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Date:	Mon, 17 Jan 2005 17:51:35 PST8
From:	Colin Campbell <cmcampb@adelphia.net >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: [Fwd: Upcoming Dell PC Purchase]

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I tried to send the following note to Steven directly, but I don't know
if it ever got there, so I'm trying to go through the Help e-mail address.

If others have some input for me, I'll be happy to have your help!
Thanks,
Colin

name="Upcoming Dell PC Purchase"
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Message-ID: <41EAC894.7020809@adelphia.net>
Date: Sun, 16 Jan 2005 12:03:32 -0800
From: Colin Campbell
Reply-To: cmcampb@adelphia.net
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (OS/2; U; Warp 4.5; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624
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To: steven@scoug.com
Subject: Upcoming Dell PC Purchase
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Steven,
Thanks for your advice yesterday concerning the Dell Dimension 8400 PC I
am considering buying. Naturally, I'm trying to make sure everything
ought to work. I couldn't stay late yesterday, and ask you more
questions, so I hope e-mail is OK for completing the process.

Just as a refresher, the PC is a Pentium 4, with 1GB memory, an 80GB
hard drive, a 3.5 floppy drive, a DVD reader (16x DVD-ROM) and a DVD
writer (16x DVD +/-RW w/dbl layer write capability), and a free 19" Flat
Panel display. Price is $1199, although I'm considering buying a longer
warranty. It comes with WinXP Home, and some other Windows side
software, which is of little concern to me. I can still use my older
PC's Win2K Pro and full MS Office suite if I need to.

I remember that you said I should check at SciTech that the ATI Radeon
X300SE video card would be supported by SNAP, and I found "ATI Radeon
300 Series" mentioned under supported cards.

The sound card is listed as "Integrated 5.1 Channel Audio", and I wrote
down a question mark beside that. How should I go about finding out
more about the sound situation? Do I need to ask Dell what chipset is
used? And, if this proves to be some kind of problem, could I just buy
a separate sound card (and if so, which one(s) would you suggest)?

I think you mentioned that I should find out about the PCI card / slots
- what is the right question to ask? Is this about "original", "wide",
"fast/wide", and the like, or are there other factors to consider?

And I said I was wondering about USB - how many ports, where they are
located, etc. My current machine, which was built by Indelible Blue
shortly before they went out of business, has only two ports on the back
of the box. I'd like to be able to plug in my digital camera and/or
memory devices more easily.

Do you expect that the network interface ("Integrated Gigabit Ethernet")
will work with eCS? If it proves problematic, I can just get another
Intel card, as you suggested to me back in 2003 for my current PC, right?

Would you consider this a good PC for someone who is active on the
Internet, manages pictures, wants to be able to watch DVD movies
occasionally, and may do some programming in the future? Are there
other hardware components that you would consider if you were buying a
good, new PC today?

Do you have any other suggestions that you think might enhance my use
and enjoyment of the PC?

Thanks,
Colin Campbell

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