Hi Puffs:
"What type of computer size is best?"
80 gig hard drive is great, larger than average. I would have a second hard drive as back-up ... for your documents as Englishman has done ... If you have an 80 Gigabite "C" drive, then have a 10 to 20 Gigabite "D" drive
Get a writable CD - as high a speed as possible. Mine is a slower 40X, but it works well.
"512 DDR SDRAM, 1.8 speed?" If the 512 here referes to megabite for your RAM, then that is good for now.
Not sure what the 1.8 speed is. But your PC spped is determined by two factors ... central processor, which is the commonly popular sped, like 1800 megahertz ... that is great, but your BUS Speed is the key ... if you have 800 MHz bus speed or higher ytou are doing well. Make the sales person at the store tell you the Bus spped in writing ... if he fails ask for the manager because he is eaither a liar or an idiot.
"I know nothing of digial photos"
First, get a digital camera that has a large memory ... this will allow a lot of photos ... and be sure to carry lots of batteries. The "Pixel rating is what you want, as this is your resolution. More is better. After a while, resolution gets good enough, and the extra cost for high resolution may not buy you that much more.
"I also like Morpheus and want to get upgraded sound etc."
I don't know much about the sound side as this is less important to me.
"I am looking at Dell or Compaq and want to spend about $1300. Any advice?"
Stay away from Compaq ... it is an unstable system, and they make too many features under their proprietary design, so interface with other software and parts are not good. Our office manage bought about 8 Compaqs against better advice and every last one of them went into the tank. Big waste of money.
Packard-Bell is a low budget product ... not bad except they still have a bad wrap for moounting the phone modem to the mother board ... and the least bit of jaring and it breaks ...
Dell is okay, but Gateway is just as good and is more cost effective. But a PC magazine and compare.
HP is good but over priced.
IBM is good ... better than Packard-Bell ... not as good as Gateway or Dell ... but a decent buy.
$1,300 price tag should buy you a nice system
Windows XP is a piece shit ... it works, but it requires you to be married to Microsoft ... I have Windows 98, and Windows ME is okay ... but my next change up is to Linux. It is free on line, and is public domain ... so upgrades are contributed by users. I want to get away from Microsoft operating system - as good as it is ... Win XP as noted above was the last straw.
Make sure your system has cable/DSL capability. Phone modems are going the way of the dinosaur fast .... because the local phone companies are like the Catholic Church ... they are taking forever to make needed changes to high-speed lines.
Back up your system every day, or each time you make a new document and save it. Save it on both "C" and "D" drives ... and get a good anti-virus / firewall program, such as Norton/Semantec or Black Ice ... stay away from McAffee ... it ties up too much Himem and Cache memory ... and slows you system ... Norton operates in the background and leave you alone unless you have a problem.
Check for new virus definition everyday ... and scan your system immediately after your Virus updates are downloaded ... there are about 50 new viruses every weekk all year long ... and they can take a big tool on your system, even if they are low-level humor viruses ... The Firewall is absolutely essential ... because people can access your system through backdoor ports while you are online ... and the firewall stops them in their tracks.
Hope all that helps.
