How did I do?

[Richard King]

Well, I broke down and bought a new computer today to replace the one I am sending this message on. This one will be used as a dedicated machine to keep track of all transactions related to a property that the bank and I purchased and will be semi-retired. My new machine consists of:
Compaq system with 2.5G P4.
Compaq 17" Monitor
80G 7200RPM HD
256 M PC2100 Mem
HP 3653 DeskJet printer
16XDVD Rom Drive
Keyboard
Scroller Mouse
Windows XP Home
1.44 Floppy
Integrated Sound Card
Radeon 9600 Video card
Total Cost: $975.50 + tax
Rebates: $475.00
Final cost: $500.00
All from Best Buy
I then picked up a LiteOn DVD+-R/RW for an additional $89 after rebate.
at CC since BB had sold out.

I will canibalize an additional 80G HD from the old machine and put in the new one.

This will take the place of my gereral purpose machine and will be used to do DVD recording.

What does everyone think? Is it good for use as a DVD recording machine?

[RichW]

Damn fine machine for general purpose business use.

Don't know anything specific about the LiteOn DVD Recorder but I really like that new breed of all-format DVD writers. I have a new Sony and am thinking of getting the new Iomega one for another machine so I can also do DVD-RAM.

You may want to bring the RAM up to 512 MB for DVD use (depending upon what software you are going to use).

Since I am into audio, I would also add an Audigy Soundcard and disable the embedded sound interface (which is probably AC97 compliant). But again for general purpose use, the exisign audio system is fine.

You done good!

[HarryD]

I'm not a rebate guy but that's a good deal. I would also agree to bump the memory to at least 512.