Does Size Matter?
Continued from yesterday…
MS Vista and MS Office continue on the upgrade path, yet talking to Mr JM, and by experience among friends and colleagues, nobody actually uses more than 10 or 15% of the features included. Most people would be just as productive with Windows 98SE and Office 97, yet release after release is sold and the ongoing chase for your hard-earned cash continues.
When Windows XP first released, it came with a need for 64MB of RAM and could actually be run on 32MB. With Service Pack 3 just released, (see here for details if you’re technically inclined) you’d find it difficult to get decent performance with less than 256MB of RAM and 512MB would be better.
Vista is released with a suggested minimum of 1GB of RAM, but anyone trying to run it in that configuration will be very disappointed with the performance – practical resources would be 2GB or better. Office 2007 runs reasonably in 512MB of RAM but is happier with 1GB or more.
We’ve come a long expensive way from 1MB RAM in your desktop!
So, what to do about it? Well unless you’re a gamer, or your business is high end computer use such as graphics design or video editing, simply ask yourself, ‘Is my computer doing all I need of it?’ And remember, internet browsing is distinctly NOT one of the high end reasons for a top-of-the-line computer. If your PC is doing all you require of it, stick with it. A standard desktop should last 5 years (or more) and laptops in business use commonly have a turnover time of 3 years.
If your PC does all you need but does it too slowly, bookmark this site and call back regularly – I’ll be covering things you can do to speed it up, to clean it up, to upgrade only needed parts, and to protect your PC and information from outside interference.
Remember, you can ask questions or post experiences and I will answer them – if I can’t, Mr JM will be able to help and I will pass along his experience.
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