Advice on buying a PC for College

I've been out of the loop about PC hardware for a while now, so I really need some help on purchasing a Desktop computer for college. Just some Q's I have...

XP or Vista?

Is 1gb of RAM still standard?

Graphics card is not important at all, just some integrated stuff should do fine.

Just go ahead and throw out your ideas guys, and I'd really appreciate it.

As its a PC for College , i guess ur using it for word processing and other student essential applications in Office as well as a little music on the side.

If this is what your using it for 1GB in vista should be fine as long as you have a decent CPU.

Do you have any ideas about where your gonna get your PC from and what make ?

If you give a budget, I can recommend some pcs and laptops with links

Answers to your questions,

I would chose vista over XP, but thats my own preference. I like the style and functions of vista !

2Gb is now the standard as RAM is so cheap these days, 1gb is not recommended for gaming or PC stressful tasks

Hope this helps

i would concider crysis a "student essential" application :P

but just go with 2 gigs, also make your own system dont do prebuilt you can probably make one for oh 350 without the monitor.

go with

this amd processor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103234$100

this mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172 $65

this memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820609283 $37

here is a small case that is cheap http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811164010 $35

video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102724 $33

power supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371005 $40

grand total of $310 before shipping, maybe $20-30 for shipping. That would cost double with simuler specs for a dell or HP.

if you need help putting it together just ask here or google "how to build pc" or on youtube. Its very simple to do and requires color cordination, if your going to college you should be able to do it.

i would concider crysis a "student essential" application :P

PointedCow

LOL

Yep, i admit i agree with PointedCow being a student myself !

and It would be better to build the PC as you would save loads of money, I built my sisters pc with £150 (approx $300) and its perfect with office applications, but Crysis would CRUSH it and make it blow up !

[QUOTE="PointedCow"]

i would concider crysis a "student essential" application :P

LikkleLee

LOL

Yep, i admit i agree with PointedCow being a student myself !

and It would be better to build the PC as you would save loads of money, I built my sisters pc with £150 (approx $300) and its perfect with office applications, but Crysis would CRUSH it and make it blow up !

150 quid?? Mind me asking what you put in there and where you bought it, because I'm looking for a dirt-cheap office build myself :)

Why not just get a laptop? Do you already have a laptop or what?

Anyways, look on Best Buy for some deals. I would say 2 GB, Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or higher, and you said you don't care about graphics card so I guess the intel x3100 (which I believe is better than the nvidia 6150).

I used

CPU: sempron 64 le-1150

Ram: kingston 1GB

Motherboard: Gigabyte am2 AMD690 matx A L

Hard drive:Seagate 80 gb hard drive SATA

Optical drive: LG DVD RW

Power supply: 300W one from PC world

I already had a case and a copy of windows vista and microsoft office 2007 at hand but all those components came together at £120 during dec 2007 so should be cheaper now.

A recommended case is the asus TM-210 Micro ATX case.

Why not just get a laptop? Do you already have a laptop or what?

Anyways, look on Best Buy for some deals. I would say 2 GB, Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 Ghz or higher, and you said you don't care about graphics card so I guess the intel x3100 (which I believe is better than the nvidia 6150).

bedram793

whats if for? essays? or demanding stuff like photoshop, animation etc?

if its just for essays and web then you don't really need much

get a amd 4600x2 or intel e2180, 2gb ddr2 800 might as well get vista now, as it has some nice features and runs great with 2gb ram or more, even if is only for basic stuff a real gpu is a good idea as it stop the intel junk steeling 256mb of system ram and 8600s are so cheap now, so unless you are on a really tight buget you'd be better off getting a low end gpu than going wiht integrated.

320gb hdds are great bank for buck but the 640gb are about the cheapest per gig now, get the most you can afford you can never have to much space.

1gb ram is pretty low end now and not much got for vista but ok for basic stuff in xp but ram is so cheap now there is no reason to only get 1gb