Could I/Should I Update?

[lauronb]

The big question is... should I upgrade, or is it just time to buy a new computer? Is all this upgrading worth it? Any experts out there who can advise?

I want to go to 120+GB HD, I know I must upgrade my OS probably to XP Pro(Where can I buy for less, any "special deals" for teachers?) or use an external drive?

I own an HP Pavilion 8650C PC. Intel Celeron 533MHz, upgradable only by a prof. tech. Frontside bus 66 MHz, 20GB Ultra DMA hard drive. 64MB SDRAM(expandable to 256K), Windows 98SE.

Thanks for any help/suggestions...
Happy New Year! :)

[Ken Blake]

In ,
lauronb > typed:

> The big question is... should I upgrade, or is it just time to
buy a
> new computer? Is all this upgrading worth it? Any experts out
there
> who can advise?


My view is that it depends on how much (and what) you have that
is still servicable and will remain after upgrading. Most people
who upgrade end up replacing almost everything; if you fall into
that category (and I suspect you will), you're better off with a
new computer.


> I want to go to 120+GB HD, I know I must upgrade my OS probably
to XP
> Pro


Why Pro? XP Professional and XP Home are exactly the same in all
respects, except that Professional has a few features (mostly
related to networking and security) missing from Home. For most
(but not all) home users, these features aren't needed, would
never be used, and buying Professional instead of Home is a waste
of money.

For details go to

http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/whichxp.asp

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/howtobuy/choosing2.asp

Also note that Professional allows ten concurrent network
connections, and Home only five.



> (Where can I buy for less, any "special deals" for teachers?)
or
> use an external drive?
>
> I own an HP Pavilion 8650C PC. Intel Celeron 533MHz, upgradable
only
> by a prof. tech. Frontside bus 66 MHz, 20GB Ultra DMA hard
drive.
> 64MB SDRAM(expandable to 256K), Windows 98SE.


It sounds to me like there's very little there you should keep,
and you're better off with a new computer.

--
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Gerry Cornell]

What do you want to do that you are not doing with the present machine.

--=20
~~~~~~


Hope this helps.

Gerry
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"lauronb" > wrote in message =
...
> The big question is... should I upgrade, or is it just time to buy a =
new computer? Is all this upgrading worth it? Any experts out there =
who can advise?
>=20
> I want to go to 120+GB HD, I know I must upgrade my OS probably to XP =
Pro(Where can I buy for less, any "special deals" for teachers?) or use =
an external drive?
>=20
> I own an HP Pavilion 8650C PC. Intel Celeron 533MHz, upgradable only =
by a prof. tech. Frontside bus 66 MHz, 20GB Ultra DMA hard drive. 64MB =
SDRAM(expandable to 256K), Windows 98SE. =20
>=20
> Thanks for any help/suggestions...
> Happy New Year! :)

[Mike]

"lauronb" > wrote:

| The big question is... should I upgrade, or is it just time to buy a new
computer? Is all this upgrading worth it? Any experts out there who can
advise?
|
| I want to go to 120+GB HD, I know I must upgrade my OS probably to XP
Pro(Where can I buy for less, any "special deals" for teachers?) or use an
external drive?
|
| I own an HP Pavilion 8650C PC. Intel Celeron 533MHz, upgradable only by a
prof. tech. Frontside bus 66 MHz, 20GB Ultra DMA hard drive. 64MB
SDRAM(expandable to 256K), Windows 98SE.
|
| Thanks for any help/suggestions...
| Happy New Year! :)

It's time to buy a new computer.. in the new year :-))

--
Mike.

[Alex Nichol]

lauronb wrote:

>The big question is... should I upgrade, or is it just time to buy a new computer? Is all this upgrading worth it? Any experts out there who can advise?
>
>I want to go to 120+GB HD, I know I must upgrade my OS probably to XP Pro(Where can I buy for less, any "special deals" for teachers?) or use an external drive?
>
>I own an HP Pavilion 8650C PC. Intel Celeron 533MHz, upgradable only by a prof. tech. Frontside bus 66 MHz, 20GB Ultra DMA hard drive. 64MB SDRAM(expandable to 256K), Windows 98SE.

If you cannot use that size drive in Win98 it will be because the BIOS
is not handling it and needs upgrading - and it would need that for XP
too. 64 MB RAM is totally inadequate - 256 would be a reasonable basic
amount.
It sounds to me that this machine needs to be left on Win98 with the
largest HD it will handle (there may be a breakpoint at 80 GB and that
size would be quite nice)

--
Alex Nichol MS MVP (Windows Technologies)
Bournemouth, U.K. (remove the D8 bit)