|
He's still running Windows 95 on an old IBM box from about that era; actually, I think the box might be somewhat older than that
Personally, I think he might have a better machine if he just wired a lamb cord to an abacus: no usb ports, no RJ45 jack -- he still backs up and gets his stuff on/off via floppies
I think something with a process running at 2.5ghz or faster, with at least 2gb RAM and a 7200rpm drive would be a nice step up -- especially if it had some decent connectivity, so he could get back and forth between the new box and his laptop more easily
He also like to be able to get on the internet, but I have no idea what provider or access method he would choose
He needs a CD or DVD reader and probably a floppy drive so he can access stuff he's archived. Personally, I think he ought to have two hard drives, one backing up the other, but maybe that's just me
The other consideration is size. Even a mini tower or an old SFF-sized desktop could be awkward for him to wrestle around. I might recommend a nettop, but they're not terribly fast and I worry graphics resolution might be an issue if he moved to a bigger screen
I can imagine a build in a cubic foot gaming box, with (say) 3ghz cpu, 3 gb RAM, two HD, and decent connectivity for under $650, exclusive of the OS which probably needs to be Windows 7, since he's familiar with Windows, Vista sucks, and XP support ends next year. I think open source programs are available do everything he needs: the opendisc collection seems adequate, for example
The question is whether I can get a somewhat comparable retail machine in a small box for a significantly better price or at around that price with good warranty and support
|