Opinions on upgrading Win98 vs. new computer....

[SamJack]

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Eventually I'd like to have dual monitors....do bottom-of-the-line desktops come with built-in dual monitor capability?


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The low end PC will have built-in video chip set that may not support dual monitors in the resolution you want.

However, this is something that can be relatively easily upgraded later.

SamJack

[Benjamin]

Easy call to go for the new machine. You'd need to buy a bunch of RAM for your old machine, waste a day upgrading it, and then it'd still be slow and probably break down before long.

I'd get a cheap Dell w/ an upgrade to 512 MB RAM. To run 2 monitors on any affordable new machine you'll have to add a video card, but that's pretty cheap too.

B.

[BigBaitsim (milo)]

No brainer. Buy a new Dell, then pick up a dual-head graphics adapter on eBay for $50 or so. Now hook up three monitors running 1600x1200 for eight-tabling with no overlap, plus room for the lobby window, PT, email and anything else you want to look at while playing poker.

[slimpikkens]

Consensus says new computer. Now I have permission and don't need to feel guilty about it [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Thanks for all the replies....

[Kenrick]

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Celeron? Is that a poor man's Pentium?

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I think it's a poor man's crap, but you go with what you can. Don't need anything top-notch other than to play Doom3 anyway.

I remember the first time I ran windows 2000. It's like Windows 98 but never crashes. Amazing. I could never go back to that 98/Millenium junk.

[grandgnu]

I build systems on the side, and with Windows XP you do NOT want to get a system that is bottom of the barrel with 128MB of RAM.

The bare minimum I recommend is 256MB, and even this is too little sometimes. I really recommend getting 512MB of dual-channel DDR with a P4 2.4Ghz processor on an 800mhz FSB (there are a number of different Pentiums out there running on different FSB's, I believe Dell is selling off the old 533mhz FSB systems because they have so much overstock)

Good luck!