Hello,
I am getting a new computer soon because my old one basically died on me. I am low on money but I've seen a good emachines I can afford and it's similar to one of the one's I had before and it works well. All the requirements are right and it comes with Windows Home Basic. The RAM is only 512MB and I plan on adding 1gb to that. But I won't be able to do it right when I get the computer. I was wondering if it is really as terrible and as slow as some people say with only 512MB. - I don't mind not having all the Vista features not included in Home Basic. I don't see myself using half of it. Seeing as I only use Trillian, Itunes and have a few web pages open.
mysimon.com/Desktops/9024-3118_8-32329694.html That is the computer incase you are wondering. I know it isn't great...

:)

Even with Vista Home Basic I would recommend 1 gig of RAM. Many retail stores will allow you to obtain more RAM at the time of sale for a small fee.

Regards,
Richard Urban MVP Microsoft Windows Shell/User
"3ONE9"

"3ONE9"

512 megs of ram should be enough for XP... heck I've even setup a few lower end machines with just 256 megs
What you can do to improve the performance is run msconfig and take most of the junk out of startup... chances are all you need is the virus checker and firewall...
Also go into control panel and adjust for best performance... you can set the machine for XP color theme if you like the eye candy

I am getting it from Best Buy I don't know if they do it for less when you buy it but I know Geek Squad charges 40 dollars to install RAM and 1GB of RAM from Best Buy is around 80 dollars.
Would 1.5 GB of RAM be pretty good?
"Richard Urban" wrote:

I know that 512MB RAM works well with Windows XP but I'm afraid of it being sow with Vista. I will try those things when I get it but I think I may still ad 1gb of RAM.
"philo" wrote:

"3ONE9"

Well if you go with Vista...get the machine with at least 1 gig
unless you add RAM yourself...you will pay way to much to have someone add it later!
BTW: What's wrong with your old machine??? It might be a simple fix!

First of all, they shouldn't be selling you that system without nothing more than a GB of RAM, if you are adding an extra 1.5 GB that would should be more than enough. Andre Blog: adacosta.spaces.live.com My Vista Quickstart Guide: adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry "3ONE9"

I accompanied a friend to a Circuit City store a few months ago. He bought an eMachine computer. He paid a small additional fee and they physically gave him a stick of retail packaged RAM that he installed himself when he got home.

Regards,
Richard Urban MVP Microsoft Windows Shell/User
"3ONE9"

The next machine up with 1GB would turn out to be more than to just add RAM the the machine with 512MB.
Is installing RAM myself easy?
The motherboard went bad and the memory was wiped. It's fixable but I was told it'd be the same amount as buying a new computer.
"philo" wrote:

Installing memory (assuming you get the right type) is so easy, even my Girlfriend can do it. It only goes in 1 way, and pops in and you're done.
Did you get a power Spike ? Generically, Memory does just die because the motherboard did. How are you determining the Menory is dead ?
Getting a replacment Mobo should only be like $50-75, getting more ram is another $100 or less. Far less then the cost of a new PC. Unless your Mobo is like 4-5 years old, then you might not find a replacement. You may have to re-install windows with a new\different mobo.
"3ONE9"

I disagree. Three of my five Vista systems have 512MB of memory and they have Aero turned on and run fine. Vista Business.
The OP will be running Home BASIC. He absolutely does not NEED more memory and there is nothing wrong with the vendor for selling such a system. I've already touched various laptops that came with Vista Home Premium install with 512MB and they where all fine as well.
This does of course (as usual) depend on the apps you will be running....and I quote:
"Seeing as I only use Trillian, Itunes and have a few web pages open."
512MB will be fine. You'll notice a slight hesitation as you open various applications but that's about it. Adding another 512MB or 1GB as you mentioned will make for a very quick experience when the time comes that you buy it. You'll also be able to upgrade to Home Premium or Ultimate if you ever choose to do so and with the extra memory you'll be well off.

"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]"

"3ONE9"

First off, installing memory is easy... however there is the possibility that you'd void the warranty if you opened the case.
Now, as to your old machine...it sounds like you were fed a line... The contents of memory disappear every time the machine is turned off... it sounds like some shop told you that to scare you into buying a new machine.
Even if the entire motherboard went...that's often one of the least expensive parts of the machine... though it's a little more labor intensive to replace the motherboard...than say...a video card... it's not a terribly big deal

"philo"

We would need to know more about his machine. Once a mainboard is no longer replaceable then you're pretty much looking at a new machine. Mainboard, memory, cpu...hell, might as well go for a new video card.

I'm not good with computers but I went to check it out and they said that the motherboard went and they got an error message from the intergratted ethernet card. I went to Geek Squad because the computer wouldn't turn on anymore and I wasn' sure what it was. =/
And it's SHE not HE.
Like you said I don't need more memory for what I normally do but I've heard of so many people saying it's too slow with "only" 512MB RAM.
"Justin" wrote:

<snip>

That's true...if a similar board was not available then getting a whole new machine may not be a bad option... but who knows what kind of a shop it was taken to? Telling one that the "memory was wiped" makes me a bit suspicious. It might have been as simple as a bad power supply...who knows?

"philo"

I find memory and HDD are often swapped around :)

"3ONE9"

Oops, my bad :) 3ONE9 isn't very gender specific :)

Yes, there is plenty of that. However most of it is in reference to everything but Home "Basic". I would not run nor recommend Ultimate on 512MB of memory.

