Hello, I'd really appreciate it if you could take a look at these specs (below) for a 420 that I am thinking of buying. I do alot of multitasking with outlook 2007, office documents, several internet explorer 7 windows, and quicken 2007. This most intensive task I do is DVD creation from home videos, so that is what I'd like to know about. In a year or two I would upgrade the processor to something like a 9650 when prices come down. I used to do some gaming, but not now. I may do a little more now that I'm up to date with technology. In that case I will upgrade the video card to something like the nvidia 9600. Thanks, Eric
My Components PROCESSOR Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)
edit OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Digital Cable Support
edit MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 DIMMs
edit HARD DRIVE 320GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
edit OPTICAL DRIVE Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable
edit MONITORS No Monitor
edit VIDEO CARD ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO 128MB
edit SOUND CARD Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
edit KEYBOARD Dell USB Keyboard
edit MOUSE Dell Optical USB Mouse
edit FLOPPY & MEDIA READER No Floppy Drive or Media Reader Included
edit WI-FI AND MODEM 56K PCI Data Fax Modem
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My Software & Accessories SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system)
edit ADOBE ELEMENTS STUDIO Adobe Elements Studio for XPS™ 420
edit ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY Norton Internet Security 2008, 15-Month
edit PRODUCTIVITY No Productivity software pre-installed
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My Service WARRANTY AND SERVICE DellCare Value
edit DATASAFE ONLINE BACKUP DataSafe included with DellCare Service bundle
edit DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS No ISP requested
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ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM Labels Windows Vista™ Premium Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 8.1 Optional Support Services Dimension XPS, Specialized Support PHOTOS, MUSIC & MORE! No Entertainment software pre-installed
MoneyGuyBK
2.3K Posts
0
March 18th, 2008 22:00
Eric, your hardware is fine and will do great with DVD creation.
I have my system in my sig below, and I am using the previous version (to yours) of Adobe Elements and Premiere, and I am doing fine with it.
I am certain you will do fine with that setup.
I am running Folding@Home 24/7 and my Beast crunches that and can do photo and video editing just fine without any sweat. You will do good too. Good Luck with your machine.
Peace
613JDM
131 Posts
0
March 18th, 2008 22:00
wynand32
366 Posts
0
March 19th, 2008 00:00
Overall, your system seems great. A few suggestions:
1. If you plan to capture from a non-DV camcorder, then you'll want a TV tuner. This will allow you to connect an analog source via video RCA. If you have a DV camcorder (or higher), i.e., one that can connect via FireWire, then you're all set as is.
2. I'd consider adding a second hard drive, either now or after the purchase. Video editing performs much better when you have a separate drives for the source and output files.
3. Remember that although you've configured the system with 4GB of RAM, not all of it will be available for use. I bought mine with 3GB, in anticipation of upgrading to Vista 64bit when all of my required drivers are available for it--at which point, RAM will likely be less expensive and I'll upgrade to 8GB.
Other than that, your system is very similar to mine, and I'm very happy with the performance.