgrade to Windows 7 but I'll take what I can for as long as I am able to have it.

The cost of upgrading is a big reason why businesses have been slow to give up Windows XP.

[ocgw]

Time to ditch 32 bit o/s and go with 64bit,if people had their way with computers and o/s we would still be running win 3.1 cause they didnt want to give up their software and update.

Not everyone can afford to replace significant portions of their system to migrate to a 64-bit OS. I chose a 32-bit version of Vista in the hopes of being able to continue using my scanner and my drawing tablet. Even so, I will need to employ registry hacks I found for them.

There'd be no chance of using them with a 64-bit version. Plus, I would have needed to buy more memory. I may be SOL anyway with respect to hardware when I upgrade to Windows 7 but I'll take what I can for as long as I am able to have it.

The cost of upgrading is a big reason why businesses have been slow to give up Windows XP.

Just because Win 7 can utilize more memory doesn't mean it needs it like Vista, I am running Win 7 on my daughters PC w/ only 2GB of DDR500 and it runs great, even streams blu rays to it from my media server

ocgw

peace

[pepegot1]

usually_quiet, you are right on. It is not yet the time, unless you are starting from scratch. Too many hardware/software compatibilty problems today. But, down the road, it is the way to go.

[ocgw]

usually_quiet, you are right on. It is not yet the time, unless you are starting from scratch. Too many hardware/software compatibilty problems today. But, down the road, it is the way to go.

I had to wait for 64 bit drivers for my Hauppauge ATSC Tuner, and my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, but they were eventually written, the only thing I need now is a way to play my Battlefield 2, I have downloaded "XP Mode", and Virtualization software to do just that

There really isn't much XP era software or hardware that won't run on Win 7

And unlike Vista you can run XP in VM side by side w/ Win 7 programs on your desktop instead of having to run them in a seperate window

Support for backward compatibility w/ XP is much better in Win 7 than Vista, I have installed Win 7 64 bit on PC up to 5 years old, and my BF2 game is the only 32 bit software that I have to do anything special to get it to run

ocgw

peace

[usually_quiet]

Just because Win 7 can utilize more memory doesn't mean it needs it like Vista, I am running Win 7 on my daughters PC w/ only 2GB of DDR500 and it runs great, even streams blu rays to it from my media server

I'm glad it's running well for you, but according to my research, although Windows 7 64-bit requires a minimum 2GB RAM to run, it should have at least 4GB for optimum performance.

I had to wait for 64 bit drivers for my Hauppauge ATSC Tuner, and my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, but they were eventually written, the only thing I need now is a way to play my Battlefield 2, I have downloaded "XP Mode", and Virtualization software to do just that

There really isn't much XP era software or hardware that won't run on Win 7

And unlike Vista you can run XP in VM side by side w/ Win 7 programs on your desktop instead of having to run them in a seperate window

Support for backward compatibility w/ XP is much better in Win 7 than Vista, I have installed Win 7 64 bit on PC up to 5 years old, and my BF2 game is the only 32 bit software that I have to do anything special to get it to run

There are signed and 64-bit drivers for available my printer that is only two years old, but the other 2 peripherals I mentioned are much older and are no longer supported by the manufacturer. There's a good chance that signed drivers and/or 64-bit drivers are not going to be available for any hardware that predates Vista by more than a year, and doesn't work with a generic driver.

Windows 7 Ultimate is required to have both Media Center, which I wanted, and XP virtualization, but the other features it offers don't interest me. At a minimum of $175 (for a Vista Ultimate OEM license plus Windows 7 upgrade certificate), I decided not to buy that version. It would cost about the same for me to operate a dual boot drive system, or to replace one or the other of my outdated peripherals.

[ocgw]

Just because Win 7 can utilize more memory doesn't mean it needs it like Vista, I am running Win 7 on my daughters PC w/ only 2GB of DDR500 and it runs great, even streams blu rays to it from my media server

I'm glad it's running well for you, but according to my research, although Windows 7 64-bit requires a minimum 2GB RAM to run, it should have at least 4GB for optimum performance.

I had to wait for 64 bit drivers for my Hauppauge ATSC Tuner, and my Audigy 2 ZS Platinum, but they were eventually written, the only thing I need now is a way to play my Battlefield 2, I have downloaded "XP Mode", and Virtualization software to do just that

There really isn't much XP era software or hardware that won't run on Win 7

And unlike Vista you can run XP in VM side by side w/ Win 7 programs on your desktop instead of having to run them in a seperate window

Support for backward compatibility w/ XP is much better in Win 7 than Vista, I have installed Win 7 64 bit on PC up to 5 years old, and my BF2 game is the only 32 bit software that I have to do anything special to get it to run

There are signed and 64-bit drivers for available my printer that is only two years old, but the other 2 peripherals I mentioned are much older and are no longer supported by the manufacturer. There's a good chance that signed drivers and/or 64-bit drivers are not going to be available for any hardware that predates Vista by more than a year, and doesn't work with a generic driver.

Windows 7 Ultimate is required to have both Media Center, which I wanted, and XP virtualization, but the other features it offers don't interest me. At a minimum of $175 (for a Vista Ultimate OEM license plus Windows 7 upgrade certificate), I decided not to buy that version. It would cost about the same for me to operate a dual boot drive system, or to replace one or the other of my outdated peripherals.

I am running 8GB of DDR2 1066 ram myself, but I am streaming blu rays to my 21 year olds PC w/ Win 7/MC7/MyMovies w/ a AMD Athlon X2 3800+ (939 pin Manchester core) w/ 4x 512mb GeiL DDR500

Windows 7 does not need more memory than XP for 90% of tasks, but.............MC7 is "HELL!" on a single core cpu

ps. I maintain a floppy drive in my backup PC lol

ocgw

peace