I don't know that minimum "standards" exist anywhere.
My recommendation is not to forget RAM. I have 1Mb of RAM on my work
computer, which I consider insufficient. Anything less than 1GB of RAM
with Windows XP is *insufficient*. Any other "speed" improvements you
make to your computer are worthless unless you have enough RAM. I
personally think 2GB is the minimum.
Most everything else on a computer you'd buy today will be sufficient.
You don't need a fancy graphics card; the standard out there even for
laptops is more than sufficient. I currently have a graphics card that
supports 1600x1200 at 32-bit color and 120dpi. Tt produces amazingly
clear graphics but most of its power is wasted. The $400-600 graphics
cards you may see out there (and there are plenty) are for gaming, where
the key need is *speed*. You don't need speed unless you plan to be
playing games on your work computer.
By the way, a graphics card and video card are the same thing.
Go with flat screen. They use less energy, last longer, work better, and
take up less space. Nowadays they're roughly the same price as a "tube"
monitor.
Hard disk space is ridiculously cheap at this point. I would go with a
100GB Serial ATA drive. Serial ATA is the successor to IDE, and supports
higher transfer speeds. IDE is on its way out. Do get a drive with a
very short seek time (<= 8ms) and a large buffer (8-16MB), both of which
improve the "apparent" speed of your drive.
Don't forget a DVD writer. I use my DVD writer at work to do nightly
backups from Retrospect onto DVD. You may also want to consider having a
second hard drive onto which you make backups. I do that at home, and
then transfer the backup images to DVD. Retrospect is roughly $100 and a
bit complicated but it has features no other backup program can offer.
The standard CPU these days runs at roughly 2Ghz. That's all you really
need. My work computer is an Intel Pentium 4 at 3 Ghz, and trust me we
don't spend lots of money on computers!
Make sure your computer comes with USB 2.0. Get yourself a 1GB USB flash
drive, which are now less than $100. Use it to transfer files. Even CDs
are obsolete with flash drives, and of course floppy drives are way
passe.
Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin at tuvox.com
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox....@lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+jmalin=tuvox.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf
Of Rita Lewis
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2006 8:44 AM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Advice for Upgrading Windows Computer
I haven't been keeping up with the list lately, so forgive me if this
topic has been discussed recently. (I know it has been discussed
periodically in the past, but I assume that standards have changed some
since then.)
I work as a contractor at a government site, and we've been asked to
submit a wish list for upgrading our computers. Does anyone have any
advice on the current minimum standards in DTP for RAM, disk space,
graphics card, video card, processor, etc.? I have Windows XP and, in
addition to FrameMaker and various plugins, the major programs I use are
Windows Office 2003 (XP?), SnagIt, WordPerfect Office 11 (for legacy
documents), and Acrobat 7. We currently have Photoshop and some other
graphics programs on a common machine, but I could be adding some of
these to my machine in the future.
I'm working at home today, and so I don't recall all my the specs on my
computer at work, but I know I'm pathetically low on RAM (384MB--have
been begging for more for 2+ years). Fortunately, I've gotten by with
that because most of our documents have been small. However, I'm
currently converting a huge document (1200+ pages) from WordPerfect to
FrameMaker and adding color photos and graphics, and I know I'm going to
need more computer power.
Any advice would be appreciated.
In addition to replying to the list, I'd appreciate a cc to my
individual account to expedite receipt of any messages.
Thanks!
Rita
(Cross-posted to FreeFramers and FrameUsers)
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