Can someone help me with the Spec of my new Dell PC? Please?

[SleighlyMadSanta]

My needs

MN (of course!!!)
Other internet use including basic games (online games, iSketch etc.) & some MSN which my current PC hates.
DP uses it for a bit of business (spreadsheets, letterheaders, business cards...)
I have 2 6yo girls who will expand there use of the PC over the coming years (MSN, homework, whatever else young girls get into)

It is not used for gaming or anything (we have PS2 etc. for that). It is not used as multimedia centre - we have a TV for that. As a result I am thinking I am looking for a basic "entry level" PC.

Initial questions

Firstly I assume Dell is OK to buy from?

Choice of processor:
Intel Celeron or Pentium or AMD athalon?
Single core or dual core?

I assume a 16x DVD +/- RW Drive is a writeble drive? Do I want a second for £10?

I am sure I will be back with more Qs by the end of the night...but I am going to cook tea for now.

I dikd try the other site and there are only 2 on XP - £800+

So to improve my current performance RAM is more important than Dual core?

I went for 2Gb as that is a) what Lapin recommended and b) recommended as the realistic min for Vista. Would 1Gb be a worthwhile compremise?

However I CANNOT have Vista without needing a router (apparently you can't use a USB modem?) and putting myself thru more pain than childbirth by all accounts.

Whats do the numbers in this line mean?

Intel® Core? 2 Duo E4500 Processor (2.2GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)

I know the 2.2Ghz is 'speed'. I presume if I drop to the alternative 1.6GHz it will be slower than my current 2.5GHz? Or will the bigger RAM compensate?

I am pushing my budget to have both 2.2GHz dual core and 2Gb RAM.

Theoretcially could I buy a Athlon machine with Vista, strip it off and load XP from the disc I got from my current machine? (I would obv have to remove it from my current machine).

I am just trying to get this info straight in my head ATM before I can go any further.

to be honest I have no personal experience of vista so don't know the answer about routers - but I do have a router and it isn't really that difficult to set up compared to the usb modem (I have a netgear one).

I would go for 2Gb of ram if you can - skimping on memory can be a pain. I would be tempted to go for single core with more memory and a faster processor if I had a choice (but some more expert pc bods may disagree). If you want to play games then dual core is probably the way to go - and as much memory as you can afford !

I would probably go with vista if that is what is on offer - you could as you say always put your current version of xp on it if you really hate it. If you are going with vista then keep the memory up - since as you say it seems to need 1Gb just to run reasonably without anything else running on top of that.

Intel® Core? 2 Duo E4500 Processor (2.2GHz,800MHz,2MB cache)

2.2GHz is the speed the chip runs at - but it is not directly comparable from chips of different generations - any modern chip will be much faster than the one you have now.
800MHz is the front side bus speed. The faster it is the faster the cpu can talk to the memory.
2MB cache is how much the chip can hold in memory itself without using the RAM - the higher it is the faster it can do high memory apps - again important for games.

To be honest I would just set your budget, then see what you can get for it and stick with reasonably well known manufacturers. Try a few different suppliers and compare what you get in terms of ram and processor - you will get a feel for what is around for your budget that way.

Duo means you have two processors working at the same time - so each can process a different 'stream' of data, instead of a single processor having to switch between threads when it's trying to do more than one thing at once (which is most of the time) So in theory, 2x1.6 GHz would be faster than your current 2.5. But though the operating system is written so it can use two processors, not all software applications are - and so they would actually run faster on the single processor.

btw if you are comparing prices, make sure you realise that Core Duo is not the same as Core 2 Duo - Core Duo is on the way out, so you may find it being offered at a lower price- it's easy to miss the missing 2.

So are you saying the the

Intel® Celeron® 420 Processor (1.6GHz,800MHz,512k cache) [Included in Price]
or
Intel® Pentium® Dual-Core E2140 Processor (1.6GHz,800MHz,1MB cache) [add £30]

Are probably better than my 2.5GHz Pentium 4?

Regarding the router - Setting up a router may not be a problem.

I have to buy one in the first place (£50+?). There are also quite a lot of reports on the AOL forum saying that the AOL software just will not load on Vista. That worries me.

ah - missed the AOL bit - I don't know anything about AOL apart from it can be difficult sometimes !

Yes - I think any chip you buy now would be better than anything you would have bought 6 years ago.

And generally the celeron are slightly less good chips than the more expensive intel ones - the basic entry level pcs usually have celeron because they are cheaper.

I'd dump the AOL tbh unless you're locked in to it.

I like the AOL software
I like the AOL reliability

Shame they don't have a Customer Service department

I am locked in for a few weeks only. I want Sky broadband but they aren't in my area ATM