I have an old Dell pc- what / how can i upgrade?

brightonman123

hope someone can help pimp my pc..


Dell Optiplex GX1, with the following-

OS- Windows ME
IE 5.5

Processor ??
128mb RAM
30gb h/drive

full MS Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint.
cd drive
dvd drive? that doesnt work..

I got this 2nd hand, and have yet to try to open the back to see what space is available for extra RAM, change the processor, etc.

I would also be looking to change the n/a dvd drive..

any idea where I can get the full spec, and an idea what I could physically add to improve it?

General browing is OK, but it isstruggling with some website graphics / java stuff, nowadays..

many thanks.

System

You won't do a lot with it. Max RAM is 768MB. Max processor speed is 600MHz PIII so I think any Windows later than you currently have is a no go. Linux may be an option.

Documentation can be found here

brightonman123

does linux compare to / better than windows, user friendly wise?

markharding557

no linux is generally more difficult to use because it has many differences from windows and some things have to be set up manually.
there are some things which can't be used on linux at all.
your computer is really too old to do much with but you could get a quite cheap used one online which will be good enough for internet.email and office apps

Glad

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macman

With the processor and hard drive limitations on that PC there's really no point in upgrading except for the fun of it.
If you simply want to use it for surfing/word processing etc the most economic upgrade would be to get some more RAM in it cheaply, start with eBay.
Bear in mind that Windows ME is now completely unsupported and cannot be made secure online

Taffybiker

From the spec given above you should be able to install XP on it, but compared to ME it will be a resource hog.

Laz123

XP likes at least 256 ram as minimum. You may get away with W2K.

Taffybiker

Laz123 wrote: »

XP likes at least 256 ram as minimum. You may get away with W2K.

That's a recommended figure, not a minimum. I have successfully installed XP on a system with only 64 MB. It didn't run at peak efficiency though...
See here for the Microsoft support page.

ddoris

Look on freecycle or stuff for sale, etc.
In my area there's a guy often selling towers for £30 with xp on.

HO87

markharding557 wrote: »

no linux is generally more difficult to use because it has many differences from windows and some things have to be set up manually.

With respect that's pretty much bolleaux. The mainstream distros of Linux currently require little (if any) manual intervention and on the OP's machine should run quite happily - even the very latest version of Ubuntu 10.04. My wife had never used Linux before I installed it but within minutes was happily surfing, producing some letters in OpenOffice and chatting via Pidgin (IM client). She occasionally comes across problems but none that have prevented her from doing what she wants and, anyway, she prefers the games bundled in Ubuntu.

markharding557 wrote: »

there are some things which can't be used on linux at all.

True. You can't use Windows applications direct in Linux but then why would you want to do so when there are perfectly usable Linux equivalents? The view that Linux is geeky and just to be played with long since ceased to apply. True there are geeky distros but the mainstream (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva and OpenSuse) are fully figured. The greatest drawback from a whole household perspective (i.e. the teenagers) is an inability to run large MS games but then given the capabilities of this machine I'd doubt that was your intention. The two greatest attractions of Linux in our multi-PC house is that it is entirely free (open source) and is so much more secure than Windows.

You can try Linux very easily if you have access to a another machine. Download the Live CD version of you chosen distro (flavour, if you like) and boot the Dell from the CD. This will allow you to try Linux without actually installing it and will also demonstrate whether there is going to be a hardware issue.

I have yet to come across anyone who on trying Linux wasn't at least surprised at how easy it is to use and the facilities it offered and some of my friends have made the move to it as a result. Its a personal choice at the end of the day but I wouldn't be swayed by MH's post which I suspect is based on a rather old experience - certainly not an up to date one.