Advice for Upgrading Windows Computer

[Paul Findon]

On 9 Mar 2006, at 16:43, Rita Lewis wrote:

> I work as a contractor at a government site, and we've been asked to 
> submit a wish list for upgrading our computers. Does anyone have any 
> advice on the current minimum standards in DTP for RAM, disk space,

My new Mac arrived this week: I went for a Power Mac G5 with dual-core 
2.3 GHz CPU, 4 GB of memory, 500 GB SATA hard disk, 16x DVD (double 
layer), GeForce 6600 (256MB), and 30-inch Cinema Display. USB 2.0, 
Firewire 400 and 800, and Gigabit Ethernet come as standard.

The display is a real beauty. With 2560 x 1600, I can open several FM 
docs at a very readable size and still have room for all the palettes. 
Speed-wise it's a major jump from my 1 GHz PowerBook, and I can run 
FrameMaker, Illustrator CS2, Photoshop CS2, InDesign CS2, Dreamweaver 
8, Mail, Safari, and a whole bunch of other apps simultaneously and Mac 
OS X doesn't even bat an eyelid, and there's still over 1 GB of memory 
free. CPU usage hovers around 5% with all that lot open. That's the 
power of UNIX I guess.

I recently built a couple of Windows PC for the kids to play their 
games on. (I enjoy building PCs in my spare time but don't enjoy using 
them. Built my first in 1990. In another life I was an electronics 
engineer.) I went for a Shuttle barebones box. Dropped in a 3 GHz 
Pentium 4, 2 GB of memory, 300 GB SATA hard disk, Shuttle DVD drive 
(matching silver fascia), GeForce 9600 Pro. Installed Win XP SP2 and 
had to spend some time configuring all the kids games to run in Windows 
2000 Compatibility mode, but the kids are chuffed to bits. We're not 
yet at the age where frame rate matters and the GeForce 9600 is perfect 
for Reader Rabbit and the like.

I don't like computer noise pollution so replaced the main fan and two 
in the PSU with quiet models, swapped the Northbridge fan for a nice 
big Zalman heatsink, and suspended the hard disk. It's now deafeningly 
quiet, so much so that you wouldn't even think there was a computer in 
the room.

Now if only I could do something about the fans in my Power Mac G5...

Paul