What RAM and O/S should I get?

Hi

Please bear with me as I am not a hardware person.

I usually run the following simultaneously:

-Oracle Applications (not tools) via web browser
-a word doc
-a powerpoint doc
-email, maybe outlooj
-net browser session

->no games!

And optionally it would be nice to have a DVD playing in the background

1. RAM

Do I need 1 GB or is 512 sufficient?

2. O/S

Do I need XP Professional and please provide your insight why?
Or is XP home edition ok

Looking for a business laptop but I will likely only need it for a 1 or 2 yr project then a laptop will be supplied to me, so this will hopefully be more just for home use after that time. Not looking to replace the laptop anytime soon, I use eletronics til they die type of thing.

If you could kindly gear any responses towards someone not into the latest/greatest technology (I'm getting a Dell Latitude D520 if that gives you an idea!) and def looking to be budget conscious

Thank you!

 

I wouldn't get anything less than 1GB these days, not for XP, and certainly not if there's any possibility of a Vista migration. I've found 1GB to pretty well be a minimum for Vista, and the point of comfort for XP.

It sounds like there's a pretty good chance you'll have to hop on a domain at some point, so I'd definitely get XP Pro. Though if you get Vista Home Premium, you can upgrade to Business pretty easily I believe. In theory, I haven't tried it.

 

I agree, the min. amount of ram you should get these days should be 1 gb, if not more.

Go for Windows XP Pro if you need its security and network features. Personally, I would get it over Windows XP Home.

 

Ok thanks...sounds like XP Pro is the way to go to hop onto a network (I had heard that but wanted to hear it from someone on here!) at an office and with that, the 1 GB

Thank you very much

 

wow your really talented if you can do all those things and watch a dvd at the same time just messin, but yeah go with xp pro and at least 1gb of ram, the more the happier you will be

 

I fourth the XP Pro + 1GB ram.

Watch DVD== listening to the audio (my guess)

 

Most people don't really need XP Pro.

 

I think it costs $20 to upgrade from XP Home to XP Pro with Dell, so why not?

For RAM, 1GB, don't cheap out here. Although Dell should have deals providing a free upgrade to 1GB already. If not, they might overcharge you for another 512MB stick.

 

So true.
So many people buy Pro just cause of the name... Like so many people in residence last year that would say Pro was so much better than Home edition, yet they didn't know the difference between the two.

Have a look here for the difference between Home edition and Pro.
Most people don't need the extras the Pro gives. Home is good enough for a lot of people. I don't know how much it is today to upgrade from Home to Pro, but it was around 60$ when I bought my computer and it's certainly not worth it if you don't use the extra feautures.

 

Only thing that's really nice that Pro gives you is Remote Desktop support integrated into the OS, but things like UltraVNC actually work better and are more secure for using your system remotely, and it works on XP Home. So unless you're joining a Domain (and if you don't know what that is, you aren't), you don't need XP Pro.