I am a member of a computer club, and we have rescued many computers after the Geek Squat declared them "dead." The Geek Squat (I didn't misspell) is primarily interested is selling Best Buy's computers. Look up a computer users group in your area and ask for some assistance. Hint Google "computer users group." You can also look here: apcug.net/ "3ONE9"

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 11:35:03 -0500, "philo" wrote:

Vista HP with 1 gig ram should be the minimum. That's what I got, and it wasn't enough. I've already added a 2nd gig of ram. and 600 gigs of HD.

more pix members.toast.net/cbminfo/index.html

Yup and the sales guy will push the customers onto them as much as possible.
I overheard a sales guy selling a laptop to someone and he was very persistent that the laptop wouldn't run very well unless they had a geek CLEAN WINDOWS XP from all the unnecessary "stuff" that comes with it. He explained that there are thousands of registry entries that simply do not need to be there anymore.
1. Who knows what they remove and whether or not the customer may need/want any of it was of no concern. 2. They wanted $220 to it!!!

"Charles W Davis"

To qualify your comment can you please tell us what apps you are running? Primarily the more resource intensive ones.
Those need to be compared to:
"Seeing as I only use Trillian, Itunes and have a few web pages open."

"Justin"

You find HDDs in the memory slot ? Well, hell there's your problem !

"Vista Basic may be more problems than it's worth" Exactly what problems? There is a difference between problems and having less features which seems OK to the OP.
If the features of Home Premium are not needed, it can be a waste of money to pay for them.
Jupiter Jones [MVP] www3.telus.net/dandemar dts-l.org
On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 11:35:03 -0500, "philo" wrote:

Vista HP with 1 gig ram should be the minimum. That's what I got, and it wasn't enough. I've already added a 2nd gig of ram. and 600 gigs of HD.

more pix members.toast.net/cbminfo/index.html

"Dale White"

I'm guessing that was a joke and you understood that "terminology" was being described.

Sorry, gotta disagree, my sister in law purchased a Dell Inspiron, came factory installed with 512 RAM, Vista Home Basic and it was barely usable. Luckily my brother had a spare 256 left from his upgrade and installed it in her machine. The machine was just slow and even Microsoft is admitting that after fiasco with Vista Logo Branding which confused it seems both end users and the OEMs. Andre Blog: adacosta.spaces.live.com My Vista Quickstart Guide: adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E8E5CC039D51E3DB!9709.entry "Justin"

"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]"

Ok, so you have a computer with 512 that can't even run home basic and I have three machines with 512 that run business just fine. Hum... Not to many places to go with that.
It seems the end result here is that she will get the machine with the intent to upgrade later. She'll get a chance to use it and if it is indeed too slow then an upgrade is right around the corner. No harm, no foul.

Yes, it was a joke. I guess I should have put more time in it.
And it seems that no one I deal with in the family knows the difference (still), as I'm always getting, I've got 512Meg of Storage or I've got 200GB of Ram. The latest is that they keep saying they can't download their games to the PC, when referring to installing a game from CD.

"Justin"

<snip>

Yes some folks get that one wrong... but the people who do the repairs should know better. anyway if the mobo went...it's not likely it would have taken out the HD also

Depending on what you do, 512 MB may be OK. I have a laptop with 512 MB and it works OK but I still plan to increase the memory in the future.
You could purchase the computer and see how it performs in your situation. Then later decide if and how much memory you will need. My guess your best option would be adding a 1 GB stick.
Crucial is a good place for memory: crucial.com/ Also probably cheaper than buying the memory with the new computer.
Jupiter Jones [MVP] www3.telus.net/dandemar dts-l.org
"3ONE9"

"3ONE9"

Sorry about that maam, miss, mrs or ms.
Anyway if the motherboard died entirely they would not have been able to get an error message from the integrated either card.... and if it was simply the eithernet card that failed...all they'd have had to have done was to put in a PCI version.
Now that would have been a simple and cheap repair.
Unfortunately most outfits gain nothing by having a totally incompetent service department :(

"Justin"

Easy, If you let me work on the laptop. I WILL DETERMINE what you need and want.
I don't know about deleting 1,000 of registry entries, but based on my recent experience with an HP desktop it started up out the box with an additional 28 services, from a Base Vista install. I looked over most of the stuff and I personally don't see any value in most of it and I think most users could probably live without. Adn I see alot of times where all that extra crap causes problems, due to some kind of conflict.
A guy asked me to work on his Toshiba laptop with XP, it was new, but he couldn't watch DVDs movies on it, because it would crash about 20 mins into. That laptop, on boot had 66 services running. Just everything under the sun, Quicktime's quicktask, Real Players Tacobell.exe.
A knowledgable person should be able to clean out at least 10-15 of those apps. If the Systray goes over to the point of touching the quicklaunch, you're loading too much crap.

That's a deal. Don't you charge around $350 an hour ?

That's what I plan on doing. I will most likely add 1GB to make the total 1.5.
- Are Compaq desktops any good? All the reviews I've read are negative. "Jupiter Jones [MVP]" wrote:

512 is marginal for Vista. Based on my experience XP uses a native RAM footprint of 225-260. Vista uses well over 540 sometimes up to 620. During the first few days of use it will be higher due to index building and some other background tasks. I wouldn't build a PC for Vista use with less than 1.0 Gigabytes. My Sony notebook originally had 1.0 Gigabytes and I took that up to 1.5. I just booted the Sony and it sites idle using 665 Megabytes having only 40 processes active.
"Andre Da Costa[ActiveWin]"

My wife ran her laptop with 512mb of memory for some months and had no real problems. Yes, it's more responsive with 1gb of memory (web browsing, email, light word processing and publishing are her main vices in life) but it was completely usable with 512mb of memory. I would not worry about it in the short term.
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] rgharper gmail.com * NEW! Catch my blog ... msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/ * PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups * The Website - rgharper.mvps.org/ * HELP us help YOU ... dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
"3ONE9"