Cardkountr: Computor help sought

[Cardkountr]

I am finally replacing my antiquated IBM 233mhz with a new IBM 2.53Ghz, 80 GB, CD-RW, and will upgrade it with 640MB DDR SDRAM, and a multi burner for DVD's. This system comes with Windows XP Home edition operating system. For an additional $180 should I upgrade it to the XP Office Small Business? If so what would be the benefits of doing so?

Are there any other options I should consider?

Thanks in advance to all who respond.

Card.

[AsZehn]

I use XP home edition and have had much better results than I did with 3.1, 95 & 98. From what I was told there were less software ompatability issues with home vs office. Check with the companies whose software you use to see if they have any issues with either version. Office does allow you to network a greater quantitiy of PC's.

AZ

> I am finally replacing my antiquated IBM
> 233mhz with a new IBM 2.53Ghz, 80 GB, CD-RW,
> and will upgrade it with 640MB DDR SDRAM,
> and a multi burner for DVD's. This system
> comes with Windows XP Home edition operating
> system. For an additional $180 should I
> upgrade it to the XP Office Small Business?
> If so what would be the benefits of doing
> so?

> Are there any other options I should
> consider?

> Thanks in advance to all who respond.

> Card.

[Norm Wattenberger]

XP Office SB gets you Word, Excel, Outlook, Money & Publisher. Outlook is only slightly better than the free Outlook Express. If you don't need Excel, Microsoft Works includes Word and is cheaper. If you need Excel, the small business package is a reasonable deal.

640MB of RAM is overkill unless you're attempting to simulate the Big Bang. The BJStats server, which runs Win2000Server, Microsoft IIS & SQL Server has only 128MB. I generally advise 256MB.

BJStats

[Norm Wattenberger]

You may be confusing XP Office Small Business with XP Profesional. XP Pro is an operating system, XP Small Office is an application suite. It is unlikely you will need XP Pro.

[Cardkountr]

> XP Office SB gets you Word, Excel, Outlook,
> Money & Publisher. Outlook is only
> slightly better than the free Outlook
> Express. If you don't need Excel, Microsoft
> Works includes Word and is cheaper. If you
> need Excel, the small business package is a
> reasonable deal.

> 640MB of RAM is overkill unless you're
> attempting to simulate the Big Bang. The
> BJStats server, which runs Win2000Server,
> Microsoft IIS & SQL Server has only
> 128MB. I generally advise 256MB.

Thanks for your input Norm. The system comes with 128MB and the upgrades and add'l costs are as follows:
256MB $45
384MB $90
640MB $180
I was considering the 640MB only because aquaintances have told me to get as much RAM as possible as it is relatively inexpensive.

Also, after I purchase the new computor, I will buy your program and a simulator and will use the computor to store spreadsheet data of my trips etc. With that in mind, I want to be sure to get something which will do all of this and give me the most bang for the buck.

I am definitely not going to get the XP Pro ($242)operating system, but am unsure whether I should get the XP Office SB software for $90, especially after reading AsZehn's remarks about compatibility issues.

As you can readily see, I am somewhat computor challenged, therefore, I will rely heavily upon the advise of yoouse guys (my N East dialog is showing)

Thanks,
Card.

[Viktor Nacht]

I would go for as much RAM as you can afford, it's a decision you just can't regret. Conversely, you might give OpenOffice a try (www.openoffice.org) before investing in the massive Office package. If it meets your needs, the RAM is paid for.

The RAM, IMO, will also extend the lifespan of your machine by making it more practical to upgrade to new versions of MS's bloated OS, which, instead of becoming more efficient, always want more and more system resources. An OS should NOT use a lot of memory.

You should keep in mind that Norm knows a lot more about Windows, in particular, than myself, seeing how he spends countless hours programming the damn things. *shudder*

Good Cards,

V

[Norm Wattenberger]

> I am definitely not going to get the XP Pro
> ($242)operating system, but am unsure
> whether I should get the XP Office SB
> software for $90, especially after reading
> AsZehn's remarks about compatibility issues.

I believe he was talking about XP Pro. Office is the standard. I use it because I exchange documents with others on a regular basis. If you don't, then there are cheaper options. But, once you get used to a word processor, it can be a pain to switch. CVData includes its own Excel-like spreadsheet facility. But of course, Excel is much better.

[Oldster]

XP Pro includes a Remote Access function that works great if you have a home network.

> You may be confusing XP Office Small
> Business with XP Profesional. XP Pro is an
> operating system, XP Small Office is an
> application suite. It is unlikely you will
> need XP Pro.

[Norm Wattenberger]

I run XP-Pro on one PC, but have never used any of the features not in XP-Home. Only reason I put in XP-Pro instead is you cannot upgrade from Win2000 to XP-Home. It took me two months to keep it from constantly crashing. I had to remove three pieces of hardware (TV video card, stamp printer & label printer.) I also had to delete a program that was always executing from Windows\System. Never found out what the program did. So now I have a system that never crashes, automatically shuts down at night and resumes with the same Windows up in the morning. Only one problem. Since I removed most of the hardware, the PC is no longer able to do much of anything. Ain?t PCs fun?

QFIT

[Bert Nommel]

[Parker]

> I run XP-Pro on one PC, but have never used
> any of the features not in XP-Home. Only
> reason I put in XP-Pro instead is you cannot
> upgrade from Win2000 to XP-Home.

I am no Windows expert (and have no desire to become one) but I do know that the best way to upgrade to a newer version of Windows is, DON'T.

Save all your data files, address book, bookmarks, etc., onto CDR's, Zip disks or a spare hard drive, re-partition & re-format the hard drive and do a clean install. You won't regret it.

BTW, all my hardware works fine under Linux, and my system never crashes.

But you already knew that. :-)

[Norm Wattenberger]

With apologies to you know whom.

> BTW, all my hardware works fine under Linux,
> and my system never crashes.

> But you already knew that. :-)

Yep, but the three pieces of hardware that I removed don't work under Linux either.

[Cardkountr]

> You may be confusing XP Office Small
> Business with XP Profesional. XP Pro is an
> operating system, XP Small Office is an
> application suite. It is unlikely you will
> need XP Pro.

I was confusing the two, thinking they were both operating systems until you pointed out the differences. Thank you very much, Norm. It is much clearer now.
Card.