TP

Am I right in thinking that is something I'd set up in the BIOS so that it first looked for an internal hard disk and then for one attached to the USB?

You should be able to select the boot devices in the BIOS. Just set the first one to USB Drive.

D'you know, the more I read this thread, the more I wonder whatever was wrong with the mark 1 pencil & paper...............................

Configure your own Desktop PC or Laptop

"With custom desktop computers you can choose from thousands of permutations ranging from the case right through to the processor itself!"

This link above is well worth a look. It starts off with:

eg, Which route should I follow - AMD or INTEL? Click here for help

hew,

My wife is an artist and I can assure you that there are just as many combinations of pencil and paper.

Thanks for that Exec. I am still favouring Mesh as I can get to their showroom - and get back if anything does not work when I get it home.

Just been using my studio PC and noted that it has Intel Pentium (R) 4 CPU 3.20 Ghz and 1.00 GB ram. Am I going to see much improvement in speed with what we have been chatting about?

TP

First off, I'd say, 'Not enough RAM'.

Re: Visiting Mesh, etc. I live in Northampton area. Nevertheless, it would take me 15 to 20 minutes to take my machine to the Computer Doctors down the road.

TP

To some extent, it depends on your software.

Assuming that you go for a machine with one or more Intel Quad core procesors then you should have at least four times the potential processing power. However, you have to have software that can take adantage of multi processors. If your graphics software can only work with one core at a time then you will not see much difference.

The 1GB RAM on your existing machine is on the minimum these days especially for graphics applications. You would see a big performance increase by increasing it to at least 2GB, possibly 3 or 4.

Unfortunately the standard 32bit versions of Windows (and other OS) don't benefit much from going above 2GB RAM. For that you need to use a 64bit OS, the downside of that is that some programs and devices will just not work with it.

Dirty monitor?

Get it cleaned HERE

Opt,

The heaviest work my studio machine does is converting RAW image files into jpgs with this software.

Seems it will handle a Quad core processor so that can be on my shopping list.

TP

TP

That looks like it can use the quad core OK but it looks as though it will be a while before it will run on a 64 bit OS so you will have to keep to a standard 32 bit OS.

BTW have you any experience of video editing software? I want to know the best (cheapish) package to convert my cameras .mov files to .wmv and DVD format

Opt,

"BTW have you any experience of video editing software?"

No, sorry. But I'll put a msg on the forum I use and we ought to have an answer by tomorrow morning.

TP

TP

Thanks.

Opt,

Gosh. Quad core really ups the price - at Mesh anyway.

TP

on mesh start with the base only at 329 then add quad (+80) and another 500 gig HD (60) and you get

Elite Essential (includes upgrades - click to view)
420.00 + vat

LINK

System Base Price: 280.00
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Quad Core Processor(2.4GHz,8MB Cache,1066MHz) [upg 80.00]
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition with SP 1
New MESH Mini-Tower Micro ATX Case +250W PSU
PCI-Express Nvidia Geforce Mainboard Intel Core 2 Duo/Quad Core MATX
2GB DDR2 667MHz Memory - (2x 1GB)
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive with 16MB Buffer [upg 60.00]
Super Format 20x Dual Layer DVD Writer +R/-R/RW/RAM
128MB Integrated On-board Graphics (SMA)
5.1 High Definition onboard sound card - 6 Channel Cinema sound
Free Microsoft Works 8.5 + Limited Microsoft Office Trial
Free Cyberlink Video Editing Suite - 7 titles (oem)
Multi-format Memory Card Reader (matx)
1 Year Hardware Warranty - Back to Base (UK Mainland only)

if you have 2 hard drives ask them to mirror image so you have a backup all the time,so if one drive goes the other will be OK,but Opty will be better with the techy thingys,
EDIT you should go for a graphics card too,
sometimes a pre-made high spec tower is as cheap as a besic tower when you start adding more upgrades,
just have a good look at the diff systems,
give me a price to spend and i will look for you,
i love spending other peoples money ;-)

Strange goings-on with my Oulook Express Local Folders. At the last computer shut-down Outlook Express asked if I wanted to compact the Oulook files. I clicked OK. When I opened up this morning the large Deleted Items folder was empty and a lot of the deleted items were being moved to the Inbox. The Sent Items folder was empty and, most worryingly, two local folders had disappeared. Anyone with any ideas about where the two missing folders might be and how a computer numbskull could recover them? I'm running XP Pro SP3 and Outlook Express 6.00.290. TIA to all. K

Thanks scussy,

I was not using their 'build' option correctly.

Do you reckon that 2gb of memory is enough - or should I go for 4?

Would Mesh be able to set up the mirroring?

Exec,

That PCSpecialist operation seems to come in for some flack if one Googles. So does Mesh sometimes - but at least they are within thumping distance for me.

Sorry for hogging the bandwith from all you other folks - but nobody seems to be having any problems so we hope the chat is vaguely interesting.

TP

Spoke too soon T O K.

All yours for the helpline.....

TP

TP,yes they will,they are helpfull over the phone,(the sales team)
getting 2 systems from them so ask for a discount,then say iam sure you can do a little better then that,

Elite M8300
system 2
i would go for the 550 w power supply

TP

With regard to the Mesh spec that Scussy posted. It is very likely a good machine and not very expensive. However it is built down to a price.

The Q6600 proccessor is the least powerful quad core
Windows Vista Home Premium - go for at least the business addition, preferably the Ultimate. Or go for XP Prof if your happier with that.
Full motherboard spec is not given.
DDR2 667MHz Memory is a bit slow DDR3 is coming into it's own now and667MHz is a litttle slow. Go for more than 2GB if possible (128MB is taken by video card)
Don't install any free software unless youreally need it.

Thanks Opt,

I'm happy with XP Prof. I did not know it was still available.

Free software. No, I have very little on my studio machine. What I have is relatively unusual - and all purchased.

scussy. Your second spec increases the processing but loses the second hard drive. Yes? I think I'd rather have the second drive if it makes the machine more recoverable.

TP

Thanks Opt,

I'm happy with XP Prof. I did not know it was still available.

Free software. No, I have very little on my studio machine. What I have is relatively unusual - and all purchased.

scussy. Your second spec increases the processing but loses the second hard drive. Yes? I think I'd rather have the second drive if it makes the machine more recoverable. I'm just about to Google mirroring to see if it is essentially a software feature not needing more hardware.

TP