Choosing the Right Computer

The Computer

The computer I chose was a Dell Dimension 3100. It has a Intel Pentium 4 Processor 521 with HT technology that has a speed of 2.8 GHz, memory of 256 MB DDR2 SDRAM at 533 MHz - 1 DIMM, 3 year on-site business standard plan, USB keyboard, optical USB mouse, 160 GB serial ATA Hard Drive with a 7200 RPM speed, a 16 speed CD/DVD burner (DVD +/- RW) with double layer, a 3.5 Floppy Drive, 15 inch Analog Flat Panel monitor, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 900 graphics card, integrated 2.0 Channel High Definition Audio for sound, and a integrated 10/100 Ethernet network interface. The final price was $848. Normally this would be $948 but there was a sale.

Why the Company?

The company that made this computer is Dell. I chose this company because they are doing well and won't suddenly go out of business. Dell achieved record revenue of $15.2 billion and earnings of 43 cents per share driven by growth in enterprise products and services and sales outside of the united states in the fiscal fourth-quarter of 2006. Dell's enterprise business in the quarter - including storage, servers, services and related software and peripherals - increased worldwide by 21 percent year-over-year. Storage revenue was up 41 percent year-over-year. Dell's business outside the U.S. increased in the quarter by 21 percent year-over-year, reflecting Dell's success in growth areas of Europe and Asia Pacific. Dell has also won awards for its customer service. The company expects first quarter fiscal year 2007 revenue of $14.2 to $14.6 billion and earnings per share of 39 cents to 41 cents, excluding an estimated three cents of stock compensation. Dell begins reporting earnings including stock compensation expense in the first quarter of fiscal 2007. The company plans to repurchase at least $1.2 billion in stock during the next quarter.

Why the processor model?

The processor is a Intel Pentium 4 Processor 521 with HT Technology (2.8 GHz, 800 FSB). I chose this particular processor because it was as the least costly. The intended user of this computer is not going to be doing anything that needs a super fast computer. 2.8 GHz should be more then adequate to run a simple word processor. Windows XP only requires a speed of 300 megahertz and Office XP suite has a speed requirement of 233 megahertz.

Why the amount of memory and hard drive space?

The amount of memory is 256MB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz-1DIMM and the hard drive is 160 GB Serial ATA Hard Drive. This is about as low as memory as you would want to go. You could get things to work with lower memory since Office really only needs 128 MB to run, but some of the office suite such as Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2003 requires 256 MB. Windows XP Professional only needs 128 MB so things would work fine there too.

The hard drive should also be large enough. Office needs a hard drive of 400 MB with a possibility of being closer to 790MB depending on what your using. This user really is only interested in Word for word processing, so that should be enough. Windows XP Professional needs a little more space, namely 1.5 GB. Again though, you would have more then enough with plenty of extra space for storing files.

Why that monitor?

The monitor is a 15 inch E156FP Analog Flat Panel. Flat panels do cost a little more then a tube monitor, but we kept enough of the other aspects of the computer down that one can be afforded. The main benefit to a flat panel is that it is compact. Being so much more thinner it takes up less space on the desk. In an office environment this is a wonderful bonus. CRT monitors are a bit better then the flat panel, but since this computer is mostly for word processing and nothing more graphical like gaming the flat panel will be the better choice.

Why that drive?

This computer has a 16X CD/DVD burner (DVD +/- RW) with double layer and a 3.5 floppy drive. Floppies are mostly useless nowadays and I considered just leaving one out. In an office environment though, there is always a chance