> I'm looking at a cheap deal on a Dell Dimension 3000 for $449
> for my kids. It's a P4 2.8G and includes a 17" flat-panel
> display. No DVD but I can add that. The only thing that's
> really giving me pause is 256MB of shared memory. I'd up the
> RAM to 512, but Is 'shared' a bad thing? The machine will be
> used for some minor gaming, homework, WP, etc.
Shared is not necessarily a bad thing. It means that some of your system RAM
will be used by the built-in video adapter. Getting more memory is still a
good thing, my understanding is that the video system will take a fixed
amount of RAM, not a percentage.
I believe that nearly all machines you get from the big names - Dell,
Compaq, etc, etc - work this way. If you buy your own video card at some
point, you should be able to go into the BIOS and turn off the on-board
adapter, then all the system RAM would be available to the OS.
--
Tim Slattery
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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