Re: PC Upgrade Query -- PCTECH

First, uninstall anything Norton. Their consumer products have been dogs
for years, unfortunately. Go download Microsoft Security Essentials. It's
free and relatively lightweight; i.e. you shouldn't notice a big
performance hit. When it first came out MSE was for Vista & 7 only but MS
has since made it available for XP SP3 as well.

As to the hardware, that's a bigger issue. PCs that old are rarely worth
upgrading. You could spend on a new video card for dual-monitor support
(or on a USB video adapter but being bandwidth-limited performance won't be
that good), spend on a USB hub for more USB ports, and probably spend on a
RAM upgrade to max it out (I looked .. it holds 2GB RAM at the most).
$100-150 later you'd still be looking at what is in essence 5+ year old
hardware. You may not realize it but you're probably getting
CPU-constrained pretty often.

Consider adding your monitors to one of these instead:
$400 will get you a 2nd gen Core i3 with 4GB RAM, Windows 7 64-bit (with
the option of Windows 8 for $15 more when it's released), a 1TB hard drive,
and a DVD burner.
$600 gets you a Core i7 quad-core CPU, 8GB RAM, and roughly the same
Windows 7/1TB HD/DVD burner.
(these are from the MicroCenter ad I got in the mail today)

FWIW at the beginning of the month I bought a psuedo-ultrabook. 3.7
pounds, 13.3" 1600x900 screen, 3rd Gen Core i5, 4GB RAM (upgradeable to
12GB), 640GB hard drive, Blu-ray drive, 3 USB ports + HDMI + SD card
reader, fingerprint reader, and lots of other features for under $1300
delivered. It resumes from sleep in about 2 seconds and gets around 7
real-world hours on a battery charge. It has both HDMI & VGA so I could
attached a second monitor if desired.

On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 1:37 PM, Jerry C. Adams <midrange@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

I have an HP dx2250 Microtower PC with 896 MB of AMD Athlon 64 Processor
memory.

It used to run pretty good (even WDSc seemed reasonable), but since
installing Norton Security Suite it frequently has "issues." I thought
that
adding more memory might help. I wondered if memory could be added via a
USB device, rather than ripping the thing apart (I hate hardware). Can it?

Second, it currently has Acer monitor with an ATI Radeon Xpress 150 display
adapter. I have a Samsung monitor (both monitors are wide, flat panels)
sitting collecting dust. I have read here that adding a second monitor is
a
productivity gain, such as when using things like WDSc. I suppose that I
have to put in a different display adapter (did I mention that I hate
hardware?). What kind/make/model do I need to buy? Or is it possible
(dare
I hope?) to buy a plug that I can add to the external port that would give
me the benefit(s) of dual monitors? Alternatively, is there a USB device
that I could use to attach the second monitor?

Third, speaking of USBs, I only have two [2] USB ports on the front. I
thought I had seen a device that could plug into a USB slot that allowed
five [5] USB devices to be plugged in. Or was I smoking some a bad batch?

If it matters, I am running XP Pro at SP3.

Thanks.

Jerry C. Adams

IBM i Programmer/Analyst

I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded -
dead.
-Woody Allen

--

A&K Wholesale

Home Office: 615-832-2730

email: midrange@xxxxxxxx

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