Purchase Advise - for Desktop - PP slideshow

[rossilinni]

I am involved in a company which runs training courses on via computer normally on PP slideshows.

The PP files don't have any fancy animation or video -but some are quite large files - around 200 slides or show.

I am going to purchase a couple of new Dell desktops and am wanting some advice regarding optimal RAM size , processor type etc.

Just want to make the machines run as fast as they can without paying for a whole lot of fire power that I won't be using.

Thanks guys,

Rosso

[Bushfiva]

Powerpoint's not resource-intensive on the presentation side. Pretty much anything you buy will be fine. If XP, 1 GB of memory will be OK. If Vista, 2 GB. CPU-wise, again, bottom end will be OK, but no reason to choose a system that's Core Solo these days. One of my machines is XP Pro, 300MHz CPU, 640MB RAM and it's just fine. If you're going with Dell, any of their end-of-line discounted offers will do.

If you don't actually use Powerpoint when making the presentation, but package the presentation, that will run fine on the most ancient machine you can find.

Presumably, since the presentations already exist, you can simply run them on existing kit and see if the performance is acceptable, and use that as your guideline.

[All Ahead Full]

An idea on budget would help narrow things down a bit as well, but consider that for around the £500 mark, you should be able to get a reasonable PC, with a 19in Flat screen, and ideally 2Gb of RAM, with a 200Gb Hard disk. THe processors are all faiirly up to the job these days, unless you are wanting to run things as a gaming machine. Also consider what warrenty you get, as in when it goes wrong, what happens, will they come and pick it up, or do you have to stuff it in a box, and send it back to them.

Just my thoughts,

all the best

AAF

[ruslan124]

Bushfiva is absolutely correct in all of the advice he has given you. If you check the UK Dell website you can get the cheapest Dell for 319 pounds and that includes a 17" widescreen monitor. I would recommend adding 1GB memory to the standard offering. the model is the Inspiron 530.

[mixture]

Also consider what warrenty you get, as in when it goes wrong, what happens, will they come and pick it up, or do you have to stuff it in a box, and send it back to them.

Dell warranty ? :

That's the best joke I've heard all day ! Well, after the one about the [insert well known high street PC retailer] extended warranty.

Dell spend a lot of money on pre-sales ..... fancy website, ruthless sales reps, cheap prices. But when it comes to post-sales, unless you are writing them corporate sized cheques, you are generally , excuse the French.

If you want a serious, business class warranty, that is available to the working classes, it's called an HP Carepack. Now that's what I call service.


(all my own personal experience, your mileage may vary,no I don't work for HP or any other of Dell's competitors blah blah blah .... but I do believe you won't have to look far for others with a similar opinion)

Updated :
spotted another pruner' who has enjoyed HP's special sauce :
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showpos...96&postcount=3