LOOKING FOR NEW DESKTOP COMPUTER : This month I will have had my venerable Gateway 2000 Pentium II desktop computer for 10 years. And YES … it’s long past time to get an up-to-date replacement. What I have in mind is a Dell desktop model to complement and interact with the Dell Latitude D820 laptop I acquired in May 2006. Where to start? In the last 10 years technology has leapfrogged so dramatically that I’m lost amidst the new buzzwords and new … everything. It seems I need to relearn a whole new language of terms, procedures, and their meanings. Where to start … indeed?? I’m recently retired and work from a nice home office in East Norriton, PA. As a freelance writer/photographer I’ve accumulated many 1000s of files since my first computer in 1988. I use the MS Office 2003 suite of programs … Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. and have acquired a host of subsidiary programs and supporting hardware that are too numerous and varied to list here. I make extensive use of USB technology and have come to rely on USB hubs to handle them all. I also use Windows XP Professional and have heard enough about Vista to convince me not to make that leap just yet. And I’m definitely NOT into gaming or other flashy applications … so high performance in that arena is not required. I use Outlook 2003 for e-mailing and Internet Explorer 7.0 extensively for communicating, research, marketing, etc. So-o-o-o … here I am at the proverbial “yellow brick road” … and not sure which way to turn. At any rate … I’m open to starting strategies … promising directions to explore … and generally good advice. Which way to Oz? Many thanks, Mike

Buying a Dell and downgrading to XP is not a good idea. A host of issues arise when doing that. I take it you don't own a full copy of WinXP then? Getting an operating system on an OEM computer is about the best feature of the whole deal. Other than that you don't seem to need any other software and you could assemble or buy a custom box that would be better quality than a Dell. If you don't want to bother with that, go to Dell Direct and customize one of the units they have available with WinXP. Dell still offers some units with WinXP. If you are getting by with a ten year old computer the most basic model available will probably serve your needs.

Well go for Dell is a good idea, they are offering some nice deals now they have the Dell Vostro 200 mini desktop on sale for $449, the specifications are quite nice also, with Intel Core2 Duo E7200 2.53GHZ, 2GB,250GB, a 19" monitor.

sticking with XP is probably a good idea, and because 32-bit OSs are capped at 4GB of RAM, you won't need/be able to use more than 3GB or so. But don't go for less than 2GB. the intel core 2 duos are sweet CPUs. don't mix them up with the older Pentium 4 dual cores. the C2Ds use less power, run cooler, and generally out perform the pentium dual cores despite having a lower clock speed (C2D 2.13GHz > 3.0GHz P4 dual core, for example). even if you don't play games, i would suggest getting a machine with a graphics card in it, instead of using "integrated" or "on board" graphics. This will reduce the load on your CPU and increase performance in visually demanding programs and web pages. The only thing that really blows is that you are probably going to have to purchase another copy of Office, unless you have the install media and a product key. most software licenses don't cover migrating to a new machine, and there's no way to copy the program itself without leaving behind a ton of registry entries and driver files. Many preconfigured machines from manufacturers like Dell come with TRIAL installs of Office products. these will last about 2 months before expiring and prompting you to cough up $300. be aware of what you need and what you're purchasing.

UpandComing The OP stated the computer is ten years old and they have Office 2003. I took that to mean it is a retail version. Guess I could be wrong.

Actually I first has Windows Office Suite 2000 Pro on my 10-year-old computer before upgrading to Windows Office Suite 2003 Pro.

Then you should be able to migrate the 2003 version to a new computer. You may need to provide proof of an older version. All that requires is insertion of the 2000 CD when prompted.