1. At work, we buy pre-built computers from Taran. They're decent, but it looks as if they only deal with other businesses, so probably not much use to you unless you can order it via a company.
2. Dell certainly sell machines with XP pre-installed, so I think it would be easy enough to get an XP box if you want one. My main problem with Vista is hardware compatibility, so that probably wouldn't affect you if it's a brand new machine (unless you have an existing scanner/printer/whatever to connect to it). Software should be fine as long as it's a fairly recent version.
If you go with XP, you don't need the Pro version; the only significant difference is that Pro lets you connect to a domain whereas Home only lets you connect to a workgroup.
For Vista, there's a comparison table of the different editions here. In your case, I'd say that Home Basic would be good enough, unless you're planning to stick a TV card in it. (The Aero interface is pretty, but my work machine doesn't support it and that's not much of a loss.) You can always
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Yes, but most of the ones that turn up under "Windows XP" don't actually have it as an option when you go into the "customise" bit. The two that do are workstations that wouldn't be suitable for home use (no sound card etc)
I know you know about www.mcscom.co.uk because you got your laptop there. They also do desktops - guineabird got hers from there. They often don't come with windows, but they'll sell you XP separately.
Do you want a desktop or a laptop?
I got an email the other week informing me that there was project money for machines left over at the end of the budget year. Naturally, I asked for a macbook. I reckon that if you're paying for a new, almost un-upgradable laptop anyway, it might as well be a mac. Particularly now that they're intel, so all the usual linux kit will run on them if you need it to. I can let you know how I get on with the software, etc when it arrives.
You already know that you get on fine with ubuntu, right? And you're not interested in windows style gaming (WoW, etc). So, you have the pick of the three camps - you already know that you can get on happily in any of them. They all do email, web, office, photos, etc. I guess what it comes down to is the numbers for the particular machine you're looking at, plus any feelings you have about the hassle of sysadmining your box vs DRM vs update software vs anti virus stuff etc.
I get on fine with Ubuntu, but I think it's probably too big a leap all at once for my parents (and they won't be happy sysadmining it). The long term goal is to dual-boot once they're a little more confident, with probable shifting to Linux once they're comfortable, so that they don't need to buy Windows again.
Ubuntu requires significantly less system administration than Windows these days - updates happen pretty much automatically, installation of new software is trivial, and there's no need to run virus scanners or adware detectors.
Regarding your extra question, our standard spec at work is a 3.2Ghz processor with 1Gb RAM. However, that's single core, so it's ok to have a dual core processor with a lower speed.
As far as I can tell, all the Dell desktops are dual core. (Our single core machines come from Taran.) It's a shame, because something like this would probably suit your parents quite well if it was still available.
any processor you buy currently will be fast enough. it only matters if you know that you need the extra power. eg rendering or really high end gaming. but that that point the graphics card is more important.
Seconded. Unless you're doing hardcore protein folding or prime searching, processor speed is basically irrelevant these days. Spend the money on RAM instead.
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2. Dell certainly sell machines with XP pre-installed, so I think it would be easy enough to get an XP box if you want one. My main problem with Vista is hardware compatibility, so that probably wouldn't affect you if it's a brand new machine (unless you have an existing scanner/printer/whatever to connect to it). Software should be fine as long as it's a fairly recent version.
If you go with XP, you don't need the Pro version; the only significant difference is that Pro lets you connect to a domain whereas Home only lets you connect to a workgroup.
For Vista, there's a comparison table of the different editions here. In your case, I'd say that Home Basic would be good enough, unless you're planning to stick a TV card in it. (The Aero interface is pretty, but my work machine doesn't support it and that's not much of a loss.) You can always ( ... )
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1. Go to http://www.dell.co.uk/
2. Choose "Desktops for home".
3. Go to the "Desktops" menu in the top left corner, then choose "View All Desktops".
4. You can now use the menu on the left hand side to filter by OS; when I did it just now there were 7 Vista machines and 6 XP machines.
Having said that, they certainly don't make it obvious!
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Do you want a desktop or a laptop?
I got an email the other week informing me that there was project money for machines left over at the end of the budget year. Naturally, I asked for a macbook. I reckon that if you're paying for a new, almost un-upgradable laptop anyway, it might as well be a mac. Particularly now that they're intel, so all the usual linux kit will run on them if you need it to. I can let you know how I get on with the software, etc when it arrives.
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You already know that you get on fine with ubuntu, right? And you're not interested in windows style gaming (WoW, etc). So, you have the pick of the three camps - you already know that you can get on happily in any of them. They all do email, web, office, photos, etc. I guess what it comes down to is the numbers for the particular machine you're looking at, plus any feelings you have about the hassle of sysadmining your box vs DRM vs update software vs anti virus stuff etc.
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any processor you buy currently will be fast enough. it only matters if you know that you need the extra power. eg rendering or really high end gaming. but that that point the graphics card is more important.
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