PC Configurartion Questions...

[TommyWillB]

I'm considering buying a low end (>$500) PC as an alternative to Virtual PC running on my Mac... and I have a bunch of stupid questions:

1) When a PC maker says the speakers are sold seperately that implies to me that the machine does have a sound card... Is that a correct assumption?

2) Most of these machines have "shared" video memory... I presume that this means is does not have dedicated RAM on the video card and instead borrows memory from the computer insted... Is that correct, and how big of a compromise is that for basic non-gmaing usage?

3) How does a 1.8GHz AMD Athlon XP compare to 2.0GHz Intel Pentium 4?

4) What other comprimises do these low end machines have that I should care about?

[marz]

1) Probably, but never assume anything.
2) I think the shared video memory is due to the video adapter being built into the motherboard and not an addtional card. If you're not gaming or using it for heavy graphics it's probably no big deal especially if you're used to VPC.
3) Can't say exactly, I have an old PII 350 and it works just fine for all I need it for.
4) I'll leave this up to the experts to answer.

[Gnomo]

1) The computer probably has an onboard sound card, which would require amplified speakers (which you would be required to buy separately).
2) Marz is correct.
3) In all the benchmarks that I've seen, the AMD XP chips have surpassed the P4s (guess intel's early attempt at moving away from a 32bit processor came back to bite them).
4) Depending on who you are buying this low end machine from, you might not have very many expansion slots of any kind (ie Ram, PCI, etc). They also typically have small power supplies, so the addition of storage space can be an issue. It doesn't sound like you would need to worry too much though (if you are just looking for a hardware replacement for Virtual PC), but if you ever wanted to upgrade you should keep in mind that these things will limit you.

[binaryDigit]

1- Almost all current pc's come with built in sound. Most likely ac97 compatable, but do check to be sure.

2- This will eat up ram so be sure to have enough for whatever you're planning (I'm assuming it has at least 128mb). Performance will be less than optimal, but depending on use, shouldn't be an issue.

3- A 1.8ghz amd will outperform a 2.0ghz p4. Do make sure that it is a 1.8ghz amd though, and not a 1800+ which is really like a 1.4ghz processor. In this case it will perform slightly lower than the p4.

4- Gnomo has good points. Generally, unless space is an issue, get a pc that comes in a "normal" sized case with a decent power supply. In this way you can upgrade easier later. You may also want to make sure it has an agp port so if you want to upgrade the video later you can (disabling the onboard video). Beware of "whacky" components, try to get a system that has "standard" components (i.e. don't scrimp too much as this can cause headaches with drivers etc in the future).