System Memory or RAM:
Random Access Memory (RAM) provides the fast, temporary storage from which your CPU draws the data it needs to operate. The storage capacity of RAM is measured in megabytes (millions of bytes). If you are running very demanding applications or high data throughout jobs like video editing, you might want to install as much as you can afford. 1 GHz is latest. 512 MB is little expensive and about to become common in most computer pretty soon. 256MB is good enough. Lower than 256 MB might not be a good idea to go with.
Recommendation: 512 MB or 256 MB
Hard Drive: 60 GB (Recommendation)
Drive: DVD/CD-RW (Recommendation), which plays DVD, reads CD-R and CD-RW; and also writes on CD-R and CD-RW
Processor:
Intel retains the lion’s share of the market, especially in the business world where brand recognition is king, but AMD is steadily gaining in popularity with home PC builders and gamers. Intel’s flagship processor in the PC market is the Pentium 4. The AMD Athlon XP compares well with the fastest Pentium 4s in most applications, despite the Pentium 4’s higher clock speeds.
Price: Usually, Intel Pentium 4 is expensive compare to AMD Athlon XP.
Speed: Athlon XP 2800+ is equal to Pentium 4 2.13GHz
Athlon XP 2600+ is equal to Pentium 4 2.06GHz
Athlon XP 2400+ is equal to Pentium 4 1.93GHz
Recommendation: AMD Athlon XP or Intel Pentium 4
I heard good about AMD Athlon XP. You can read articles by clicking on following links. By selecting AMD Athlon, you can see the good difference in price. But on the other hand, Pentium 4 is more in market and brand name. So, it is up to you.
Links for processor’s review:
http://www.infosatellite.com/news/2001/10/j111001athlonxpfaster_p4.html
http://www.amdmb.com/article-display.php?ArticleID=202
http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/athlonxp/index.x?pg=1
Following looks good if you don’t mind to
try AMD Athlon. You also not prefer to purchase
online so this is good deal from in store.
http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.jsp?c=1&b=g&u=c&catoid=-8026&qp=0&oid=95419&m=0
HP; AMD Athlon XP
2800+ (2.13GHz) ; 256MB RAM;