[at-l] OT - yes, another computer question

[Steve Miller]

Skeeter,

As TT mentioned, everything you need (drivers, etc) generally comes with 
the drive.  I wouldn't go too cheap, but there is not need to pay 
premium prices.  Most drives are very similar and quite reliable.  Mostly!

Looking at the specs for that system, it does NOT support the newer SATA 
drives, so you will want to be sure the drive says IDE on it.  These are 
becoming rarer, but you still should not have a problem finding one.

The processor speed and the integrated graphics (Intel Extreme) of that 
system should be fine for playing DVD's.  The same is true of the audio 
unless they are looking for a 'home theater' experience.

The memory should be okay - as long as they are not running much else in 
the background.  With XP (as with most Windows), more memory is often 
better.  I have 4 GB in my system and still curse is speed, but I tend 
to be impatient!!  If you do decide to upgrade memory, you may need to 
find a computer store (as opposed to Walmart) or go online, as the DIMMs 
it uses are getting a bit old.  It only has two slots and I suspect it 
currently has two 256MB DIMMs, so to upgrade you would need two 512MB 
ones.  However, check inside first.  It may actually have a single 512, 
so you would only need to add one 512.

TMI?   Bottom line, find an IDE-based player.  Hook it up to the same 
cables as the CD used.  You should be fine.

UpToSomethin'


Mark Hudson wrote:
> They're running XP on a Dell 3000. No idea on the graphics card or 
> cable. 2.8Ghz Pentium. Only 512 MB memory.
>
> Thanks!
>
> On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 8:41 PM, Tenacious Tanasi 
> <tenacious_tanasi at yahoo.com <mailto:tenacious_tanasi at yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
>     Skeeter,
>      
>     You can get an inexpensive DVD/CD read/write drive at Wal-Mart. 
>     Typically when you purchase a drive like this a disk will come
>     with it with the appropriate software and drivers on it. 
>      
>     However, before you invest in this, what operating system is on
>     their computer?  What type of graphics card does it have? 
>     Processor? Memory?  IDE or Sata cable?
>      
>     All of that kinda comes into play.  ;)
>      
>     Tenacious Tanasi
>
>
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